10^th October 2010

Preached Sunday 10 October 2010

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley

Lessons -- 2 Kings 5:1,9-17; Luke 17:11-19

When the Samaritan leper saw that he was healed, he turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. (Luke 17:15,16) And Jesus said, 'Your faith has made you well!' (19)

Jesus' encounter with ten lepers is a story of hope, realism and gratitude. And it speaks to a society that is pre-occupied with health and fitness where it is often said that 'If you've got your health, you've got everything!'

That's not the way Jesus puts things here!

Certainly good health is a very good thing -- a great blessing. Jesus hears the lepers' cry for compassion and heals them, enabling them to rejoin mainstream society. Their healing is a sign that nobody is without hope. Because it isn't God's will for people to be afflicted and abandoned, Christ takes the initiative to restore these outcasts to medical and social health.

Healing is a sign of hope for those suffering affliction. Christians should gladly acknowledge God's power over evil in the work of doctors, nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, therapists and others. They represent Christ -- whether or not they have faith in him.

The Church's long commitment to hospitals and welfare, which has strengthened and humanised societies throughout the world, is a sign of God's compassion for the sick, the disabled and the abandoned -- irrespective of their religious, national, ethnic or social status. It is a reflection and extension of the healing ministry of Christ.

At the same time, this story shows that 'good health' is not to be confused with 'well-being' in the deepest sense. Ten lepers are cured, but only the Samaritan leper is said to be 'well'! Being cured -- even of a terrible disease -- doesn't necessarily mean that a person is 'made whole'.

The nine lepers who don't return to Jesus are healed. But they are not said to be 'well'. They are typical of many folk in our society who desperately want their medical, psychological and spiritual needs fixed as soon as possible and expect the 'experts' to do for them what they're trained to do.

Jesus doesn't despise this attitude. He heals them of a dreadful affliction. Unlike so-called faith healers, who make 'faith' a condition of being healed, Jesus sees their need and heals them. They are cured and restored to the community of faith with no strings attached. Like Naaman (2 Kings 5:1f), they are healed as a sign that the one true God is opposed to affliction.

Nevertheless, nine of the ten lepers haven't attained full health. Despite miraculously being cured of leprosy and restored to the community, they have not attained 'wholeness'. Because they don't return in humility to show their faith in Christ and gratitude to God for his healing and reconciling power, they are not 'well'. To be well means to have faith in God's healing-welcoming love, as embodied in Christ.

The healed Samaritan leper is well because of his faith in Jesus. Yet he doesn't actually talk about his faith! He simply praises God 'in a loud voice'. He is utterly overwhelmed by what Jesus has done and can't help but fall at his feet to worship him -- as God! He worships the One who embodies God's healing mercy. He is well because he worships Christ as God.

In this marvellous story, we learn that 'being made well' may include good health and social acceptance, but is much, much more. It is possible to have health and status, but to be 'unwell' in the one thing that counts! (It is also possible to be unhealthy and to be well in what does count!) If in Christ's presence, we, like the nine lepers, lack faith which overflows in humility, adoration and gratitude, we can't be said to be 'in the best of health'.

The encounter between Jesus and the ten lepers teaches that the most important thing in life is not health. The returning leper shows that praise of God is an all-too-rare sign of good health. He represents all who see beyond the satisfaction of their needs and the solution to their problems, to the miracle of God's reconciling presence in Jesus. True wholeness is found in the faith of people who are so overwhelmed by Christ's compassion and power that they are compelled to give thanks.

The story of the ten lepers can also be read as a parable of hope for a Church whose influence is declining and where apathy about the Gospel is widespread. It often encourages me in ministry! When tempted to despair by the poor response to the Gospel -- both from outside and within the Church
-- it prompts me to give thanks for Christ's ministry. It enables me to see signs of healing and gratitude in our life-together as a congregation.  And it frees me to be realistic about 'results' and not to be discouraged by apathy or ingratitude.

In fact, the story warns us all in the Church against being pessimistic or unrealistic in our expectations. Preaching the Gospel and doing works of mercy in Christ's service doesn't guarantee that people will be attracted to the Church or our congregation.

The story dispels such nostalgic and idealistic views. Only one in ten returns to praise God for an astonishing cure that enabled them to rejoin mainstream society. Only one in ten! Not the kind of response envisaged by missionary leaders in the early 1900s who expected that the good news would heal the spiritual and material ills of the whole world by the end of the 20th Century!

Jesus didn't succeed in attracting the long term commitment of 90 percent of those who benefited from an astonishing display of divine power. Later, despite his self-giving ministry of love for others, he was abandoned by friend and foe alike. Not even one in ten showed gratitude at the foot of the Cross or the entrance to the tomb.

Therefore we too must count on much ingratitude and apathy: from those who have been baptised, confirmed, married or buried by the Church; those who have been encouraged in leadership; and those who have appreciated support in personal or family crises or on some community project, but who drift away from the Church, or never share in its life after their immediate needs are met.

There is much apathy towards the Church today. In legislation and many inquiries currently before Federal and State Parliaments, there is scant gratitude for the huge contribution of the Church to hospitals, education, welfare, law, human rights and civic responsibility -- which flows from faith in, and gratitude for, the healing mercy of Christ.

In the Church too we must expect that even our most faithful efforts to declare the Gospel of Christ's costly grace in Word and deed won't necessarily be fully appreciated, or appreciated at all! Still, we are called to share in Christ's ministry of healing and reconciliation (in its many forms), regardless of the response from the community or within the Church.

This is hard to accept. Because we all like to be thanked for our efforts and gratitude is often in short supply, it would be easy to despair of our shared ministry in the community. Though saddened by such reactions, we shouldn't be surprised. If people, like the nine lepers whom Jesus cured of dreadful afflictions, didn't return to thank God for his healing power, then we shouldn't expect to do better!

The story strips us of illusions. The success of the Gospel doesn't depend on us! This is no reason to despair! The long period of Christendom, in which the Church often had healthy numbers and could count on having influence in curing social ills, is almost over. It is futile to hark back to the 'good old days' or to denigrate the old ways. Either way, we diminish the grace of God embodied in Christ -- neither is a cure for the Church's ills.

Instead, we are free to concentrate on our essential task without worrying about results or stressing over those who don't thank us for what we have done for them. As the example of the healed Samaritan leper shows, our ministry is to worship God in joyful and humble thanksgiving and to acknowledge Christ's power over evil -- a power revealed in his healing words and deeds and most starkly and victoriously displayed in his crucifixion and resurrection.

This splendid story is most encouraging for Christian communities at the beginning of the 21st Century. And it speaks to us as we reconsider our part in Christ's ministry. We mustn't be side-tracked by resignation or false optimism. Neither nostalgia nor wishful thinking is a sign of faith.

We are called to be faithful by living out our ministry-in-Christ in humility and gratitude and with a deep love for the afflicted and the abandoned -- to be realistic about the reception of the Gospel, to accept gratitude where it is expressed and to live by hope even in the face of apathy.

May our prayer for the Church be that we shall be made 'well' and enjoy the 'very best of health' in the company of Jesus -- so that the world may know in whom true healing and well-being are to be found.

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.