Gospel: Luke 17:11–19
11On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" 14When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. 15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."
Happy Turkey Day! Or Thanksgiving... It’s a strange holiday for us because our neighbors to the south have flooded us with their images of pumpkin pie and Pilgrims... not the exact story for Canadians. We trace our thanksgiving holiday back to English explorer Martin Frobishers’ 1578 attempt to find the North West Passage. He failed and then held a celebration in Newfoundland to celebrate simply surviving the journey. The first thanksgiving.
Much later after importing some American customs into our Thanksgiving, the holiday was made official but found itself confused with Armistice day that eventually became Remembrance day and finally, on January 31st, 1957, the Canadian Parliament proclaimed... "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed ... to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.”
And so happy thanksgiving.
And it’s appropriate that our text today revolves around giving thanks... it’s appropriate that we reflect on why we would have a day to give thanks.
3 Stories today: First... Alms for an ex-leper. Second... Glenn gets saved. Third: Jesus acting in the in between places.
How our experiences are interpreted makes all the difference in the world.
Alms for an ex-Leper.
Monty Python (the life of Brian) (Alms for an ex Leper)
(What’s an ex-Leper?) (Sob Story)
LINK: ((Ex-Leper skit))
Literally... the thing that was killing the Leper has been removed... and he’s focussing on what he has lost... his beggar livelihood.
What makes Monty Python so great is that he is a master of satire. Satire is: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices.
So it’s funny to think about a dancing ex-Leper dancing around asking for money... but the truth is that it points to a human condition of independence... a deeply held belief that somehow we are independent and owe nothing to others. That we alone can do anything... apart from our community. This dancing ex-Leper is not thankful... he cannot see what he needs to be thankful for.
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Which brings us to the second story: Glenn gets saved.
Glenn says that he can’t afford to rent. I heard Glenn’s story on “This American Life”, a radio show out of the states that interviews people and collects interesting stories. Glenn is an interesting story.
Glenn and his wife and children lived in the last house they owned for as long as they could... but the loan on that house was so high they were sinking further into debt. And as the money they owed continued to climb... and the house value continued to drop... They just had to let it go. Glenn lost his amazing job when the recession hit.
They can no longer afford rent so, they live in a place his Dad owns... one of the tiny houses he grew up in.
They crazy thing is... listening to Glenn... he sounds fulfilled. He’s a great husband now. He’s attending college... studying something he is passionate about. He’s doing strangely OK considering that he has lost a million dollars in the last few years.
Working near wall street he was working hard during the boom. Putting together investments and rounding up mortgages to sell to investors was a very lucrative job then. With the money he was buying fancy cars... partying late into the night with B list celebrities, ordering $6000 bottles of champaign. Easy to do when you make $100,000/month.
And as much as he was then making it financially... his lifestyle was killing him and his family. Long days and weeks without seeing his kids and wife. Long hours of work... tons of money and the alcohol and drugs and lifestyle that comes with it.
Glenn says, “I have been humbled... I mean, I have been forced to be humbled... I mean... I used to look at mortgage applications and the people and their income was $2500/month and I used to think “How can people live on that” and... I would welcome that now. I would live on that... I would live so comfortably. I drive a car now that is paid for and it’s a piece of junk and... I used to think it mattered... ya know... but it doesn’t.”
The host of the radio show tried to imagine a world where the financial bubble didn’t burst... and Glenn continued to make $100,000/month. And... it seems that this Glenn... the Glenn that was humbled... is a whole lot better to know.
Glenn reflects on the way he used to be saying, “That Glenn... that Glenn was about Glenn. And this Glenn... is about... what I can bring society, my family... I don’t want to sound cliche... but I want to focus what I can do to make sure that we don’t keep making people like that Glenn.”
He’s actually thankful for what happened to him...
It fact... if we were to use a theological word... we would say that Glenn has been ‘saved.’ Saved doesn’t just mean something about eternal life... we tend to hear the word saved that way.
If I get ‘saved’ most of us think about some heaven and hell scenario that some TV evangelist is talking about in some distant future.
But no... saved means more than that. It means to be healed... it means to be made well... it means to be made whole.
And note... to be saved is something that happens to you... it’s not something that you do on your own... to be saved means that we are acted upon.
So... I would be very comfortable saying that Glenn has be saved... he is healed from alfluenza (the disease of having too much), he is connected with his wife, his kids, his community, ... in many ways he was dead to this.
He’s taking time to just be... he has been made well.
Glenn is made whole ... Glenn is saved... and now that Glenn can see... he is thankful.
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This brings us to “Jesus acting in the in-between places.
I have no doubt that today many people across the world will get a sermon that tells them to be like the 10th Leper. Well meaning preachers around the world will tell people that they, like the Leper, must give thanks for the bounty they have... and... it’s not wrong... it’s just obvious and... it opens up a problem.
The problem is that the if the giving of thanks is lifted as the central point of the story, then the ability to be made whole is put back into the hands of the person who was unwhole to begin with. That is to say... that the Leper that is going to die no matter what he does is saved by Jesus... the giving of thanks is not the main point at all. It’s a result.
The ability to sin, and the inability stop sinning, is what Augustine calls Original sin... this is why each Sunday we pray that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves. So if the message of salvation is left in human hands... it actually requires that we make ourselves whole by adopting the right attitude or actions. ... as if it’s up to us... as if the dead can make themselves whole... we cannot do this... And this is not the central point of the story.
Lepers are called the walking dead for a reason. They are dead... nobody makes it back from Leprosy... 11 years if you are lucky before you die... and nobody comes near you because it can spread so you are immediately dead to your community... and there is no recovery... it’s just not done. We now have medicine to stop the progression of the disease... but when the Leper hears Jesus he is already dead.
So for the story to makes sense... we need to see that the Lepers are dead... and cannot save themselves.
So as much as Glenn is saved from his destructive lifestyle by the recession... we’re talking about something bigger here.
The story only makes sense as we see Jesus bringing life where only death should be. And this is why thanks is given. Jesus brings life to the walking dead. This is why the Leper throws himself on the ground and chokes out the words of thanks because he was dead... and has been made alive.
And this is why we gather every Sunday and especially this thanksgiving Sunday... as much as the Leper is given new life and wholeness, this story only points to the bigger salvation story that draws us in today.
In a few moments we will say the words of the Great Thanksgiving. We will come and gather around the Table of forgiveness as the salvation story is once again told. We will partake in the meal that is Christ in our midst - in this meal we know that Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again. This meal... this Holy Communion... this Eucharist literally means thanksgiving. Thanking God for doing what we cannot do.
The Leper is told “Your faith has made you well.” And the Leper had faith because of what Jesus had done - faith is always a gift from God - something that happens to us... not something we conjure up. The Leper has faith because of what he has seen - faith is trusting the promise of what we are given.
And so we too come and gather at the table and trust that the promises spoken today are as true as they were when Jesus himself spoke them. We began our service with remembering our baptism - promises made to us about cleansing and initiation and adoption. In faith we trust this salvation.
In faith we see the Lord... and so we give thanks for what God accomplished in dying and rising to new life...
We give thanks for what God is doing with us today as the words of new life and forgiveness are spoken...
We give thanks for what God will continue to do until that day when all creation is gathered up and death is no more.
All creation is saved, and for this we give thanks.
Amen.
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