“Taking the First Step”

Luke 17:11-19

November 24, 2002

St. Paul United Methodist Church

Rev. John Fleming

Just this past week, while I was thinking about our sermon, the story of a young man who was studying and living in the United States crossed my desk. He was not born here and his parents lived in another country. For a time he was in the United States at a good college. It seems that this young man was not prepared for what he saw in a grocery store that was near his off campus apartment. He was new in America. School had just started. He did not have anyone to talk to about what he had discovered. He was also lonely in his new venture and he even had a touch of homesickness. And so when he found what he found in the supermarket, naturally he wrote home to tell his parents about it. Here are the words from his first letter: “Dear Mom and Dad. How are you? I am fine. Things are going well with my school work so far. Today I went to a grocery store for the first time. I have never seen some of the things that are on the shelves in this store. I went down one aisle, and there on one of the shelves was powdered milk. I bought a package and brought it home. It seems that all you have to do is to add water and wa-la, all of a sudden, you have milk. I want you to know that I have tried it! This is so amazing!” A week or so went by and the young student went back to the grocery store. He went down another aisle and this time found another great product. This time what he found was powered orange juice. And again, he wrote home to tell his parents about it. These were his words, “Dear Mom and Dad. Things are going well here. I’m making some good grades and some friends, too. But I have to tell you that I’ve been back to the store that I told you about. Today I went to the store and found powdered orange juice. I bought a container of it, brought it home, and followed the directions. It seems that all you have to do is to add water. Mom and Dad, I’ve tried it. It’s really exciting and it tastes good, too. Right now, I’m sipping on a cup of it!” A week or two passed and he went back to the grocery store. This time he could not wait to get home to write to his parents to tell them about what he found there. These are his words, “Dear Mom and Dad, no time for chit-chat in this letter! I’ll get right to the point. I’ve just returned from the grocery store and I’m so excited. I went down an aisle that I’ve never been down before. And there, at my eye level was something that I’ve never seen before. On the container were the words ‘Baby Powder.’ Mom and Dad, you know how I love babies and have always wanted a little brother and sister. Well, I bought a package of the stuff and in a minute or two, I’m going to add water to the powder, just like I did with the milk and the orange juice. I’ll be sure to write you as soon as I know if the baby is a boy or a girl. “Is this a great country or what!?”

Now we laugh at that, but the truth is that haven’t we come to expect things to happen in a miraculous way, .in a hurry, and without much trouble. Who would have ever thought that we could e-mail someone around the world or IM them. IM stands for instant messaging. And if you IM someone, you can type and it’s like talking with them face to face. When it comes to miracles, well, the word is just all over the place. Go to the grocery store this afternoon, and my guess is that you will find the word miracle on several products. We have come to hope for and expect miracle breakthroughs and miracle cures. So it’s not hard to come to the quick conclusion that when it comes to a miracle, little is required of us. It seems that all that we have to do is to buy the product, rub on the ointment, add some water, turn to the switch, take the pill, try the program, and the miracle happens.

But you won’t get that idea from the Bible. You can get that idea from advertisers, but from the Bible, you get another idea. You see, according to the Bible, if something miraculous is going to happen, then something greater than buying something or taking something is required of us. You see, according to the Bible, if a miracle is going to happen in our lives, we have to do something. We have to go somewhere. We have to step out in faith. We have to take a chance. We have to sacrifice something. You see, according to the Bible, it takes two for a miracle to happen.

There is a great and old story that says that the waters of the Red Sea didn’t part until someone stepped out into the waters. We get the idea that Moses lifted up the stick that he was carrying and the waters parted. But according to this old tale, Moses raised his hands, but the waters did not part until someone stepped into the water. Isn’t that a great story? I do not know if it is true or not, but it is a great story. That is one of the main miracles of the Old Testament. And when we turn to the pages of the New Testament, the greatest miracle of all is found there. The miracle, well, you know it. Jesus came into the world and became like one of us. And if you will read Luke’s version of this, you get the idea that the birth of Jesus could not have happened if Mary hadn’t said yes. What was her answer? "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."

God doing something powerful and great, yes, but Mary saying yes, too. You see, in the Bible, it’s not hard to get the idea that it takes two for a miracle to happen. What we have this morning is a great miracle story. It is the gospel lesson for this morning. This story is marvelously crafted. Every detail in it is important. In this section of Luke’s gospel, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. Between the ninth and nineteenth chapters of the gospel, Jesus travels there. Our lesson today says that Jesus was, “On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.” That is an important detail in this story. In fact, every detail is important in this story is significant. I do not mind telling you that if you are a geographer, the route that Jesus takes to Jerusalem will frustrate you. His path would be like going to Conway from Little Rock by way of Memphis. It just does not make sense. But, in Luke’s gospel, some times Jesus’ placement is important for theological reasons. Jesus is walking along the border between Galilee and Samaria. It is a path that no respectable Jew would travel because good Jews would have nothing to do with Samaritans. But you will know this. Jesus has something to do with Samaritans. Luke is the only one who tells the story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus encounters a Samaritan there and he is about to have another encounter with another Samaritan.

What Luke says here corresponds with what we know about lepers. They kept their distance from those who did not have leprosy. They lived and traveled together and they always positioned themselves on major roads because they had to be in the position to beg for help. You could say that they were separated. They were separated from their livelihoods, but more significantly, they were separated from their loved ones. In our lesson, Jesus comes across a band of these men just outside of a village. Luke tells us that there were ten men who shouted out to Jesus. Now the law was that when lepers saw someone coming, they were to shout out the words, “Unclean! Unclean!” I guess that the idea was that those who heard the shouts would high tail it in the other direction. But look at this story. Notice the details of it. When the lepers approach Jesus, notice what they cry out. They don’t cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!” They cry out something different. Do you remember their cry? They shout out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” That is not the cry of a leper. That, friends, is the cry of people in the church! In worship, it’s called kyrie eleison, which means, Lord have mercy.” It is the cry, it is the prayer that people in Luke’s day would have cried and prayed in worship services. Do you see what Luke is doing? Luke is telling us this story in such a way that the church will hear this as a message to them, and

consequently, to us. You see, this is not just a miracle story way back then. This is a challenge to us right now, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” This is the cry of people like all of us, who come to church Sunday after Sunday with our lives in a mess or flattened out or blown away. Sometimes everything is all right, but sometimes it is not and when it is not we cry out, “Lord, have mercy on me.” We cry because we hope that what is promised, here in the church, in worship services, will happen and that our lives will be whole again. “Lord, look at me, notice me. Lord, have mercy on me.” I will tell you. This isn’t just what lepers would say outside a city. This is what Christians say inside a church.

Listen on to the story. Jesus tells the ten lepers to go and show themselves to their priest. That’s the law, too. The law said that when you were healed from leprosy, you went to the priest, were examined, and if you were in fact, cured from it, you were admitted back in the community and back into your family’s life. I want you to notice this. Jesus does not heal them and then tell them to go and show themselves to their priest. Jesus tells them to go before they were healed. Which helps my sermon make the point that if a miracle is going to happen in your life, then you have to do something. You have to step out. You have to start out trusting that God will do what He has promised to do. “And while they were on their way, the ten were healed of their leprosy.”

Then there is the scandal of this story. There are ten lepers. All ten are healed while they are on their way, but only one returns to give thanks. I do not mind telling you that that fact is the subject of thousands of Thanksgiving Day sermons. I can just see it out on the message board, outside the church. I can see the sermon title. You have seen it, I know. The sermon title is this one, “Where Are the Nine?” I know about that. I have preached that sermon. The idea, you see, is that we should all give thanks for the things that God has done for us. We all know that, we know that well. My problem with the nine is that they are doing exactly what Jesus told them to do. They are on their way to see their priests.

That is not the point of this story, not really. I have come to realize that. Really this story has two parts. We start out with this being a healing story and a miracle story. It is a whopper of a healing story. Ten were healed in one fell swoop. Ten for the price of one. You don’t get that often in the Bible. The first part of the story is about the healing. Ten were healed. The second part of the story is that one of them, one of the ten, not only was healed, he, also, was saved. The scandal of the story, and you cannot miss this because it flies in your face. The one that was saved one a Samaritan. Luke tells this story this way on purpose. He does not tell you that the saved one was a Samaritan until late in the story. Just when you thought that you could sit back and be dazzled, Luke gives us that detail that makes us sit up and take notice. You do that because you cannot help but to think that if a Samaritan stops to give thanks, then we should, too. So this is a miracle story, yes, but it is more than that. It is a church story, too. It says that church people, above all people, should live with the expectation in their lives that God is still working in this world to free us. That God is still working in the world to give new life to his children. The story also says that we cannot just sit back and wait for it to happen. We have to step out in faith, knowing that God will help us.

So what are we supposed to do with these words this morning? How can they speak to our lives these days? Not many of us have found ourselves on the road between Galilee and Samaria. Not many of you will cry out to Jesus, “Unclean! Unclean!” Unless I have missed it, no one in this church has leprosy. But there are things that have kept us apart and separated from the ones that we love. There are things that caused us to cry out to Jesus, on whatever road we are on, “Jesus, have mercy on me.” Perhaps this is where our lesson hits home this morning. Maybe no one knows what kind of leprosy we are dealing with and what kinds of things we are struggling and fighting with. Most of the time, these things tend to stay in the secret places of our souls. There, down deep, we silently cry out, “Jesus, have mercy on me.” That is one of the lessons that I want you to take home with you this morning.

But there is something else that I want you to hear today, too. If you will go out the sanctuary door, turn to your left, and turn again to your left, you will see the pictures of pastors who have served this church. My picture is not up there yet, but soon it will be. If you look back to Rev. Jeanie Burton, you will notice that there have been several pastoral changes here since 1995. You know that. We have to take a step towards wholeness. I do not think that we are ill. I think that we are a strong and powerful church. I could not ask to serve a greater church. But we have to take a step in faith, knowing that God is going to continue to bless us. Are you with me this morning? I am real emotional about this. You trusted a thirty-four year old pastor who has only served two other appointments, to be your pastor. You are responding to my leadership. Thank you. We took a step forward two weeks ago with the completion of our stewardship emphasis. I had never done a pledge program before. Last year you pledged faithfully and I appreciate that. This year you have pledged $43,500 more than you did last year. Do you know what that helps this church do? It helps us give our children’s ministry $1000 more dollars. It helps us give our youth ministry the additional monies that they asked for. It helps me look at our contemporary worship service and move towards it. We want to pay our apportionments in 2003. Because of your pledges, we are going to meet our obligations. Your pledges help me give a cost of living raise to our staff. They are overworked and this shows them appreciation. Now, let me quickly say that if you have not pledged, it is not too late. We need additional monies to put back for reserves. Susie and I pay money in a saving’s account. The church should do the same kind of thing. I hope that one day we will be able to add additional persons to our staff. There is always community work to be done here. You took a step of faith in pledging to God and this church. I took it with you. I pledge to this church. I want to thank you. Do you know what I think has happened? I think that it is time to turn back around, to return to Jesus, to kneel at his feet, and to say “Thank-you, Lord, for what you are doing here.” That is our prayer today. Amen.