20th Sunday after Pentecost Luke 17:11-19 October 10, 2010

       20Pentecost2010                                 Luke 17:11-19                            October 10, 2010              
Years ago I got to meet Madeleine L’Engle on one of her speaking tours.  Perhaps some of you have heard her speak as well, or have read some of her 65 books, or at least her bestselling novel A Wrinkle in Time.  I was surprised to learn it took her years to find a publisher for Wrinkle as she called it.  She sent it to lots of major publishers and they just didn’t know what to do with it.  A lesser known company finally took the risk and it was the best decision they ever made.  
Sometimes it’s good to take a risk – even if it seems illogical. Jesus took a risk in today’s Lukan Gospel.  He risked believing those afflicted with leprosy in today’s Gospel could believe themselves to ever again be whole.  They were not healed until they believed enough they could be to take the steps Jesus directed them to take.  It took the life-giving word of Jesus to help them see their potential – to see themselves as Jesus saw them.  That’s the spiritual journey – learning to see ourselves, others, and the world as Christ sees us.  That is our healing. 
Today’s Gospel brought to mind one of Madeleine L’Engle’s least known writings. It’s a short story called The 101st Miracle. Maybe some of you have read it.  I haven’t been able to lay my hands on a copy for quite some time, but over all the years since I read it I haven’t forgotten the story. It’s set in the first century when Jesus was healing people as he traveled through regions around Samaria and Galilee, much like the setting in Luke 17.  L’Engle’s is not a true story, but like many non-fiction stories, it has its own truth.  And it goes something like this:
A young girl is blind since birth and her parents, though poor, do their best by her. She’s an adventurous girl and in her efforts to get out and see the world she makes friends with a woman who lives at the edge of the village. This woman never gathers with the other women at the market place or the village well.  She keeps to herself, but she’s kind to the little blind girl.  She doesn’t shun her like the others because she is blind and she gives her bread to eat as she obviously is not well fed.
The parents are glad their daughter is getting out, but they wonder where she spends her time. The girl tells them of the one person who is kind to her and they are horrified when they realize that the woman is the village prostitute.  The parents forbid their daughter to visit her anymore.  The girl is heartbroken because she had finally found a friend.
Exploring further out of the village to find new friends she gradually becomes acquainted with a young boy who lives outside the city gate.  Over time they share stories and laugh and play.  The woman the little girl had come to know but is forbidden to visit still gives her bread when she passes by her house and the girl in turns shares the bread with the little boy who also seems so very hungry.
One day the blind girl asks to touch the little boy’s face to see what he looks like with her hands since she cannot see him with her eyes.  He stands back and refuses.  “You cannot touch me,” he says. “In fact, you shouldn’t even be near me.” She has not known he has leprosy, as does the whole colony with whom he lives. The little girl had discovered his gentle spirit and begs him to still be her friend.  She is sure he is as beautiful outside as he is inside.  She continues to visit and play and bring food to share.
One day the little boy comes running to her.  “You’ve got to come and meet him,” he says taking her hand.  “Meet who?” she asks, surprised that he has taken her hand.  “You must come and meet Jesus. He has cured me and all my family of our skin disease and I am sure he can cure your eyes too.”  So they ran to find Jesus. 
When they found him, the blind girl gets to talk with Jesus and tells him of her friendship with the woman her parents forbid her to visit and she tells him how nice it is that her friend here is well now and how they have such fun together. The time she spends with Jesus does something to her.  Her heart is filled with joy and she begins to see herself in a whole new way – as beautiful from the inside out.
When it is time for Jesus to move on to the next village, she gives him a big hug and thanks him for healing her heart in so many ways.  As she and the little boy walk towards her home the little boy is so excited that she will now we able to see, but he notices that she doesn’t see. 
And she says, “Oh, yes, I see.  I see as I’ve never seen before.  Isn’t Jesus wonderful!”  And she lived on with her blind eyes never noticing that the boy’s face was filled with scars and his fingers were gone.  She never saw that the prostitute woman who was so generous had a shabby house and worn clothes. Though still blind, the girl was filled with joy as she saw as Jesus saw.  
When I first read that story I was disappointed that the girl wasn’t cured of her blindness, not for her sake so much, as she seemed perfectly delighted with the joy of knowing Jesus. My disappointment was for myself.  I liked the idea of Jesus both healing and curing. 
Why not tell a story of Jesus fixing everything that needs fixing?  But the more I have lived with this story over the years, the more realistic I think it is.  I have seen many people healed in heart and soul who have not been cured.  This story also helps us grasp something significant in the Luke 17 story.
Luke 17 tells of ten lepers who shout out to Jesus, “Have mercy.”  They do not ask to be touched or cured. They ask for mercy – in whatever shape Jesus’ mercy would come. The text tells us “When Jesus saw them, he said, Go and show yourselves to the priests.”  Jesus “saw” them.  I think that is one of the most profound statements in the Bible.  Jesus “saw” them in their predicament.  To be seen by Jesus as we are, is both gift and promise. 
Jesus didn’t turn the other way.  He didn’t close his eyes in judgment.  He didn’t pretend he didn’t see them. He didn’t run to more important things. “Jesus saw them.” And when he saw, he didn’t rush to fix anything.  He empowered them to do for themselves what was needed.  They needed a certificate of cleanliness so they could be restored to community.  And it was when they took those first steps down the road to the priests that they were healed.  “As they went, they were made clean.”  They stopped crying for mercy and followed the guidance of Jesus. “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God.”  Transformation comes when we begin to see ourselves as Jesus sees us – individually and as a community – and take steps that honor that way of seeing.
That’s why Baptism is such a precious gift to the Christian community.  In baptism we are washed and made whole forever through Christ. Remembering our baptism is seeing ourselves as Jesus sees us.  Not always cured this side of heaven, but deeply healed, by the mercy of God.  And that’s why our attending to Holy Scripture is so important – listening closely to the words of Jesus for us – personally and corporately.  There are times for crying out for mercy and there are times to stop crying out and start following where God’s mercy bids us go. 
Gratitude wells up when we trust God hears and sees us. Helping each other see God’s mercy is a role of Christian community – helping each other trust we are seen by one who knows of suffering and also of being raised. 
“We are people created, chosen by God, then we’re washed, ever gently, in mercy and love.  Wounds have power no more. Jesus opened the door to a fountain bringing healing, and wholeness and more.”   (ELW 453)

                                                                                                            Amen

   +Pastor Peg Schultz-Akerson, to the glory of God
Faith Lutheran Church, Chico, CA