When I start doing exegesis for a sermon, I like to start by diving into the text. I ask questions, point out things that surprise or confuse me, try to pick up on themes, and so forth, drawing just from my initial interaction with the text. Then I go to the commentaries and start doing the serious research. So in this post, I'm just going to write my initial reaction to the text and start to pick up on some questions or themes I might want to pursue.
The story begins by noting that Jesus is heading to Jerusalem. Whenever I read this, I am reminded that the whole gospel narrative is building up to the final days of Jesus' life, when he goes to Jerusalem, is arrested, crucified, buried, and finally raised. This healing story cannot be read in isolation from those ultimate events.
Then the narrative introduces ten lepers. Immediately, I am thinking that these lepers are unclean, kept on the fringes of society, rejected by family and religion, probably in a very desperate situation. The lepers approach but keep their distance; it sounds like they are desperate to encounter Jesus but know their place. They won't come too close because they know their unclean state is contagious. In this respect, they seem respectful of Jesus; they want to talk to him but don't want to cause him trouble. At the same time, this distance emphasizes how tragic their situation is. They are bound and held back by their condition, unable to truly approach Jesus.
The lepers call out to Jesus, bridging the distance with their voices. They call Jesus "Master" and ask for mercy. These two terms are interesting to me. What is the significance of calling Jesus "Master"? Perhaps they are drawing on the patron system of their time, considering Jesus a patron who could help them? And why are they asking for mercy? Are they suggesting (can they even imagine) that Jesus could heal them and make them clean? Or are they just begging for a handout? Or are they asking for something else entirely?
Jesus sees (or looks at) the lepers, then tells them to show themselves to the priests. This is a strange order, since unclean lepers would not be allowed to come near the priests, who must remain pure. If I were one of these lepers, I would probably say, "I can't do that," and just give up. These lepers go, however, and as they are going, they are cleansed (literally, they become clean). The text does not explicitly say that Jesus cleansed them; in fact, it gives no reason at all. One of the lepers, seeing that he is healed (interesting that a different verb is used: "cleansed" in v. 14 and "healed" in v. 15), comes back, glorifying God. He falls at Jesus' feet and thanks him. So this leper does three things that stand out: he comes back, he glorifies God, and he thanks Jesus. There is no indication that the other nine lepers did any of those things. We also learn that this one leper is exceptional for another reason - he is a Samaritan. Samaritans were the people left behind in the Exile, rejected by the rest of the Jews when they returned from Babylon. As a result, this leper would have been looked down on by other Jews, perhaps even by the other nine lepers.
Jesus also points out that this one leper is unique. He says, "Were not ten made clean?" (so he knows that the cleansing happened, even though he apparently was not present for it) and asks, "But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Reading this, I get the impression that Jesus is viewing the one leper positively. I'm thinking that the other nine should have given glory to God. It also strikes me that Jesus emphasizes that the leper glorified God but does not mention that the leper gave thanks to Jesus.
Jesus' final words are the most difficult for me. He says, "Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." The Greek verb here is neither "cleansed" nor "healed," which appeared earlier in the passage, but literally "saved". Clearly, faith did not cleanse or heal this one leper as opposed to the other nine; all ten were cleansed. Rather, this unique leper stands out in Jesus' view for praising God, and Jesus concludes that the leper's faith has saved him. For me, this is the key; I want to wrestle more with this one leper and Jesus' statement, "Your faith has saved you."
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I think it is a really good point that you draw out that the faith seems to differ in some way with the Samaritan than with the other 9. The nine certainly seemed to have received what they asked for, but this sole leper seems to have grasped the deeper reality of who it was that was healing him. On a little side note, I would point out that it was necessary for the lepers, if they were Jewish, to make their way to the priestly class for the declaration of cleanliness. My understanding is that without such a declaration, the person would still be considered unclean.
ReplyDeleteI too would look closely at Jesus' statement of: "Your faith has saved you." It has some real meat that a sermon could be built around. I also like your putting into context what the leapers plight was like at the time, being kept on the outskirts of society and shunned. Sometimes (ok often) we have to put the story of Jesus' life into context for our hearers to truely understand what the meaning of the message is being shared with all of us.
ReplyDelete"...this distance emphasizes how tragic their situation is. They are bound and held back by their condition, unable to truly approach Jesus."
ReplyDeleteGreat thought. And oh so applicable to our condition as well. The things (sins, emotions, outside infuences, etc.) that we allow to get between us and Jesus are totally incredible and ridiculous but very real to us and most times we don't even realize it.
When I read the last words of Jesus in this passage I thought, 'wait a sec, Jesus isn't talking about physical healing anymore is he.'
Sounds like you are on a great path to a great sermon.