Happy Thanksgiving!
I’d like to look at the setting of today’s Gospel.
Jesus is
continuing His journey to Jerusalem. ¿What’s going to happen when He gets there,
in Jerusalem? …. Not good.
The Gospel
states: “He traveled through Samaria and
Galilee…” Samaria was Samaritan
territory and Galilee Jewish territory.
Jews and Samaritans were enemies.
Samaritans were descendants of the ten northern tribes of Israel that
broke away after King Solomon, formed their own country, and with it their own
worship. There was a bitter civil
war. Jews worshiped in Jerusalem, the
Samaritans on Mt. Gerazim, and they looked on each other as heretics.
So Jesus is in
a border area, a border between two opponents.
It would be like travelling today through Gaza and Israel, or Texas and
Northern Mexico. Lots of tension, lots
of armed guards, lots of animosity. It
is a conflicted situation that is uneasy and not at all settled.
In this
situation ten lepers approach Jesus. It
is a mixed group. Men and women
perhaps? Jews and Samaritans. Young and old probably? Their differences erased by their common
affliction and misery. Their identity
was reduced to their disease. Ten
lepers.
They shout, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”
And Jesus does. He
tells them to “Go show yourselves to the
priests” so that they can be declared healed and clean, and return to
community.
All ten are
healed. One returns. And he is a Samaritan. The one enemy is the one who returns to give
thanks to God. He is the only one to
whom Jesus proclaims “Your faith has
saved you.” The heretic is the one
with faith.
Wouldn’t you
like to know what happened in this guy’s life after that? Here is an opening for some speculation and
midrash. Did he follow Jesus? Go back to Samaria? Become a disciple? Who knows?
But this
Gospel is about us. How do we come to
Jesus looking to be cleansed? Cleansed
of spiritual leprosy: of selfishness? Of
lies? Of gossip and greed and lust and
hard-heartedness? Cleansed of fear so
that we may truly be alive?
Do we first of
all have the wisdom and the courage to cry out, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on
us?” That raises the question: Is Jesus our Master? And, do we recognize our need for
healing?
The correct
response to Jesus’ healing is gratitude.
Gratitude.
What are we as St. Austin Parish grateful for?
- Anyone grateful for new bathrooms, nursery and new lobby
area?
- Anyone grateful for the Christmas Basket project that has
been going on here for many years?
- And the for St. Vincent de Paul Society, and Thursday Outreach,
which do such great but often quiet work through the WHOLE year, not just at
the holidays??
- Anyone here grateful for our wonderful St Austin School,
that not only does such a great job of preparing our children academically but
even more importantly does a remarkable job of forming and developing our
students’ morally and spiritually?
- How about the music ministries here, the lectors, ushers,
eucharistic ministers, our deacons and the Paulists? Anyone grateful for them?
- How about the phenomenal Kristallnact program we just had
here, that was beautiful, touching, thought provoking, challenging, and so
professionally done?
I am especially
grateful for the Parish Pastoral Council, the Property Committee, the Finance
Council, the School Advisory Board, the Development Committee, the Investment
Committee, and many other boards and councils, and all the dedicated and
talented people who generously share their time and talent in this plethora of
endless meetings. We can even be
grateful for meetings! AMEN?
[PAUSE]
Brothers and sisters, just like in the time of Jesus, we too
are in a time of tension, of conflict, of animosity and disease. But just like in the time of Jesus we also
have much for which to give thanks.
Our model is
the Samaritan, who returned glorifying God in a loud voice, fell at the feet of
Jesus and thanked Him. Let us do the
same. AMEN.
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