Sermons Online ...
Sermon - The Theme of Luke's Gospel - 14th October 2007
St Alban's Epping 7:00 am, 8.00 am and 10:00 am
Readings: Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7, Psalm 66:1-11, 2 Timothy 2:8-15, Luke 17:11-19
In preparation for today, I found an interesting and rather attractive notion, that it is the preacher's task to continue Luke's work and seek for analogous situations in our own church and times, for which the answers of Luke are appropriate. This throws me back clearly into trying to work out and present to you what Luke saw his work to be and what the situation was in his community. So today we are looking for Luke's concerns and those of the community to whom he was writing in a broad sense rather than analysing the gospel reading or any of our readings in detail. Some insight comes from the way Luke dealt with the sources he used in his gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles, which is somewhat of a companion volume. First, Luke used Mark's gospel, second, a collection of Jesus' sayings that was also used by Matthew and third, oral material that was around in the community at the time from the memories of eyewitnesses and those who had heard stories. He then wove together his selections and interpretation of them for his community's situation. Mercy appears to be a very persistent theme in his writing and tightly tied to the exercise of mercy, are repentance and forgiveness. Jesus' ministry is presented by Luke in terms of a message of pardon, healing and liberation. Luke's particular crafting of his gospel and the Acts is different from that of the other gospel writers. Luke is the one who expresses that core of the commandments in one all-embodying commandment, to love God and to love our neighbour, whereas Matthew and Mark don't do that. Then Luke adds the parable of the Good Samaritan with a final explicit instruction to go and to act mercifully towards others – and it seems to be without judgment or favour. The community was under persecution, more, it seems from their Jewish and other Christian neighbours rather than the Roman authorities. We know that when fellow believers disagree with us and criticise our way of expressing the faith, it puts pressure on us to be quite clear as to what we believe and to how we should behave. No different with Luke's community, and he called on them, no matter what their circumstances, to reflect God's nature by acting mercifully. In an interesting turn of thought, Luke portrays sinners as being privileged as they have mercy and forgiveness offered to them. Luke's canvas is richly, deliberately painted with compassion and mercy. It is often noted too that he depicts Jesus as having noticeable concern for women. This is evident where he uses Mark's stories, but reworks some of them, adding Mary and Martha, the widow of Nain and the healing of a crippled woman. He adds special parables concerning women, for example adding the story of the woman looking for the lost coin to the one about looking for the lost sheep.
There is a marked tenderness in some of these stories, with an only child being introduced twice into Mark's version. Sometimes, the parables conclude with the explicit command, “Go and do likewise”. Mercy, compassion and forgiveness are not only appropriate and Christlike behaviour that we might choose to emulate. For Jesus' followers, they are an imperative. We are to support each other in difficult times, and to show the mercy of God to those outside our own circle.
The healing of the blind man near Jericho and the healing of the 10 lepers in today's gospel story are the loving and merciful response of Jesus to an actual cry for mercy. The lepers probably had not what we call leprosy today, but a range of incredibly unattractive, obvious skin complaints feared to be contagious. Their situation was pitiful – not only was there no treatment for them, but the community protected itself first by driving them out from home and family into isolation and deemed them “unclean”. There were probably some pretty unholy alliances formed among the poor wretches struggling to survive. How else would one of the 10 be a Samaritan in company with the 9 Jews in the story? Knowing the rules, the diseased people kept their distance from Jesus and so must have had to really call out very loudly as they asked him for mercy. Jesus' reaction is interesting; he appeared to take no action whatever towards them but told them to go and show themselves to the priest for him to effectively give them a clean bill of health, the clearance to rejoin the community. What did that require of the men…surely a huge leap of faith. Can you imagine if they went unhealed to the priest, only to be sent away as still unclean and then regarded with suspicion as trying it on if they went again. I love the neat, economical way the story unfolds. As the men went, they were healed. The one who returned to thank Jesus actually saw that he was healed. That must have been amazing, eruptions, scabs, inflammation all gone and the skin looking intact and healthy. Then the nine Jewish lepers continued on their way not acknowledging the source of their healing, but the man despised, not trusted, reviled because he was a Samaritan, came back, thanked Jesus and praised God. In some ways, this story forms a pair with the story of the Good Samaritan. Perhaps we would see the grateful Samaritan as the other good Samaritan. Luke seems to be going out of his way to subvert the common prejudices of the Jews of the day against Samaritans. The two Samaritans in his stories embody love for God and love for neighbour, while the Jews in the stories, those who were confident they were God's very own, failed to demonstrate in their behaviour an embracing of the very heart of their law. Luke's stories are a powerful illustration to us of the responsibility to show goodness and compassion to our neighbours.
I was struck last year on a visit to the Holy Land to realise how much it is part of the expectation of being a Jew, to lead an upright life, part of which is showing compassion and generosity. None of us as Christians would ever speak against these qualities, but how often do we hear them preached about? In many repetitive Christian sermons these qualities have been subjugated by a distorting emphasis on the verbal acknowledgment of Jesus as personal saviour. Paul's call to us is to be a holy people living a Christlike life rather than a personal call that stops at telling us to repent and be saved.
In our reading today from Jeremiah, the exiled Jews are told to seek the welfare of those in the city of their exile. While the gospel seems to be the core of the teaching of today's lectionary readings, the other readings gently reinforce what Luke is telling us. The psalm speaks of giving thanks and praise to God, as the one leper did. In the epistle we are reminded of God's faithfulness and our call to present ourselves to God as one approved by him. Our God cannot deny himself, cannot turn from his nature as the “Christlike God” and we are to behave in a way that reflects that nature and our calling.
Bouncing straight off the story of the ten lepers, Luke speaks of the kingdom of God being found in the midst of Jesus' ministry. To preach the kingdom and to preach the good news are favourite phrases of Luke's to summarise the activities of Jesus and his followers. Where people like the lepers are set free, God's reign does not remain remote, to be realised at some future time; it is breaking into the present. In the person and ministry of Jesus, our future hope begins to be realised. How shall we be his hands, his voice to continue to bring about his kingdom? How shall we be involved in healing and freeing people? How shall we support each other and show compassion and forgiveness for those who feel they are outsiders?
If we look for the essence of today's readings, I think it has to be “Jesus, have mercy on us.”.
To whom shall we, as individuals, as the community of St Alban's, as the nation of Australia on the brink of an election, likewise show mercy? How shall we be Christlike in showing mercy? Will our failure to do so, by neglect or hardness of heart, or by deliberate choice, impede the coming of the Kingdom of God ?
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us…and show us your way.