Rev. Dustin ParkerIsolation NOT
Concordia Lutheran Church
Pentecost 20, October 10, 2010
The Depth of Grace
Luke 17:11-19
In Jesus Name
As you realize the grace of God our Father that is yours in Christ Jesus, may your realize the depth of that grace, as you trust in it, and it makes you well!
July 20th, 1969, twenty one hours that would leave people in awe – even to this day. It seemed to revolve around 2 men, and a third, as relatively short distance away, while the rest of humanity seemed on another planet.
It might take you a moment to remember what happened that day, yet even as astonishing as the event was, it impacts your life to this day, even if you do not realize it.
Anyone know or even remember what happened on that day?
The names of the men will help. Michael, Edward and Neil.
Ed would be better recognized by his nickname “buzz” and Neil is best known for one small step…
The trip was incredible, the words of the men echo through our hearts and minds for those who remember. "Houston, Tranquility Base here…. (pause for them to remember) The Eagle has landed." Anyone remember that?
Even as the views from the moon were incredible, more incredible are the technological advances that have come about because of the trip. They are still changing our lives. Because of the advances of the Apollo program we sleep better, we eat healthier, we cook our food faster, and it is preserved better. We have different exercise programs and new styles of protective clothing for everything from race car drivers, to scuba divers to people with weakened bodies. Kidney Dialysis and other medical advances took extreme leaps, and we even have things like cell phones and flat screen televisions. The impact is still continuing from and event that took 21 hours, forty one years ago…
There is one more significant thing that happened while they were on the moon that went unnoticed for years… but in my opinion, was far more long ranging and incredible. That comes later.
Often that which draws the attention and the awe, and the joy, overshadows that which is the more incredible, and longer lasting. So is it in the reading from today’s gospel. Only 10 percent realized the bigger picture, the more incredible miracle, the thing which resulted in far more joy and awe.
The Law of Separation
Can you imagine for a moment, what went on in the mind of the third astronaut, , as he watched the lunar module break from the command module, and his partners descend to the moon? Knowing there was a good chance that they would not return, and that he would have to return to earth… if he could manage it on his own? For 21 hours, there would be only voices, and distant pictures…as humanity was so… distant. Even his name is lost to most of us, for Michael Collins didn’t live in the limelight, but was separated from all of humanity.
The lepers life was similarly separated, on the fringe, never able to participate in life, never part of the community. Their bodies were cruelly disfigured, When someone dared come close, the lepers had to yell warnings, specific warnings that they were “unclean”. Contact with them, or with their possessions would render their friends unclean, and cause them to be separated as well. They were not allowed in the marketplaces, at community events, or even at the synagogue meetings, where they could hear some message of hope. Their disease was often counted as the result of sin, and it had the same effect – it separated them from the people of God, and from God. They were cut off, abandoned, (pause) alone.
Alone with only the pain, the sores, the stench of that which afflicted them.
Imagine if each one of us, who was determined to be unclean because of sin, had to be physically separate from all others, and shout out our sin, and telling people that they had to stay away from us. One could cry I’m a gossip, another an adulterer, another yelling that he wanted to murder someone, someone might say they covet, they are envious of another person’s car, or house, or spouse, or family. That we had to daily live separated from those we love, and from those whose lives would be such a blessing. Sometimes the sin is others, but too often it is ours.
Dear people of God, even though we don’t see the sores of sin, if it is not dealt with, it does separate us. Whether that is our sin, or as we heard in last week’s gospel, the sin of others. We hesitate and draw ourselves in, we don’t trust and we wonder if people really knew us.. Would they stay away? Would they realize our wounds, and would those wounds scare them away?
As a society, even in this community, we are not so unlike the leper communities of Jesus day,
We need to know our tears, our cries for hope, for mercy, will be heard…
Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! Lord Have mercy!
The Answer: The Gift of Healing
The ten lepers stood as close as they could, and they cried for Jesus, the master, to have mercy. They had no other hope, they had no other option, desperate, tired of their loneliness, they grasped at a passing straw, a potential hope. Even they had heard of his miracles, of widow’s sons raised from the dead, of Samaritan women who knew forgiveness and life, of those who were healed by His touch, People who spent years separated from those that they loved. They cried out for mercy, for compassion even as the rich man did last week, even as so many had.
With his eyes set on Jerusalem, and on the cross, Jesus’ answer seems short, to the point, a command.
Go, show yourselves to the priests
The command of the Old Testament, to those who were lepers who though themselves clean. They had to be declared clean by the priests at the temple – and provide a thanks offering, as they rejoiced in the cleansing. That’s a long journey for them, not just a step or two across town, but to the same destination as Jesus, to the place where he will take all that is unclean, and bear it on the cross.
I am not sure they would bother to think about going as an act of faith, or desperation, or just as a thread of hope, for the life that had been so damaged to be made new. They go, and they are healed. Not because they went, but because God ordained that they would be. Their healing not conditional on the journey, but the journey is what those who have been healed do.
I can imagine the joy, the celebration, as they saw the sores disappear. As infected muscles regained strength, as they realized they were cleansed. Yes! How amazing! How incredible.
(get excited here) Nine of them would continue in their celebration, they were healed, they were cleansed, they could live again, they were restored to their families, they would never have to cry unclean again! What a miracle! For them it would be as life-changing as walking on the moon. It would be that dramatic to those who witnessed it, who would rejoice with them! The towns would all be talking about it, those who were young would remember witnessing those who were cleansed.
But one would know that there was something more… that life was more than just changed by the healing.. that something wonderful had happened that went beyond the healing.
The Depth of the Grace – He sees God
The man, this Samaritan outcast, turns back. Something more has happened, that was overlooked. Who can straight out heal someone like this? Who can cleanse a leper from the disease, from the isolation, and restore him to the family, to the community?
He heads back rushing, rejoicing, yet still just beginning to see through the healing to being truly made whole. TO be able to stand, and worship – to fall on his face before God. Not just the god of the Samaritans, or the gods of the Romans, or even the god the Jews claimed was only theirs. This is God! Here! For Him!
More than healed, he was no longer separated from God, from God’s love, and mercy. Being cleansed opened up something far more incredible – he could be in the presence of God!
One wonders if those treated with Kidney Dialysis before the trip to the moon, who saw the benefit of the advances in their treatment see the first steps on the moon more important than we do? While all our lives are impacted, theirs were changed.
So too with this leper, the man who was healed, but whom Jesus declares that He is well! In the presence of God, this man is declared well – good, whole, saved, rescued. Declared by God, never to be separated from family and friends, nor from the God who created him. No wonder this man worships, and bows flat in wonder and awe and joy and praise and adoration of Jesus.
The Communion
Of all the things that occurred in the first twenty-one hours of man being present on the moon, one thing, overlooked by most, even the participant, strikes me as the most important.
Just before Armstrong walks on the moon, and plants a flag, and says words that have burned into the memories of a billion people. Buzz Aldrin does something incredible. He asks the world to give thanks to God, takes out a small chalice, and a little scrap of bread – the bread from the loaf his church would use that day to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and wine from the same bottle. He reads these words…
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 (ESV)
The one who returned, the one who was separated from God, and from God’s people grasped so deeply, this grace of God that heals us, and saves us from sin, and even more, to a relationship with a God who welcomes us into His presence, and removes every sin, and everything that makes us unclean, and welcomes us to His feast.
A feast that is marked by love and peace and a sense of fellowship, koinonia, fellowship. The incredible feast that binds us together, despite the distance, for it has cleansed us from all that separates us from Him, and from each other.
We are at peace… God’s peace, which surpasses all understanding, and guards our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus! Amen?
 
Pentecost 20, October 10, 2010
The Depth of Grace
Luke 17:11-19
In Jesus Name
As you realize the grace of God our Father that is yours in Christ Jesus, may your realize the depth of that grace, as you trust in it, and it makes you well!
July 20th, 1969, twenty one hours that would leave people in awe – even to this day. It seemed to revolve around 2 men, and a third, as relatively short distance away, while the rest of humanity seemed on another planet.
It might take you a moment to remember what happened that day, yet even as astonishing as the event was, it impacts your life to this day, even if you do not realize it.
Anyone know or even remember what happened on that day?
The names of the men will help. Michael, Edward and Neil.
Ed would be better recognized by his nickname “buzz” and Neil is best known for one small step…
The trip was incredible, the words of the men echo through our hearts and minds for those who remember. "Houston, Tranquility Base here…. (pause for them to remember) The Eagle has landed." Anyone remember that?
Even as the views from the moon were incredible, more incredible are the technological advances that have come about because of the trip. They are still changing our lives. Because of the advances of the Apollo program we sleep better, we eat healthier, we cook our food faster, and it is preserved better. We have different exercise programs and new styles of protective clothing for everything from race car drivers, to scuba divers to people with weakened bodies. Kidney Dialysis and other medical advances took extreme leaps, and we even have things like cell phones and flat screen televisions. The impact is still continuing from and event that took 21 hours, forty one years ago…
There is one more significant thing that happened while they were on the moon that went unnoticed for years… but in my opinion, was far more long ranging and incredible. That comes later.
Often that which draws the attention and the awe, and the joy, overshadows that which is the more incredible, and longer lasting. So is it in the reading from today’s gospel. Only 10 percent realized the bigger picture, the more incredible miracle, the thing which resulted in far more joy and awe.
The Law of Separation
Can you imagine for a moment, what went on in the mind of the third astronaut, , as he watched the lunar module break from the command module, and his partners descend to the moon? Knowing there was a good chance that they would not return, and that he would have to return to earth… if he could manage it on his own? For 21 hours, there would be only voices, and distant pictures…as humanity was so… distant. Even his name is lost to most of us, for Michael Collins didn’t live in the limelight, but was separated from all of humanity.
The lepers life was similarly separated, on the fringe, never able to participate in life, never part of the community. Their bodies were cruelly disfigured, When someone dared come close, the lepers had to yell warnings, specific warnings that they were “unclean”. Contact with them, or with their possessions would render their friends unclean, and cause them to be separated as well. They were not allowed in the marketplaces, at community events, or even at the synagogue meetings, where they could hear some message of hope. Their disease was often counted as the result of sin, and it had the same effect – it separated them from the people of God, and from God. They were cut off, abandoned, (pause) alone.
Alone with only the pain, the sores, the stench of that which afflicted them.
Imagine if each one of us, who was determined to be unclean because of sin, had to be physically separate from all others, and shout out our sin, and telling people that they had to stay away from us. One could cry I’m a gossip, another an adulterer, another yelling that he wanted to murder someone, someone might say they covet, they are envious of another person’s car, or house, or spouse, or family. That we had to daily live separated from those we love, and from those whose lives would be such a blessing. Sometimes the sin is others, but too often it is ours.
Dear people of God, even though we don’t see the sores of sin, if it is not dealt with, it does separate us. Whether that is our sin, or as we heard in last week’s gospel, the sin of others. We hesitate and draw ourselves in, we don’t trust and we wonder if people really knew us.. Would they stay away? Would they realize our wounds, and would those wounds scare them away?
As a society, even in this community, we are not so unlike the leper communities of Jesus day,
We need to know our tears, our cries for hope, for mercy, will be heard…
Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! Lord Have mercy!
The Answer: The Gift of Healing
The ten lepers stood as close as they could, and they cried for Jesus, the master, to have mercy. They had no other hope, they had no other option, desperate, tired of their loneliness, they grasped at a passing straw, a potential hope. Even they had heard of his miracles, of widow’s sons raised from the dead, of Samaritan women who knew forgiveness and life, of those who were healed by His touch, People who spent years separated from those that they loved. They cried out for mercy, for compassion even as the rich man did last week, even as so many had.
With his eyes set on Jerusalem, and on the cross, Jesus’ answer seems short, to the point, a command.
Go, show yourselves to the priests
The command of the Old Testament, to those who were lepers who though themselves clean. They had to be declared clean by the priests at the temple – and provide a thanks offering, as they rejoiced in the cleansing. That’s a long journey for them, not just a step or two across town, but to the same destination as Jesus, to the place where he will take all that is unclean, and bear it on the cross.
I am not sure they would bother to think about going as an act of faith, or desperation, or just as a thread of hope, for the life that had been so damaged to be made new. They go, and they are healed. Not because they went, but because God ordained that they would be. Their healing not conditional on the journey, but the journey is what those who have been healed do.
I can imagine the joy, the celebration, as they saw the sores disappear. As infected muscles regained strength, as they realized they were cleansed. Yes! How amazing! How incredible.
(get excited here) Nine of them would continue in their celebration, they were healed, they were cleansed, they could live again, they were restored to their families, they would never have to cry unclean again! What a miracle! For them it would be as life-changing as walking on the moon. It would be that dramatic to those who witnessed it, who would rejoice with them! The towns would all be talking about it, those who were young would remember witnessing those who were cleansed.
But one would know that there was something more… that life was more than just changed by the healing.. that something wonderful had happened that went beyond the healing.
The Depth of the Grace – He sees God
The man, this Samaritan outcast, turns back. Something more has happened, that was overlooked. Who can straight out heal someone like this? Who can cleanse a leper from the disease, from the isolation, and restore him to the family, to the community?
He heads back rushing, rejoicing, yet still just beginning to see through the healing to being truly made whole. TO be able to stand, and worship – to fall on his face before God. Not just the god of the Samaritans, or the gods of the Romans, or even the god the Jews claimed was only theirs. This is God! Here! For Him!
More than healed, he was no longer separated from God, from God’s love, and mercy. Being cleansed opened up something far more incredible – he could be in the presence of God!
One wonders if those treated with Kidney Dialysis before the trip to the moon, who saw the benefit of the advances in their treatment see the first steps on the moon more important than we do? While all our lives are impacted, theirs were changed.
So too with this leper, the man who was healed, but whom Jesus declares that He is well! In the presence of God, this man is declared well – good, whole, saved, rescued. Declared by God, never to be separated from family and friends, nor from the God who created him. No wonder this man worships, and bows flat in wonder and awe and joy and praise and adoration of Jesus.
The Communion
Of all the things that occurred in the first twenty-one hours of man being present on the moon, one thing, overlooked by most, even the participant, strikes me as the most important.
Just before Armstrong walks on the moon, and plants a flag, and says words that have burned into the memories of a billion people. Buzz Aldrin does something incredible. He asks the world to give thanks to God, takes out a small chalice, and a little scrap of bread – the bread from the loaf his church would use that day to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and wine from the same bottle. He reads these words…
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 (ESV)
The one who returned, the one who was separated from God, and from God’s people grasped so deeply, this grace of God that heals us, and saves us from sin, and even more, to a relationship with a God who welcomes us into His presence, and removes every sin, and everything that makes us unclean, and welcomes us to His feast.
A feast that is marked by love and peace and a sense of fellowship, koinonia, fellowship. The incredible feast that binds us together, despite the distance, for it has cleansed us from all that separates us from Him, and from each other.
We are at peace… God’s peace, which surpasses all understanding, and guards our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus! Amen?
 
