Hope-full, Joy-full Stewards

Reverend Philip Stringer

Luke 17:11-19

LET US PRAY: You, O Lord, are the author of life. Speak to our hearts and fill us with the breath of your Spirit, that we may live and move in your ways, all the days of our life. AMEN

Singing in the Rain

Oklahoma

The Music Man

Snow White

West Side Story

When you think about it, musicals are pretty ridiculous. I mean, really: when was the last time you saw an entire farming community burst into song and dance with flawless choreography?

Life isn’t like that. And yet, there is something about a musical that just resonates. It resonates because we all have experienced that feeling that — inner voice that says, “I feel a song coming on...”

Sometime joy just takes over. A question for us to consider today is, “what do we have to be joyful about?” What do YOU have to be joyful about?

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I have a friend whose favorite word is “joy,” and she points out that there is a distinction between this word and the word “happy.” Happy, she says, is a mood. But joy is a state of being.

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There were ten lepers in a village, and they had nothing to be either happy OR joyful about. “Leper,” was a term applied to anyone with an incurable disease of the skin -- and once ascribed, such a person was utterly cut off from society. They were untouchable. Unclean physically -- and because people believed disease was the result of sin — unclean spiritually as well.

Lepers were not allowed to function in society. They were not permitted in the villages. On a road they were to keep as much distance as possible from healthy people. If they broke these rules, they could be stoned to death.

They typically lived in caves in the wilderness. The lucky ones had family who still cared for them, who would bring out food and clothing for them -- dropped off at a distance so as to avoid contact. The less fortunate had to beg for mercy from people who saw them as less than human.

So, the ten lepers who met Jesus as he entered the village had nothing to be happy OR joyful about. They HAD nothing and WERE nothing.

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What do we have to be joyful about?

The answer to that question has everything to do with where we look for hope.

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When we look at the 10 lepers, we know that there is one who is the hero. One of these ten has something that the others do not have, and we can’t see what it is until the burden of their leprosy is removed.

All of them, as lepers, had no choice but to live by the rules for lepers -- if they did not, they would die. And, according to the wisdom of the day, since leprosy was the result of sin, their only hope was that if they followed the rules and stayed alive long enough, perhaps the punishment would be removed, and they would be restored to society. A priest at the synagogue was the only one who could declare them restored.

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So, the hope of lepers is in being obedient and following the rules, and perhaps – someday -- they will be alive again.

We see how dutifully the lepers in our story keep the rules -- they keep their distance from Jesus. He told them to see the priests, and they dutifully went.

Even after they have become clean on their way, they continue –dutifully -- to follow the rules and see the priest. It is their only hope for being restored to society.

So here is where their hope is. It is in: obedience, good works, the approval of holy priests and the acceptance of society. Their hope is in everything material.

Such hope does not give them joy - only the dream of getting lucky.

It seems to me that a lot of people today are still living by the rule of lepers. They are still living with the hope of lepers that if they are good and follow the rules, perhaps they will make it into heaven.

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Have you ever placed your hope in things that cannot give you joy? Has your joy ever depended upon your works -- the approval of others? Your acceptance by society? By your financial or physical security?

There is nothing wrong with any of these. I suspect that we all want to feel that what we do is good in the sight of others. There’s not a person on the planet who doesn’t want to be safe and comfortable and accepted by others.

But what we learn in our scripture texts today is that these cannot be the source of — and can never give to us — a sure and certain hope.

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One of the 10 is different. He is like the others in every way physically. But in his hope, he is different, and it shows in his immediate joy when he is cleansed. He is filled with joy because his hope isn’t in any of the things we listed for the nine. His hope is in God, the maker of all things.

The one who came back is a model for us, because he knows that the beginning place for the way one should live one’s life is with worship of the giver of life. His hope is in God -- and it fills him with joy.

There is a lot that he will still have to face. He will need the priest’s approval. He doesn’t know if he will be discriminated against -- if his family will welcome him back, if he will find work -- or even if he will stay healthy. He doesn’t know any of these things.

But one thing he does know: God establishes order, gives work, is above the church and society, gives us family and all things material — and this God is merciful.

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To be joyful doesn’t mean that we will always be happy or in a good mood. We will have bad days. And as the Buddhists point out, in this world the one thing we can be certain of is that we will have suffering.

But the one who came back shows us that even in such experiences, and even in a world such as this, we will be filled with joy if our hope is in God. A life of faith in the power of God’s love is a life well-lived.

Living “hopeful lives” is living lives that are hope-filled. Full of hope in the one who loves us. Lives that are shaped by a sure and certain hope in the maker of all things -- and of you and me. Hope in the one who makes a covenant with you and me.

How hope-full are you?

This could just as easily be a story about us, you know. Actually, let’s just just step beyond theory and admit — this IS, also, our story. Covered with the disease of our sin, there would be nothing for us to do on our own except to follow the rules and pray that God would judge us worthy.

But before we can even finish trying to achieve our dreams by doing good works, we are cleansed by the waters of baptism, so that life can be more than duty. It can be joyful.

Should our hope be in our cleanliness, or the one who cleanses us?

Should our joy be subject to our health and wealth, or should it be in the one who gives health and salvation in Jesus?

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With his hope in God, the one who came back threw off the burden of law. He immediately stopped following the law of lepers and began LIVING the law of love!

He didn’t go to the priest. He did not receive a priest’s approval. Nevertheless, …

He didn’t avoid people along the way but praised God loudly before them.

He didn’t keep his distance from Jesus but ran right up to his feet.

With his hope in God, obedience to the law has been replaced by joy as the distinguishing mark of his life.

The other nine received healing. But God intends something more than this for us. Faith in God’s love filled the 10th man’s heart, and to him, Jesus said, “your faith has made you well.”

How about us? Is your live marked by the law of lepers or by joy over the mercy of God? How hope-full are you?

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The other nine followed the way of duty. But Jesus said to this man, “Go on YOUR way.” Hope in Christ sets one free.

In the waters of baptism, you are washed clean as a gift of God.

You are not only clean. You are well.

You not only have hope. You have reason for joy.

We not only have life, but we have it abundantly.

Today, God’s living Word comes to you in the story of a leper and proclaims that you not only have the forgiveness of your sins.

You have the freedom to live a joy-filled life.

Hope-filled lives as the children of God, who gives all good things — and especially the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.

You and I are the stewards of that Good News. And God intends it to be a joy-filled stewardship.

Today, we gather at the feet of Jesus.

Like the one who came back, we dare to take a place at his table — not out of duty -- not because we have earned it — but because of what he has done for us.

And living hope-fully, we can leave here as he did, too:

“Go on your way. Your faith has made you well.”

AMEN