God’s grace, peace
and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled A Samaritan Thanksgiving,
and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 17:11-19). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the
psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house
of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to
hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our
hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity.
Amen.
We were taught in
grade school that a good reporter always asks six questions: Who? What? When?
Where? Why? How? That came to mind as I spent some time reading this passage.
Who are these Samaritans? When did they first appear? Where did they come from?
What are they doing here? Why is there such animosity between them and the
Jews? How does any of this relate to Thanksgiving?
First, Who? What?
When? Where? In the 1st Book of Kings, we read how the land was
split into two kingdoms after the death of Solomon. The southern kingdom was
called Judah, and that is where Jerusalem is; and the northern was called
Israel, and that is where Galilee and Samaria are. The word Samaritan comes
from Shemer, name of the owner who sold his property to King Omri. 1st
Kings reports, “In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began
to reign over Israel, and he reigned for twelve years; six years he reigned in
Tirzah. [Omri] bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of
silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the city that he built
Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.” (16:24).
Samaritan tradition holds that this hill, the
summit of Mount Gerizim, is the true location of God's Holy Place. They take
this from Deuteronomy 11:29, which reads, “When the Lord your God brings
you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set
the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.” Therefore, Samaritans
trace their history as a separate entity to a period soon after the Israelites'
entry into the Promised Land.
According to their
history, the High Priest Eli started a schism when he left Mount Gerizim (Canaan)
and built a competing altar nearby (Shiloh).[1] The dissenters who
followed Eli would be the ones who then headed south to settle Jerusalem. These
people became known as the Jews, whereas the Israelites who stayed on Mount
Gerizim, in Samaria, would become known as the Samaritans.
To better
understand what I mean, it helps to look at a few maps because you can see that
Samaria lies between Galilee and Judea, and stretches from the Jordan River to
the Mediterranean Sea. It has been inhabited by Israel for thousands of years.
Samaritans also consider
Samaritanism to be the true religion of the ancient Israelites and regard
modern mainstream Judaism as a closely related but altered religion. Their central
holy text is the Samaritan Pentateuch (or Torah), which Samaritans believe is
the original, unchanged version of the Torah. Samaritans hold that their
religion is the holy faith that began with Moses, unchanged over the millennia
that have since passed. Today, a small community of hundreds of Samaritans
still endures. Most live on or near Mount Gerizim, where they continue to study
and practice their Torah.[2]
Now that I have
sufficiently answered the who, what, when and where questions, we move onto the
next question: Why the animosity? If you ever have a chance to visit the Heinz
History Center, you will come across a display of high school football helmets
telling the stories of rivalries: Monaca-Rochester, Aliquippa-Ambridge and so
on. Sticking to my sports image, think of the rivalries between the Bears and
the Packers, the Raiders and the Chargers. Wanna see a fist fight? Go to a
Dodgers-Giants game. Wanna see a fight to the finish? Visit Gettysburg.
Rivalries are not always friendly. Last week, a friend was telling us that when
she moved South for work, one of her co-workers referred to her still as a Damn
Yankee and observed not Veterans Day but Confederate Veterans Day. The
animosity between North and South, the Union and the Confederacy is well known.
The animosity between France and Germany started 1,000 years earlier – in 843 –
and lasted through 35 wars, battles or skirmishes.
The animosity
between Jews and Samaritans makes the feud between the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s
look like Cub Scouts playing mumblety-peg. A lot of the blame for this
animosity is placed on that evil Queen Jezebel. As the wife of King Ahab and
Queen of Israel nearly 900 years before Jesus walked through Samaria on his way
to Jerusalem, she alienated everyone by supporting Baal worship and
slaughtering the prophets of Yahweh. Even after the prophecy of Ezekiel came
true, and dogs licked her blood, she continued to influence the nation through
her son, Ahaziah.[3]
The animosity
between Samaritans and Jews did not stop there. After Samaia was besieged by
the Assyrians, its inhabitants were deported. The Assyrians resettled the land
with foreigners, and each group brought their own gods as they spread throughout
Israel and eventually Judah.[4] This lasted for several
generations until the Assyrians were driven out, and fast-forwarding 100 years
or so past the Exile, Cyrus becomes King of the Persians and Medes, and issues
an Edict (538 BC) that allows the Samaritans and Jews to return to their native
lands and rebuild the Temple. The best part is that Cyrus is paying to build
the Second Temple.
You would think
that everyone would live happily ever after from that point! But noooo! The
altar of holocausts is restored and the foundation is set.[5] We read in Ezra these
“adversaries” approached Zerubbabel, Joshua and others and said, “Let us
build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing
to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”
Zerubbabel replied, “You have
nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build
to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded
us.”[6]
In other words, “Hit the road, Jack.”
The Samaritans
don’t go quietly into the night. They harass the people to get them to stop
rebuilding. They write to the new King of Persia, and conclude with: “We
make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you
will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.” This
prompted the Persians to enter into Jerusalem and forcibly stop the work on the
Temple. Eventually, under King Darius, the Temple was completed. In
thanksgiving to God, “[The Jews] offered at the dedication of this house
of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel 12
male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.” (Ezra
6:17). Soon after, the exiles returned home, and eventually Judea was formed
into a theocratic state.[7]
The enmity did not
slow. When Alexander the Great rose to power and captured Asia Minor, the
Samaritans established a relationship with him. This relationship soured, and
they revolted. Alexander’s appointed prefect quelled the revolt and destroyed
their city. It was eventually rebuilt in Greek style architecture and resettled
with Macedonians (Greeks).
After Alexander’s
death, the kingdom was divided, and Antiochus Epiphanes became the king who
ruled over the land of Israel. He “wrote to his whole kingdom that all
should be one people, and abandon their particular customs. All the Gentiles
conformed to the command of the king, and many Israelites delighted in his
religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath.” (1 Macc
1:41-43) It was another great persecution of faithful Jews.
The Books of
Maccabees recount the events of the attempted suppression of Judaism in the
second century BC, and gives us further insight into the animosity. The first
book tells us that an army from Samaria chose to fight against Judas Maccabaeus
and his brothers. My point is that when it came time to choose, the Samaritans chose
to stand with the Gentiles against the Jews. I summarized centuries of
animosity between the Samaritans and the Jews so that you understand why they
were prejudiced against each other. History actually teaches us something about
other people. And that brings us up to the Gospel of Luke.
Before Harry
Potter became popular, children read a series of books called “Where’s Waldo?”
You had to find Waldo amidst a crowd of people on a journey to somewhere. I
mention that because we first have to ask where Jesus was when he started this
journey and where he was going. In chapter nine, Luke reports that Jesus took
some of his disciples to the top of Mt. Tabor, which is in Galilee. After that,
he sets his face towards Jerusalem. This meant that to get to his destination,
Jesus would pass through Samaritans towns and villages.
He sent messengers
ahead of him, who entered a Samaritan village, but they did not welcome him,
because his face was set toward Jerusalem. James and John requested permission
to have fire to come down from heaven and consume them, but Jesus nixed that
idea, and they went on to another village.
Jesus then sent 72
missionaries to towns and villages reminding them that whoever welcomes or
rejects them likewise treats Him in the same manner. Upon receiving their
successful reports, he told them to rejoice that their names are written in
heaven. He then thanked his Father for handing everything over to him, turned
to his disciples and told them how blessed they were to have seen devils and
demons powerless at His name. It was at that point that a Jewish lawyer tested
Jesus with the question of eternal life. This, of course, introduces the
Parable of the Good … Samaritan. (I had you say what the lawyer could not.)
As Jesus
travelled, he taught and he healed. Our Gospel today makes the first mention of
Samaria and Galilee since Jesus first embarked on his journey. He heals ten men
who were suffering from leprosy. What’s the big deal?
Leprosy or Hansen’s
disease does not spread easily from person to person. You cannot get leprosy
through casual contact such as shaking hands, sitting next to, or talking to
someone who has the disease. Prolonged, close contact with someone with
untreated Hansen’s disease over many months is needed to become infected. 95%
of us will not become sick because we are naturally immune. Leprosy can be
cured with antibiotics.[8]
People are healed
by doctors and drugs all the time. Hips, knees, elbows and shoulders can be
repaired through surgery. I take baby aspirin, CoQ10 and prescription
medication to treat my high blood pressure. Exercise and a proper diet can
extend our lifespan. If people can be healed through those means, why praise
God?
Here’s the point
made by my friend, Dr. William E. Katz, a cardiologist with 37 years of
experience. I once asked him to reflect upon a Gospel passage, and he wrote
that people hold their physicians in high esteem because they can do many
things, including repairing the heart. He went on to say that doctors cannot
heal the heart the way pastors can through the words and actions of
forgiveness, mercy, love.
Friends, for you
and me the point of this Gospel is not so much that Jesus healed ten men from
leprosy or that only one returned to thank God for what He did through Jesus.
The point is that this same God heals your heart, your soul, your relationship
with Him and others. God’s grace is alive and active through His Word and
Sacrament. Jesus proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins
(Lk 3:3). You were dead and buried with Christ, and raised with Him through
faith in the power of God (Col 2:12). Baptism saves you through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Pet 3:21). The means of grace – the Words of
God spoken over water, bread and wine – are as freely available to you today as
it was to those ten lepers who met Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. The human
hearts of the Samaritan leper and the Jewish Jesus were both touched in the
moment they met the second time. Centuries of hostility disappeared in a moment
of grace.
Our heavenly
Father desires to send you that same grace so that whatever sin or hostility is
shackling you to the past will disappear faster than the scales fell from the
leper’s skin. All you have to do is receive. That’s the Lutheran way. May the
peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1]
See 1 Samuel 1:3.
[2]
For a report on this community, click this link: The
Samaritans survived centuries of war and slavery. Today, they face a new
challenge: Too many men - ABC News.
[3]
For more, read 1 Kgs 16:23ff; 17-19 and 22; 2 Kgs 1, 20, 22.
[4]
See 2 Kgs 16ff.
[5]
See Ezra 3; Haggai 2:15.
[6]
Ezra 4.
[7]
Chronological Table in The Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, NY: Doubleday and
Company, Inc. (1966), p. 461.
[8]
Search Hansen’s Disease (Leprosy) at www.cdc.gov.
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