Homily of the Rev. Dr. David A. Killian
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
October 14, 2007
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
Luke 17:11-19
I
A burglar breaks into a house in the one of ritzier areas of town. He's sure that there's nobody home but he sneaks in, doesn't turn on any lights and heads for where he thinks the valuables are kept. He hears a voice say, "I can see you! Jesus can see you too!" He freezes in his tracks! He doesn't move a muscle! A couple of minutes go by. The voice repeats, "I can see you! Jesus can see you too!" He slowly takes out his flashlight, switches it on and looks around the room. He sees a bird cage with a parrot in it. "Did you say that?" The parrot says again, "I can see you! Jesus can see you too!" "Hah! So what?! You're just a parrot!" says the burglar. "I may be just a parrot," replies the parrot. "But Jesus is a Doberman!"
For some people, Jesus is a judge who keeps track of everything we do wrong. In their mind, God gets people to be good by holding up the threat of eternal punishment. Today's Gospel presents a different picture of God as embodied in the healing compassion of Jesus. This is the God of invitation, not coercion, the God who invites us to be compassionate as Jesus is compassionate to the lepers.
Lepers were among the most marginalized people in the ancient world. They were excluded from the community and forced to ring a bell to warn anyone coming near of the danger of contracting their disease. Lepers were considered spiritually unclean. Yet, Jesus, showing the compassion of God, heals the lepers and makes them whole. One of the lepers was a Samaritan, a traditional enemy of the Jews. For Jesus to heal the Samaritan is like an Israeli being cared for by a Palestinian doctor or a Palestinian being cared for by a Jewish doctor. Usually people do not perform kind deeds for enemies.
II
There is a story told about Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the great humanitarian, theologian, musician, physician, and missionary at his jungle hospital at Lambarene, on the banks of the Ogowe River in Africa. Schweitzer was eighty-five years old at the time.
It was about eleven in the morning. The equatorial sun was beating down mercilessly, and a group of visitors was walking up a hill with Dr. Schweitzer. Suddenly Schweitzer left the group and strode across the slope of the hill to a place where an African woman was struggling upward with a huge armload of wood for the cook fires. Schweitzer took the entire load of wood and carried it on up the hill for the relieved woman. When they all reached the top of the hill, one of the members of the group asked Dr. Schweitzer why he did things like that, implying that in that heat and at his age he should not. Albert Schweitzer, looking right at his guests and pointing to the woman, said simply, "No one should ever have to carry a burden like that alone." Dr. Schweitzer had the heart of Jesus.
How can you and I take on the heart of Jesus? This fall we are expanding our notion of stewardship to include reaching out to people in the poorest countries of the world by implementing the Millennium Development Goals. This week we focus on the goal "to promote gender equality and empower women." Like Dr. Albert Schweitzer, we are saying, "No one should ever have to carry a burden like that alone." We especially want to be part of the effort to provide primary education for young girls.
III
We see an example of carrying another's burden in today's reading from Ruth. Naomi's sons have died and Naomi, an old widow, is going back to her native Bethlehem. Ruth decides to stay with Naomi to help her return home: "Where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God." In this stewardship season we are being asked to expand our notion of family, neighborhood, and nation to include people of the third world. Like Ruth, we are being called to move beyond our own tribe to carry the burdens of others. "Your people shall be my people."
Jesus looked on those ten lepers and saw them as human beings in need and responded with love. Each of the ten was healed, but only one of the ten, the Samaritan, returned to Jesus to thanks. Seeing this, Jesus said, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?" We know, don't we? They were off celebrating, reuniting with family or friends. They were too preoccupied living out their good fortune to think about its origin. That's life. That's realism. Every one of us in this room has been blessed beyond measure, but how many of us truly live grateful lives? Don't you imagine that the grateful Samaritan, from that day forward, lived his life in gratitude to Jesus? Wouldn't you? If you had lost everything and you encountered someone who out of goodness and compassion gave it all back to you, wouldn't you live from that day forward mindful of that gracious act?
You and I are called to be among the 10 percent who are truly grateful. We are called to express our gratitude by our gift of time, talent and treasure. Time – to keep the Sabbath and to honor God one day each week. If you cannot keep a full 24-hour Sabbath, then try to keep a partial Sabbath and dedicate as much of the day as you can to God. Talent – we can bring a start-up basket to a family leaving a shelter or work with Habitat for Humanity to build a home or use the gifts God has given us to help in other ways. Treasure – the Bible calls us to give a tithe, 10% of our income, to God. I have to admit that ten percent sounded shocking to me when I first came here to All Saints 16 years ago, but I discovered that there were parishioners who indeed did give 10% each year. And I noticed that they were among the most joyful people in our parish. One of them explained to me, "If you can't be a thither, then be a proportional giver -- give a proportion of your earnings and figure out what that is. If you gave one percent of your earnings last year, then give two percent this year and it will not drastically alter your life style. Try to give one percent more each year and you may eventually reach the tithe." Well, I learned from the lay people of this parish and followed their example and now I give 10 percent. It has given me a joy that I didn't have before. I invite you to consider becoming a thither. If you cannot tithe, then I invite you to give one percent more of your income this year – and to do it joyfully out of gratitude for what you have received.
Today as we share in the holy sacrament of communion with Christians around the world, let us do so with grateful hearts, grateful for all that Christ has and will continue to do for us. Let us in our hearts express our gratitude, and then let us go forth and live our lives with gratitude – through serving others. Amen.