“Neediness Is Not Faith”

Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – October 6, 2019

Centenary United Methodist Church

Psalm 66:1-12; Luke 17:11-19

    There is a well-known saying that states, "Everyone wants to go to Heaven but no one wants to die."  Why do we make such a big deal about departing from this life particularly when we know that life was designed to be a temporary experience for all species? Everyone eventually gives up its form.  If we trust God for the outcome of all things, why do we stress and worry about leaving our playground?

    There are a good number of people who greet the end of this life with total peace and confidence.  I have met several people like this.  A number of them know that they have incarnated into this life countless times.  They love having these sensory experiences over and over again because they can choose what kind of movie they want to experience each time they come.  Everyone negotiates their death in their own way. 

    Our Scripture lesson this morning is a story that most of us remember.  Jesus was traveling along the border between Samaria and Galilee.  Maybe it was lunch time and he wanted to enter a village where he could get something to eat. Just before entering the town, Jesus encountered ten men who were standing a good distance away from him because all of them had leprosy. They recognized Jesus and reached out to him to have pity on them.  They were fearful of dying from leprosy.

    Jesus engaged the group in conversation but no healing took place.  Jesus did not wave his hands over them.  He did not talk to God on their behalf. He showed no signs of pitying them. He simply told them to go and show themselves to their priests. As they walked away, they may have said to each other:

See, I told you!  What we have heard about this man is not true.  Look at our skin.  We were not cured!  The priests will run from us.

    However, the ten men followed through on what Jesus had asked them to do.  As they continued walking, they found that their skin condition was beginning to clear up.  Their healing was happening!  By the time they reached the priests, they were completely healed. They were ecstatic that death was not the final word on their condition. After the priests told the men that there were no signs of leprosy, they were eager to rejoin their families and friends.  Their healing was the end of their isolation.

    One man, however, went back to find Jesus.  When he found him, he knelt down in gratitude to thank him.  Dr. Luke, the Greek author of this narrative, mentioned that the man was a Samaritan, possibly indicating that Jesus' compassion was universal. To Jesus, a person's ethnicity did not matter.  Love does not recognize the boundaries that human beings establish.   

    Jesus asked the man to stand up.  He said, "Tell me, what happened to the other nine? Why is it that you are the only one who has returned to find me?"  The healed Samaritan may have responded:  

I honestly do not know where each of them went after we left the priests.  I know they were happy again and eager to rejoin their families.   I assume they went back to what they were doing before they recognized that they had leprosy.

    Early in my ministry at my last church, a woman in our community came to see me about her daughter.  There had been a terrible car accident where her daughter had been thrown from the car through a window that was partially down.  She had head trauma, a swelling of her brain, horrible cuts on her face, and multiple internal injuries to her body.  She was not expected to live and was being cared for in the Intensive Care Unit of our county's hospital.

    The mother, who had never darkened the door of our church, attended our services every Sunday while her daughter hung on to life by threads. For over six months she continued to come to church and sought prayers for her daughter.  Her daughter miraculously recovered.  Finally, a Sunday arrived when the two of them came to our church.  After introducing her daughter to the congregation, she exclaimed, "Prayer works!  I have my daughter back!"  There was a thunderous, sustained applause by everyone present.  After that Sunday, we never saw them again.

    They both got what they wanted and their lives returned to normal.  I did see the daughter again while I was driving in our town. She had a cigarette in her mouth surrounded by her friends and was drinking something that was in a brown paper bag. It appeared that her daughter had returned to what was normal for her.

    How many miracles have to occur in the lives of some people before they become curious about the source of those experiences?  Sometimes I have felt that God is like a fisherman who chums the fish in order to attract them.  Once God attracts people by an event considered miraculous, God waits for a response. 

    Too often people are like the nine former lepers who could not connect the dots. They, too, got what they asked for and went on with their lives. Think of all the people that Jesus healed during his ministry who did that exact same thing.  Only Mary Magdalene was totally transformed by her healing and became a very intimate friend of Jesus until the end of his life and then she stayed with the disciples to encourage them.  (Mark16:9) She was not a prostitute as many people misconstrue.  She was a wealthy woman who was well-connected to others in her class of people.

    We all know the expression that God feeds the birds but God does not throw food into their nests.  God's love for each of us is so intense that there are occasions when God does appear to throw the food in the nests of some people who have the skills to make things happen.  Some people wake up as a result. 

    Consider Moses having his attention drawn to a bush that was on fire but was not consumed.  Suddenly, a voice came from the bush.  Consider a Nazarene carpenter who, during his baptism, heard a voice that transformed his life.  Consider Saul of Tarsus, who was deeply committed to destroying the movement that became known as the way of Jesus.  He, too, became totally transformed by the experience of hearing Jesus' voice.  He became the Apostle Paul who took Jesus' teachings to the Greek and Roman worlds.  Each of these people possessed unique skills that became the hinges upon which the doors of history opened to reveal God's loving nature.

    I have had numerous experiences with extremely distraught people who could not stop holding on to loved ones who have died.  One woman experienced her mother sitting on her bed.  The two spoke.  The mother's words were not audible but they took up residence in Barbara's head.   Even after having that experience, it did not change her neediness to be with her mother. I said to her:

What else do you want God to do so that you can develop trust that all is well with your mother?  Only you can open your heart to what you have just experienced. Not everyone has the opportunity or good fortune to see and hear from a loved one who has graduated from this life.

    The neediness of some people prevents them from accepting life as it comes. They cannot accept the understanding that their lives have been wonderful.  Life for a large percentage of the world's population does not even come close to what we take for granted. The neediness, of people who are blind to their station in life, has blocked their ability to see where they are and the joyous memories they have experienced.

    How do we get people to expand their worlds?  How do we draw people's attention away from their movie long enough so they can see the bigger picture?  There are times when an opportunity that could have transformed their lives is standing right in front of them but their neediness for something else blinds them from seeing it.

    Our special offering today goes toward funding scholarships for students who might otherwise never have their minds expanded by education.  The collection of money this morning from all the United Methodist churches in the world will make their education possible.  How many students will be grateful enough to be drawn to the loving source of their scholarships?  Only one out of ten lepers came back to the source that made their healing possible. Jesus did not withdrawal his compassion from the other nine because they shared their gratitude only with their families.

    Jesus was reflecting the compassionate spirit of our Creator.  God's love spreads itself all over the earth. (Matthew 5:45) However, the needs of people for something else often prevents them from understanding the universal nature of God's love. 

    Some people believe that God's love is exclusively reserved for them.  We have to remember that the one leper who came back to Jesus was a Samaritan.  He belonged to a group of people whom the Jews despised because they and they alone were God's chosen people. That one healed man for thousands of years has provided the people in the future with how to conduct their lives by extending their loving energy toward everyone.  This grateful man has had the same effect on people as the story of the poor woman who put her coins in the coffers of the temple and thus gave the last money she had left.

    I recall the story of a Coptic Christian who was about to be beheaded by an Islamic Fundamentalist.  Before he was to die, the man said:

Why is it that your religion invites you to kill anyone who does not believe as you do? My faith teaches that all men, like yourself, are my brothers.  I could never do to you what you are planning to do to me.  I forgive you, my brother.  I would have enjoyed having you as a friend.  I am not your enemy. Your belief has blinded you from seeing that.

    The man stood there and remained silent for a considerable time.  Then, he cut the ropes that bound the man's wrists and said, "I believe you.  Go back to your family and friends."

    All that we can do for other people in some circumstances is to share what we know with them.  Suppose that on their way to a better understanding of God, the first person they encountered is us?  What would they see? What would they hear coming from our lips?  A committed follower of Jesus allowed his truth to be heard minutes before he was to die.  Those words of love transformed the thinking and feelings of that Islamic Fundamentalist.  We never know what God can do when we remain faithful in all circumstances to extending to others who we are.

    Sometimes the only energy we can express is love and forgiveness. Our world is not going to change until we do. This energy is what created everything that we know. God's forgiving nature puts up with who we are while we dwell on our current level of evolution.  Our task in this life is to trust our spiritual energy so much that we live it.   The power generated by love's energy will do the rest.

 

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER

Thank you, God, for bringing opportunities into our lives to express understanding, kindness, and generosity.  When Jesus came among us, his message was simple – extend your hope among the troubled, your compassion among the lonely, and your friendship among those who feel lost. Help us to remember that Jesus did not mind washing the feet of his followers.   He found value in the one leper among ten who returned to say, "Thank you!"  He felt compassion toward the widow who gave away everything that she had.  Inspire us not only to listen but to make visible the teachings of your Son.  Amen

 

PASTORAL PRAYER

Loving God, we are so grateful that in our blindness to some forms of truth, you still lead us. We are grateful that during times when we do not understand life, you know that there is nothing of which we ever need to be afraid.  We are grateful that when our minds are challenged by so many unanswered questions, we understand that you never lose control over any aspect of creation. 

We are troubled by people who appear to have no regard for the value of human life. We experience young men with guns.  News events tell us of children starving to death.  We are told about the foreclosure of homes and how one day people may not have enough food. We sense frustration when world leaders find few solutions that might lead humanity toward a lasting peace.  We cannot make sense of issues like these, but we know that you have sent us into a world so that we can make a difference.  Each of us desires to be instruments of healing and we ask you to guide us toward those opportunities.   

We do not need to know how our personal life-story ends before we choose to be a participant in life's drama. We do not need to make sense out of our experiences for us to make visible the truth that we know.  We do not need to have clarity to any outcome before we show up with a willingness to serve. As we come to the table this morning with United Methodists around the world, may we understand that our combined strength will one day dispel ignorance over the matters of spirit. We pray these thoughts through the loving spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who taught us to say when we pray . . .