C, Post-Pentecost 18 Proper 23 - Luke 17:11-19, 2 Kings 5:1–3, 7–15c, Psalm 111, 2 Timothy 2:8-15 "Remember, Endure, Remind, and Give Thanks"
Remember, endure, remind, and give thanks.
We remember what our parents taught us, we continue in
their practices teaching them to our
children, then over and over again we remind them of what we have taught them.
Say, “please”. Say, “thankyou”. We teach our children good manners just as we
were taught by our parents. And we
repeat this over and over again in our saying please and thankyou by way of
example to our children, as well as reminding them to do the same and
discipline them when they fail to follow what we’ve taught.
Imagine that having been taught to say please and thankyou
by your parents you teach your children to do the same, but in practise you
never say please and thankyou to your children or in front of your children with
others! What do you think they will
learn?
This “do as I say and not as I do” lesson will be seen with
all the hypocrisy it deserves by the young learners. And they might just ignore the lessons from your
lips, in favour of the practice of not saying please and thankyou.
The readings today focus us on thanksgiving — giving thanks. Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army,
after initially ridiculing Elisha for his direction to dip himself in the
Jordan seven times, is convinced to put his anger aside and do as commanded.
We hear, “Then he
returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood
before him. And Naaman said, “Behold, I know that there is no God
in all the earth but in Israel.” (2 Kings 5:15a-c ESV)
Saint Paul calls Timothy to remember Jesus Christ, the
gospel of promise that, “If we have died
with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with
him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains
faithful— for he cannot deny himself.”
(2 Timothy 2:11-13 ESV)
Here Paul encourages Timothy in the Christian life cycle of
death and resurrection — remembering, enduring, reminding, and giving thanks.
When we die with him, we live with him. Daily dying to self, letting the pride die,
to confess sin, to serve sinners with the love of Christ, bearing the cross that
Jesus and the Holy Spirit have set aside for you to bear, even before this
world was created.
By enduring in this “death and resurrection cycle”, comes
the promise of reigning with Jesus Christ.
When we are reminded of Jesus’ covenant made through his death and
resurrection, we remember the many big and small deaths and resurrections we
face in this life is a preparation for the great day of resurrection that
awaits our final death. This final death
reminds us and causes us to remember our first death and resurrection, when we
were baptised into Jesus’ death and resurrection outside Jerusalem two thousand
years ago.
Paul then says, “if we deny Jesus, he will also deny us”. Denial here is a refusal to endure, a
rejection of remembrance, and stopping all means of being reminded. It’s here we look at the ten lepers.
Lepers are ritually unclean. They cannot come into the presence of God in
the temple until they are made clean (Lev 14:1-32). Jesus sends the lepers to the priests after
they say, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on
us.” (Luke 17:13 ESV) They say,
“please”. But only one returns to say,
“thankyou!”
This thankful healed leper is a Samaritan. The other nine are assumed to be Jews. Can you hear the levels of irony here?
For the cleansing of leprosy, the priest goes to the leper,
but here the lepers are sent to the priests by Jesus. They plead for mercy and Jesus commands them
to go. Did the other nine realise they
were healed on the way? We are not
told. We are only told of one Samaritan
who returns having been healed and is called by Jesus to, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:19
ESV)
To where would he rise and go? Jesus is going to Jerusalem, he has sent the
other nine there as well, to the priests in the temple. This cleansed Samaritan is told by Jesus, “go
your way.” This is the way of faith.
One would hope after
the nine went to the priests in Jerusalem, they would have witnessed Jesus’
death and resurrection and with the Samaritan would have acknowledged Jesus as
Lord. In this way they would die with
Jesus and be raised to life. They then
having died to self would have been strengthened to confess Jesus Christ in the
face of denial, rejection, and death at the cross.
However, we know Jesus had no support at the cross. All denied him. But having been raised from death we now are
one with him in his death and resurrection.
Denying him now, puts us on slippery ground knowing he has been
raised. Continuous denial of Jesus
Christ is serious stuff, especially when we hinder the Holy Spirit’s work of
our death and resurrection in Jesus Christ.
Saint Paul warns Timothy of the seriousness of denying
Jesus’ death and resurrection having died to sin and enduring in our
resurrection through him. But even in
the face of denial, Paul tells Timothy of Jesus’ faithfulness.
While we are alive, while we remain in the death and
resurrection of our baptism, Jesus will continue to be faithful to us despite
our faithlessness. This is good news, as
the way of death and resurrection always remains open for us, to be returned to
our baptism into Jesus Christ, and the Christian cycle of death and
resurrection. This return is enacted by
the Holy Spirit also because of Jesus’
death and resurrection.
We are reminded here we are always remembered by Jesus Christ;
he is faithful to us despite our forgetfulness and faithlessness. This is why he sends the Holy Spirit as our
helper, our reminder, the one who endures with us, setting up events, bringing
lepers into our lives to remind us of Jesus’ love and faithfulness, despite the
leprosy of our sin.
We are tempted to deny Christ, deny our sinfulness, and deny
our subsequent salvation in these times.
Ridicule, being treated with contempt for revealing sin in others
through our confession of Christ, being despised and mocked for our faith, tempts
us to deny Jesus Christ. We say, “please
save us”, but find it difficult to say, “thank you Lord”, especially before
others and the world.
Like Naaman, the leper, and the Samaritan leper, we are
reminded of the leprosy of our sin and caused to remember our healing in Jesus
Christ. The Holy Spirit calls us out of
denial and unfaithfulness into remembrance, reminding, and endurance.
Jesus has healed you and says to you, Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well. We are reminded that our faith is faith given
to us in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
We remember his promise that the Holy Spirit will guide us on our way
through death to eternal resurrection.
This way causes us to give thanks and praise.
Like Naaman and the Samaritan leper we who see our healing
and the way of death and resurrection are faithfully given words by which we too
can say, thankyou God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, for
reminding me of your faithfulness and remembrance of me, despite my sin.
Therefore, let us daily thank him for his daily
faithfulness to us in our death and resurrection in the words of Psalm 111…
Praise the LORD! I
will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the
upright, in the congregation. Great are
the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendour and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; the LORD is
gracious and merciful. He provides food
for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever. He has shown his people the power of his
works, in giving them the inheritance of the nations. The works of his hands are faithful
and just; all his precepts are trustworthy; they are established forever
and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. He sent redemption to his people; he has
commanded his covenant forever. Holy and
awesome is his name! The fear of the
LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good
understanding. His praise endures
forever! (Psalm 111 ESV)
Amen.
