Sunday Worship
Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity. Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 am at St Agnes' and 11.00 am at St Thomas'.
If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "Lord, for the Years"
Today's Gospel
Luke 17:11-19 Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him.
Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean.
Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"
Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."
Reflection
Unfortunately, we missed the normal lectionary reading last week as we celebrated our Harvest Festival. The Gospel reading was all about faith, and there is strong element about faith in our Gospel passage today as well as gratitude and thankfulness.
It’s maybe hard to grasp the enormity of what Jesus did without understanding the impact of Leprosy on the people at the time. It was truly awful and devastating.
People’s skin would go snow white and flake away. Fingers and limbs would lose feeling and literally rot away and eventually fall off. Sufferers would be covered in sores all over their body. The outcome was always death although the sufferers may well live for twenty years or more. They would also be repulsive because the smell of their flesh condition. On top of that there was the emotional and psychological suffering – the stigma of having to leave their family and friends, being social outcasts and having to shout to everyone and warn them not to come too close because they were unclean.
Leprosy was a death sentence and it was the priest’s duty to examine people with any kind of skin infection, and if they suspected leprosy they were to declare them unclean and cast them out of the camp. [Leviticus 13:45-46]. It was also the priest’s job to examine those deemed to be cured and perform rituals on them before they could be declared clean and readmitted to society. This was why Jesus instructed the ten to show themselves to the priest.
The reality however was that no one was ever cured from the disease, although there could have been instances where a person had been mis-diagnosed and subsequently recovered from some other kind of skin infection. Bear in mind, 2000 years ago medical knowledge was virtually non-existent and fear of leprosy probably led priests to err on the safe side and cast out people when they were unsure what was wrong.
It is unclear from the reading what the ten lepers expected. We are merely told that they asked Jesus to have mercy on them. Were they expecting pity, food, clothes or money? They would probably have heard of the many rumours of Jesus’ kindness as His reputation grew in the region. But it is unlikely they expected to be cured. No one was ever cured of leprosy at that time.
But nevertheless, they did what Jesus told them to do. They set off to see the priest. They couldn’t have had any idea what would happen. They had not been miraculously cured on the spot. They would have still been in pain with all the other awful symptoms described above. The journey would probably have taken quite a while, let’s not forget they were crippled – but still they set off. They had some sort of belief that Jesus was going to make something extraordinary happen, but surely no reason to think they would be miraculously healed; that their damaged body parts would be restored and their skin made like new. But still they set off with belief in Jesus. They had faith. At the depths of their despair they had faith and did what Jesus asked.
Here’s the point. If they hadn’t trusted Jesus and set off in pain and agony. They wouldn’t have been healed. If they’d looked at each other and said, nothing’s changed we’re as ill now as we were before we met Jesus, so why bother? - they wouldn’t have been healed.
Like the woman who was healed when she touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak, faith came before the miracle.
There are always times in our lives where things don’t go as we want. Illness, bereavement, losing a job, financial stress. But in the midst of all our turmoil and issues, God is still present and still loves us. When we can’t see the way out of difficulties, we need to have faith that God has still ‘got our back’. Because nothing pleases God more than when we have faith in Him.
It is not for us to bargain with God or put conditions on our faith by asking Him to fix these issues in my life and I’ll pray more often or go to church more. Or, make my worries go away and I’ll do more to help others. Having faith is about understanding that when we trust in God and obey His will – He will always make things work out according to His plan, not ours. We cannot know what God has in store for us but we need to look hard and recognise where God has been and is working in our lives.
We need to take stock of all the positive things and above all say thank you. We should be confident that God loves us all, even the outcasts, and He will heal us in ways we can’t imagine. God who sent His only Son that we might all be saved and healed. Paul
Our Prayers
Loving Father,
You pour out endless blessings upon us.
Open our eyes to see your hand at work,
And to give you thanks for all you continue to do for us.
Lord, we pray that we have faith to trust in all you do
And obey your will.
Amen
Today's final hymn is "Through all the Changing Scenes of Life"
