the beauty of grace

is that it makes like unfair

 

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke the 17th chapter!

Well, we're in the middle of our stewardship emphasis, again.

This is something you all at Trinity have been doing for quite a while, and it must be said, is something that you do well.

 

But again, for another year, we focus on stewardship.

And when you notice the fact that this is a regular thing for us, you wonder two things nearly immediately.

First, what else can be said about this topic, about stewardship.

And second, if we're so familiar with this topic, how come there is still a certain amount of discomfort whenever someone mentions stewardship...

The truth, though, is that stewardship is so central to faith that the topic can never be exhausted; so the question of our discomfort about stewardship is the real one.

 

Now, I've heard some say we're uncomfortable with stewardship because, obviously, it deals with money.

Truthfully, though, the fact that stewardship addresses money cannot be the whole, the only reason, why we all get a little antsy when the topic of stewardship comes up...

Money is only the surface of the issue...

See, stewardship deals with deep things like trust, gratitude, God's work, and the like, in very concrete and real ways...

That's why we get a little anxious when the topic of stewardship is broached.

The truth is, stewardship of what God has blessed us with is tricky stuff.

Stewardship is always played out in the real world, with all of its messes, contradictions, and ambiguity.

Stewardship, like most of life, is tricky.

That is why we get uncomfortable when the topic of stewardship gets thrown around.

Stewardship is a tricky topic...

 

After all, on the one hand, there is a part of us that deeply knows that all of life is a wonderful gift from God.

And on the other hand, it is tragically hard for us to live all of our life as though it were a gift, it is hard to remain grateful. 

In fact, I'm sure we all already know we should tithe, that we ought to give to God; the obvious truth though, is that it is hard to give away our money, our time.

You know, truthfully, I even think that at a deep level we want to give our money, our time, our talents to God, all of it; but I don't even need to say this, it's hard.

I'm right here with you, sisters and brothers;

all this stuff is hard...

That's why we get anxious when stewardship begins to be discussed, when the pastors talks about it abstract, or like its the easiest thing in the world...

Take, for instance, gifts and blessings;

at a deep level we know God has given us so many blessings,

and the truth is, we're thankful for those blessings...

But there is another truth too, isn't there?

At the same time, there is a part of us that thinks, or at least acts like, we own all of this, that it’s ours to hoard as we please.

The truth is, there is a part of us that worries, that is afraid, that has trouble trusting,

see, because, for as grateful as we can be, it's also a challenge to know that everything is a gift, and that we can treat our blessings as such...

 

It's a tricky enterprise, this stewardship stuff...

There is a silver-lining, though.

Truthfully, or better put thankfully, the witness of the Bible is with us in this balancing act,

on the one hand the Bible describes wealth as a gift;

and on the other, love of money is described as the root of all kinds of evils (1 Tim 6:10).

 

Stewardship, like so much of life, is tricky, it is challenging, it is ambiguous; and the authors of the Bible know this, they frankly attest to it in our Holy Scriptures.

That's what I love about today's Gospel,

it's full of the same ambiguity and complexity as life, as stewardship.

 

In today's Gospel we join Jesus as he continues his journey to Jerusalem, along the way some leapers, keeping their distance, shout, "Jesus, master, have mercy on us."

Jesus doesn't need to touch them or even say they're healed,

instead Jesus just tells them to obey the law and show themselves to the priest,

as if they were already cured.

And as these leapers go to the priest, something incredible does happens,

indeed they are healed.

Suddenly the Gospel does something really neat,

instead of continuing to focus on this crowd of ten,

the Gospel leaves them to zoom-in on this one leaper...

We should pause and imagine him too,

suddenly he notices at his hands, his skin,

he stops running along with the crowd,

he slows down to get a closer look at his complexion,

and indeed he's been healed!

And suddenly this one leaper does something disobedient;

this leaper ignores Jesus' instruction;

instead of going to the priest, he turns around,

this leaper who's been healed by Jesus, ignores his healers words,

this leaper starts praising God loudly and returns to Jesus...

Now, good, nice, pious people that we are, already know the ending of this story,

Jesus says 'how polite of you,' to that well-behaved leaper, who had manners enough to say 'thank you.'

Right?

Wrong!

This story isn't about something as small as being polite, it isn't about 'shoulds' and 'oughts,'

 that isn't what this story is about;

and it isn't what Jesus said either.

 

No, when this one leaper gets to Jesus, Jesus rhetorically asks,

"I believe ten of you were healed, where's the rest?

Was only one-in-ten found to give thanks,

and never-mind that this one is a foreigner...

Well anyway, get up and go on your way, your faith has saved you."

See, if this story were just about being polite and nice, it would end with Jesus saying, "how nice of you," to that leaper.

But that isn't how the story ends,

that isn't what the story was about.

Here's the thing, the Evangelist, Luke, he's not interested in telling us to be polite, he's too busy trying to get us to trust.

 

This Gospel-scene ends by Jesus, kind-of, asking about the rest of the leapers,

this Gospel-scene ends by Jesus noticing the one who returned is an outsider,

this Gospel-scene ends with Jesus saying to the outsider, that his faith has made him whole.

That's how this moment in the Gospel ends...

Here's the thing,

we don't know what those nine other leapers were doing, because when they fail to connect their healing to the healer, the evangelist, Luke, isn't much interested in them anymore.

Here's the tricky thing, though,

we don't know about those other nine because they are too busy obeying Jesus,

they're busy doing what Jesus told them to, to be grateful!

Who knows, maybe they even wanted to go and tell Jesus thanks,

maybe they even wanted to follow that one leaper,

maybe they even said to themselves, 'after I see the priest, then I will thank Jesus.

We don't know though because they are too busy with 'shoulds' and 'oughts' for our Gospel-writer to be too interested in them.

Here's what we do know, what Luke felt we need to know;

that one this one leaper, outsider and all, got caught up in gratitude,

so caught-up in fact, that he has to disobey Jesus,

and when that happens the Gospel-writer becomes fascinated with this one,

Luke leaves those pious nine, to follow this disobedient, grateful, outsider.

And so when this one gets to Jesus, Jesus says, 'go on your way, your faith has made you whole."

 

So, here's the thing:

Were the other nine healed?

Yes.

But were they made whole?

We don't know...

We can't be sure.

See, this story, like life, like stewardship, is tricky, it is complex and it is ambiguous.

If Jesus was just interested in morals and being polite;

you know easy, black and white things;

then Jesus would have commended that leaper on his manners,

but that isn't what Jesus did...

Jesus asked about the other nine,

he noticed the one is different than the rest, for a couple of reasons,

and then Jesus said that this one who is worshipping at his feet, has been made whole...

And truthfully, I think we all innately know there is some deep truth to Jesus' pronouncement...

I'm sure we can remember a remarkable sunset or moon, and how we couldn't help but turn to someone, or just say for the joy of it,

'isn't this beautiful.' 

I'm sure we can remember a meal with friends or family and good conversation, how we leaned back in our chair and thought, or maybe said to no one in particular, 'if this isn't good, I don't know what is.'

There is something in us that longs to, that needs to be grateful, to say our thanks.

And maybe that is a part of what today's Gospel is about;

maybe today's Gospel is not telling us that we should give thanks, but that we need to, that when God gets a hold of us, we can't help but to give thanks,

even if that means we have to break some rules...

Here's the thing about stewardship,

we're good to talking about how we ought to do it, how we should do it;

and the truth is, that's true, we should.

The truth is, we all have enough,

and holding so tightly to our money is makes us miserable.

In fact, the truth is God doesn't owe us another thing,

but we owe everything to God.

So yes, we should steward.

 

But maybe today's Gospel is about something that is deeper than 'shoulds' and 'oughts.'

Lutheran scholar, Mark Allen Powell, describes stewardship as two words that begin with the letter "D;"

duty and delight.

Those other nine were being dutiful, yes;

and there's something to that;

but the one outsider who returned, while being dutiful, was also delighted.

And it seems Jesus understood that in connecting those two things that leaper was made whole, he's been saved.

Here's what Luke knows about stewardship,

and what we're all too likely to forget;

God intends to get a hold of us,

all of us,

God intends to heal us, to make us whole, to save us;

and when that happens,

well when that happens, everything changes,

'shoulds' and 'oughts' go out the window,

and so do all the old rules,

because we're too busy praising God.

Amen