Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
READINGS FOR THE WEEK
- First reading and Psalm
- Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
- Psalm 66:1-12
- Alternate First reading and Psalm
- 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c
- Psalm 111
- Second reading
- 2 Timothy 2:8-15
- Gospel
- Luke 17:11-19
Fugel, Gebhard, 1863-1939
Diocesan Museum of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising
Painting
Freising, Germany
Scripture:
Luke 17:11-19
https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu
The gospel from Luke:
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.”
Sermon:
This week’s gospel reading has been used on Thanksgiving. God favors people who do what we think he would want them to do. It is like Jesus following the Jewish law. But in other ways, Jesus accepts people, like those overlooked or pushed aside, as the lepers in our reading. God favors all. But there is more. The reading emphasizes discipleship. Discipleship is doing things that churches do. This includes members caring for each other. In his twelve years with us, Pastor Stevensen has tried, like a football coach, to give a “will to win” lecture. When he worked at LIncoln Labs, he tells us that he was successful in getting approval for a particular expenditure by giving, he told his coworkers, their supervisor a “will to win” speech. In the sixteenth century, during church reformation, emphasized was fear and trust in God. Fear and trust are contradictory. Pastor advised us to keep between these two “ditches.” There is danger in thinking good works is all that God wants. It is a case of social despair versus social pride…………