Monday, October 13, 2025

Interrupted by Gratitude

 Luke 7: 11-19

Ten Lepers Healed
William West

October 12, 2025

 

In Leviticus, there are several pages of rules for

what people should do when they have leprosy.

 

Now, when the Bible says “leprosy”,

 it doesn’t necessarily mean what

we call Hansen’s disease today.

Biblical leprosy was sort of a catch-all term

for a wide range of visible skin diseases.

 

Some were contagious, some were not—

but because no one could tell which was which,

people treated all of them as dangerous.

And so there was fear. A lot of fear.

 

To deal with that fear, rules were made

religious rules, and community rules

about how people with these diseases were supposed to live.

In Leviticus, it says:

 

“The person who has the leprous* disease shall

wear torn clothes and let the hair of their head be disheveled;

and they shall cover their upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’

They shall remain unclean as long as they have the disease;

they are unclean. They shall live alone;

their dwelling shall be outside the camp.”

 

They are to live outside the camp. Away from everyone.

Imagine what that must have felt like, 

cut off from your family, your community, your place of worship.

The assumption in those days was 

that you must have done something wrong to deserve it.

You must be being punished.

So not only were you physically ill,

you were also socially and spiritually exiled.

 

And this fear an isolation were not rare, because

comes up time and again in the New Testament,

including this story today and in the Hebrew

Scriptures as we see in the first story today.

 

Even important people were not immune to leprosy--

Namaan was a commander of the kings army. Very important.

But even his power and money couldn’t even buy him relief.

Now Namaan didn’t spend much time “outside the camp”

on the streets, but he was still isolated “inside his camp” in his palace,

and there was nothing he could do to find a cure,

like everyone else, he just had to wait it out and hope and endure.

A miserable life.

 

But obviously, some people did find relief

from some of these skin diseases,

because there are also extensive instructions for what to do

when a person’s skin clears up.

And the first thing they do is to show themselves to the priest.

Here’s more from Leviticus:


When there is on the skin of one’s body a boil that has healed, 

and in the place of the boil there appears a white swelling

or a reddish-white spot, it shall be shown to the priest. . .

 

The descriptions go on and on into excruciating detail.

This is why when people are doing a read-through in the bible,

I recommend jumping right over Leviticus and

reading some other books with stories.

 

Now, I can’t say that I’m disappointed that the duties of

religious leaders seem to have changed considerably

over the past few thousand years.

Not that people haven’t felt comfortable

showing me their share of surgery scars

or ask my opinion on a rash or two,

but I’m grateful I don’t have to inspect anyone’s

skin to decide if they can come back to church.

 

But this was one of the roles of the religious leaders back then.

And the first thing a person should do after being cured

was to go and show themselves to a priest,

then go take a bath.

It’s all written in Leviticus for you to see,

if you still decide to read it against my recommendation.

 

So that’s the world Jesus is walking through in today’s story.

Jesus is traveling along the border

between Samaria and Galilee when

ten people with leprosy approach him.

 

Because they’re unclean, they keep their distance,

just as Leviticus commanded..

But they call out to him—

“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

And Jesus does.

 

He doesn’t wave his hand or say a long prayer

or even touch them. He just says,

“Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

 

That’s it.

He’s telling them to take

the next step in the process—

to begin the re-entry ritual.

They are already healed, though they may not even realize it yet.

 

So off they go, all ten of them,

doing exactly what they were supposed to do.

They follow the religious law, go to the priests,

prepare to rejoin their communities.

 

Except one.

One man, seeing that he’s been healed, stops. Turns around.

Returns to Jesus, praising God with a loud voice.

He throws himself at Jesus’ feet and thanks him.

 

And Luke tells us, “He was a Samaritan.”

Once again, the person who stops to do the right thing,

the compassionate thing, the grateful thing,

is part of the group everyone else was looking down on.

Jesus even sounds a little surprised:

“Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?”

Ten were healed, but only one was interrupted by gratitude.

 

That’s really what this story is about. Gratitude.

Sometimes I try to find a new angle

or a hidden meaning in a gospel story

but this one doesn’t hide anything.

It’s right there on the surface. Give thanks.

That’s it.

 

And yet—how often do we forget to do it?

We move from one task to the next,

from one email to the next, from one obligation to the next.

Someone helps us, someone shows us kindness,

and we forget to say thank you.

Not because we’re ungrateful people

but because we’re busy, distracted, preoccupied with the next thing.

 

But gratitude is holy interruption.

It’s stopping on the road

to our next destination to recognize

the goodness that has already met us.

 

This Samaritan man had every reason to keep walking.

He was about to get his life back

his home, his family, his future.

But he stopped. He turned around. He gave thanks.

And in that moment, Jesus tells him,

“Your faith has made you well.”

All ten were healed physically, but one was made whole.

 

Being thanked feels good, doesn’t it?

It’s nice when someone notices your effort.

But gratitude does even more for the one who gives it.

Gratitude changes the way we live.

 

We live in a time when outrage is the air we breathe.

Turn on the TV, scroll through your phone

there’s always something to be angry about.

And some of those things are worth being angry about.

There is injustice, suffering, violence, and pain.

But if we only live in anger and outrage,

we become part of the sickness in the world.

It’s hard to feel gratitude and outrage at the same time.

 

Gratitude doesn’t ignore the pain

it just widens the lens to see

that there’s also goodness, beauty, mercy, love, and grace

still at work around us.

 

Science even agrees:

gratitude improves people’s lives,

our personal lives, our mental health,

it relieves anxiety and depression,

it improves relationships,

gratitude lowers stress hormones,

builds resilience, and improves self-esteem.

 

Gratitude strengthens us; it heals us.

But beyond science,

for people of faith, gratitude is a spiritual practice.

It is a way of seeing God’s hand in the ordinary.

It’s a way of saying and admitting:

I did not get here on my own.

I am not self-made.

God has met me with grace.

 

So maybe that’s the invitation today

to let gratitude interrupt us.

To stop for a moment, turn around, and give thanks:

For the people who have walked with us.

For the healing that has come in ways we didn’t expect.

For the daily mercies that are easy to miss.

 

And one last thing I noticed

in this little story, the whole of Jesus life and ministry is

encapsulated:

Jesus is traveling,

meeting people where they are,

he encounters the forgotten and outcast of society,

he is not afraid to engage with them,

while doing that, he follows the tradition of his religion,

but he’s also not afraid to step outside of the

lines of what most people do and expect,

and he heals the people,

and releases them from their captivity.

 

And all we can do in response –

in the face of such grace and mercy –

is to give thanks.

 

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Stop Your Whining

 October 5, 2025  Luke 17:5-10

 

I have to say, this scripture isn’t my favorite.

There’s not a ton to work with here.

 

First there’s this faith the size of a mustard seed metaphor.

There are a few mustard seed stories from Jesus.

There’s the one where the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed

that grows into a tree and birds come and nest in it.

It’s fun and there’s a lot to talk about  in that one.

That’s the one everyone remembers.


Then there’s this one which is different.

Mustard seeds.
There isn't very good art for this parable.

If you had faith the size of a mustard seed,

you could raise up a tree and put in the ocean.

In Matthew it’s a mountain. In Luke it’s a tree. Same point. Meh.

It seems to be insinuating that since

I can’t do those things,

I don’t have even that crumb of faith.

 

And then there’s this confusing thing with slaves.

And not thanking them, and not welcoming them to the table.

Which seems very contrary to other messages

that Jesus has given us about banquets and the last

shall be first and all. Not much there either.

 

The commentaries on it weren’t very interesting.

I think every time this has come up,

I’ve chosen to do something else.

But not this time! Lucky you.

I tell you this to let you know that I worked hard this week,

even though I just came back from vacation.

 

So Jesus teaching has been tough on the disciples.

He’s presented them with a lot of

difficult concepts and thoughts.

He’s heaped a lot of hard parables on them

about the poor and serving either God or wealth.

He’s told them about divorce.

He’s told them that they need to forgive a person

seven times a day if they repent.

And finally, in response to this

the disciples say, in this reading today

“Increase our faith”. In other words,

We can’t do all this hard stuff.

Increase our faith so we can get it done!

Make us more faithful so we

can achieve all this stuff you’re

saying we should do.”


And Jesus tells them about the faith the size

of a mustard seed.

 

A lot of people make this into a lesson

that says, “just make a greater spiritual effort

and you’ll do amazing things” which I saw a lot of

in my research. Which bothers my Lutheran sensibilities.

But you can’t blame anyone

for coming to that conclusion.

 

Really, Jesus seems to be saying that if you honed

your faith enough, then your could develop

telekinetic powers. Like the force in Star Wars

when Yoda was teaching Luke Skywalker

to lift his crashed plane out of the swamp.

 

But I don’t see anywhere else in scripture –

Old Testament or new—

where we’re working towards that objective.

And frankly, Jesus didn’t lift that tree or that mountain,

and put it in the ocean either so that goal

doesn’t make any sense.


I think that most people read this

mustard seed metaphor and think that

Jesus is telling us that we don’t have enough faith.

And if we had just a little more we could do great things.

But what if Jesus is actually thinking

that we have plenty of faith?

Like we already have faith the size of a cocoanut,

or faith the size of a Watermelon?

What if Jesus is saying to those poor disciples,

that they have all the faith they need and more.

That actually sounds more like Jesus to me.

 

In other words, “stop whining about

what you need more of, or what you’re lacking

and just do the work you’re called to do.”

 

Which brings us to the second part of the

lesson for the day, where Jesus talks

about slaves or servants.

Jesus is basically going a long way to tell the disciples this:

“You don’t get congratulated for doing

the work you are required to do.”

 

When I was little, like 6 or something, I guess,

I was eating at my grandparents house and

I said, all jubilant and congratulatory

“I finished my mashed potatoes”

And my grandmother joked with me and

said, “what do you want? A medal? They were delicious”

And that’s what I think Jesus was telling the disciples

with the second part of the gospel.

 

So the bottom line of this gospel for today is:

 “Stop whining. You don’t need more of anything.

Just do the work you were called to do.

What do you want a medal?”

 

Even though I know that Jesus is scolding the disciples,

I find this interpretation refreshing and freeing.

 

At least he’s not telling them to get more faith,

which is kind of nebulous and basically unachievable.

He’s telling them they have enough, and they are enough.

And he’s telling them to get off their hineys and do their work.

I get it.  The people of God always seem to be

whining about something. We always need more:

more faith, more money, more people, more leaders,

more organization, more strategic plans, more talent,

more youth, more vigor  . . .

We can’t do the work unless we have more, Jesus!

 

And Jesus goes, “look if you cut everything

that you already have by 90%, you could do miracles.

So just go and do your miracles.

And don’t expect a medal for it.”

And I find this kick in the pants kind of comforting.

 

Because we’re in pretty difficult times here in the country:

it seems like hate is winning more than ever before,

wars and terror are ruling the day,

the American government doesn’t believe

in the first amendment any more,

It’s turning against its citizens.

It seems like spite and cruelty are what

we’re teaching our children.

Things we’ve valued for so long,

and took for granted are slipping away

every day that passes.

 

Not to mention the normal, regular

issues that we still have of

poverty, racism, and violence

Not to mention everyone’s individual

health problems, financial problems,

personal problems, relationship problems.

 

And sometimes I feel very unprepared,

unqualified, and ill-equipped  to face all the

issues we’re up against.

 

I think a lot of us feel like we don’t have the skills,

or the words, or the patience, or the will or the faith,

to do what needs to be done at this moment.

I want to say, “Jesus, increase everything

in me to face this moment and all these trials

 

And Jesus says, “Stop your whining.

You have more than enough.

Just do what the lord requires of you,

Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.

– and don’t expect a medal.”

 

So maybe this isn’t such a bad gospel for us.

It reminds us that we are more than enough

for this moment and we have all we need.

 

And it also reminds us that even if our

faith is small, or under strain,

or even non-existent at times, that’s okay.

 

Because God will do the heavy lifting.

God will pick up that metaphorical

mulberry tree and throw it in the ocean.

God will set things right again.

God will restore this earth and our joy

and give us back our hope.

 

As the Psalm today says,

Commit your way to the Lord;

put your trust in the Lord,

and see what God will do.”

Monday, September 15, 2025

We Are Lost

 Luke 15:1-11

September 14, 2025

 

The Pharisees and scribes are wondering why

Found Coin
Lisa Konkol

Jesus eats with those people.

Obviously the wrong people.

The tax collectors and sinners and the like.

Apparently, they are not up to snuff for them.

And in response, Jesus tells them this parable.

 

Jesus asks them:

Which one of you, having a hundred sheep

and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine 

in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost?”

The answer in the Pharisees heads: No one would do that.

 

Today, we might get all sentimental and say,

“of course you would do that.”

Because we’re thinking of them like a pet,

they’re cute we named it George.

But if you have 100 of them, they’re not pets.

They’re business.

 

A reasonable shepherd would not leave 99 of

his sheep by themselves and go looking for one.

The other sheep would get lost too, it would be a big mess

and financially devastating.

 

And Jesus also asks:

If you lost a coin (that was worth about an hours pay)

Wouldn’t you spend a whole day of work looking for it,

and then when you found it, throw a party

(which probably cost more than the value of the coin you found?)

Would that be a wise thing to do?

The answer is no, a practical person wouldn’t do that either.


None of these make much financial sense, the math doesn’t work.

You’re gonna eventually go broke if you do any of that.

 

You don’t risk losing 99% of your flock just to find one percent.

You don’t spend the value of two coins trying to find one coin.

The math just doesn’t add up.

 

Last week, Jesus asked his followers if they calculated

the cost, but it seems from this kind of talk that Jesus

was not very good at calculating costs.

The religious leaders must have that Jesus was crazy

to even suggest it.

 

And that is the first point of Jesus stories today.

He’s just not that good at math.

 

And that’s because math doesn’t apply.

Because Jesus isn’t talking about sheep and coins.

He’s talking about people.

 

Now if you look at people only like numbers

and their benefits to society and to your goals,

like the religious leaders were doing,

then Jesus was doing a terrible job.

He’s not calculating the cost or considering

who he is being seen with and how

It is going to affect him in the long run.

He’s not considering what this will do to

his reputation and to his brand.

 

It just doesn’t make good sense to go looking

for one lost one if you’re talking about sheep and coins

if you’re talking about objects, possessions, things,

the math doesn’t add up.

 

But if we’re talking about lost children,

then it makes complete sense.

God doesn’t see people as commodities

and return on investments.

God sees us as people as beloved children.

So Jesus, as a reflection of God,

doesn’t use math or accounting to

figure who he should eat with.

 

He knows this is will probably cost him.

It’s going to cost him his honor and reputation

in the religious community,

and, in the end it will cost him his life.

But the cost doesn’t matter.

It’s worth it.

 

And this is good news for us.

Especially today.

Especially this week.

Because we are obviously lost.

This country as a whole is lost.

 

We have been lost to violence in all its forms.

We had a young woman randomly killed in Charlotte.

Yet another school shooting in Colorado.

From September 7th-13th there have been

455 gun deaths in the United States.

Which is horrifying, but actually average.

We have shown time and time again that we

love unregulated assault weapons more than we love children.

 

And then there was the killing of this

Political Commentator Charlie Kirk on

Wednesday which has caused a lot of fervor.

Now Charlie Kirk was not someone to idolize as some are doing.

His words were filled with dangerous rhetoric

He said that Democrats and liberals should be destroyed,

that gay and lesbian people should be imprisoned,

that transgender people were violent,

that black people were better off in slavery.

He couched all this in enough Christianity and

selective history and charisma to sound reasonable and faithful

but his words were divisive and dangerous

and not Christ like at all.

 

AND his killing is awful.

 

We can believe both things.

I did not like or respect Charlie Kirk,

I don’t believe he should not be celebrated or honored.

I thought his words were harmful.

And I also think that killing him was harmful.

 

Free speech is a basic right in this country,

and political violence is a special kind of horrible,

no matter who the victim or perpetrator is.

And as Christians, we’re called to love our enemies

and pray for those who cause harm to us.

 

But the response to this killing in this country

was to raise the temperature

and call for more political violence.

From so many people, including the president.

 

More violence is not an answer to violence.

We think it’s going to solve our problems,

or ease our desperation and fear.

But it just spirals us further into desperation and fear

and right into the hands of Satan every time.

 

We are lost.

We had so much promise as a country, but face it.

We are lost.

We’ve turned against ourselves and we decided

that consuming and destroying our own people

is the way to some kind of glory.

 

The columnist, David Brooks wrote an article and he said:

“we live in a fragmented society made up of individuals who have no conception of the common good, no way to come together to pursue a common good, no way to persuade one another what the common good might be, and indeed most of us believe that the common good does not and cannot exist.”

We are lost.

 

And when I’m in my worst and most hopeless,

I really feel like maybe this whole social experiment

of the Untied States might be a loss.

If I were calculating the cost, I sometimes think it might be better

if God just destroyed it all and see what grows out of the ashes.

 

In the first reading from Exodus.

We hear how the people that the God saved

from slavery in Egypt have turned on him.

God saved them, brought them to the promised land,

He was writing up the 10 commandments with Moses up

on Mount Sinai. Then while Moses was delayed

coming down from the mountain for a couple days,

they got worried about things and instantly turned.

Moses own brother Aaron had them melt all their gold jewelry

and they formed a golden calf for them to worship.

 

God took a break from the 10 commandments and

checked to see what was happening with the Israelites

at the bottom of the mountain and he gets really mad.

He calls the people stiff-necked, stubborn, won’t yield, hopeless.

God tells Moses, “get out of the way,

and let me consume these people with fire.

I’ll start all over again, and you and I will make a great nation.”

 

God’s plan was to wipe them out and start over again.

And I get it.  The minute they have some free time

and some fear, they turn on God and worship

some false god. It sounds a lot like us.

 

But Moses negotiates with God and says,

what would the Egyptians say?

That you brought the people out just to kill them?

 

And then Moses reminds God of God’s promises

to Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel,

Moses reminds them of the people that God loved.

These are your children.

And God changed God’s mind about the disaster

that he planned to bring on the people.

 

There’s a lot more wrangling: Moses gets mad at the people.

He breaks the 10 commandments.

He has to go back up the mountain and make them again.

God sends a little plague to remind them whose boss.

Moses implores God for forgiveness.

They make a new 10 commandments.

And they again restore the covenant

between God and God’s people.

 

It’s a complicated story like life is. It seems like God and

the Israelites are both negotiating how this whole

relationship will go forward.

But in the end, God clings to this description

which he declares when the 10 commandments

are finally presented:

 

“I am the Lord, a God merciful and gracious,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”

 

This is God’s chosen identity from then out.

And God really lives into it going forward from there.

And this is the identity of God that

Jesus has come to share with us, and help us understand.

God is not a god of destruction, but is

abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

And God is going to stick with all God’s children,

no matter how stiff-necked we are.

Maybe it would make more sense on paper,

to just give up on the whole thing.

But we remember from our stories today,

that Jesus wasn’t very good at math.

 

God isn’t good at calculating the cost when

it comes to his children.

 

Jesus, why do you do this,

Why do you welcome sinners and eat with them?

Why do you entertain these stiff-necked

people who disappoint and follow false idols?

Why do you waste your time with the likes of us?


Because Jesus was sent to find the lost.

The lost sheep,

lost coins,

lost people,

and lost countries.

And God won’t give up until the lost are found.