Healing and including

2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c; Luke 17:11-19

Today we have two stories about healing. Not just healing, but the healing of Gentiles – non-Jewish people.  As we read today’s texts, you may have noticed that most recent translations of the Bible have replaced the English word “leprosy” with the term “skin disease” because it’s more accurate. The word leprosy itself is a Greek interpretation of the Hebrew word Tzara ‘at. In Leviticus, Tzara ‘at refers to a number of skin diseases, some of them contagious, some of them not.

It has been determined that the disfiguring disease we have long called leprosy, or Hansen’s Disease, was not present in ancient Israel, in the time of Elijah and Elisha, nor in the time of Jesus. So the word leprosy has been replaced with the phrase “skin disease”.

There is no direct concordance between ancient skin diseases and modern diagnoses, but here’s how we might think about it: Non-contagious skin diseases might be psoriasis or eczema. Contagious skin diseases might be scabies or impetigo. Also, some non-contagious skin sores like boils simply look bad, so the people in some communities might have been isolated as well to avoid embarrassing everyone with their appearance.

… First, the ancient story of the healing of Naaman, the Syrian General. Here’s the short version: There’s a slave, a captured Jewish girl, who tells Naaman’s wife that Elisha could heal the general of his skin disease. Of course, there was a lot of excitement, and they all made a road trip to see Elisha. At the door, Elisha’s servant told Naaman to go wash in the Jordan seven times.

Naaman is resentful. Elisha didn’t even come to see him, and he had to wash in the meager Jordan River. Didn’t Elisha know who he, Naaman was! But his servants insisted he try it, and he was indeed healed.

 … The second healing story involves Jesus and a group of 10 men with skin diseases. They are a mixed group, nine Jews with one Samaritan. They all plead for Jesus to heal them, which he does, adding that they should show themselves to the priest. This would prove that they were healed, and admit them back into the community. So, off they go, noticing as they walked that they had already been healed. Nine of them headed off to see the priest, but one, the Samaritan, turned around and went back to thank Jesus.

… Naaman saw the world from a position of power and privilege. He was famous, a celebrity, and although he had a skin disease, it was not a disease that isolated him from his community. People would have known his name throughout the region, either to praise such a good general, or to fear him. He expected that Elisha would come and bow before him, or at least want to spend a few minutes in his illustrious presence.

We teach little children the “magic words” please and thank you. Naaman and his entourage showed up at Elisha’s door with the expectation that he was “Somebody”, so he didn’t need to say please and thank you. Until he was truly healed. Then he saw that his skin was clean, and renewed. He returned to Elisha’s home and asked again to see him. Then he praised God for his healing. “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.”

… I like to give the benefit of the doubt – the nine were doing what they had been told to do. They were obedient Jewish men! They were going straight to the priest, without passing go and without collecting $200.  The Samaritan might have had the same rule – to show himself to the priest, but he saw something the others didn’t. He saw that he could put obeying the rule on hold for a few minutes while he went back to give thanks. 

Jesus comments frequently about the way wealthier leaders, men with privilege and power, focus on themselves and neglect the poor, so perhaps that influences the way they respond to the healing. Getting to the priest so they could get home to their families and lives and businesses was most important.  That doesn’t mean that on the way they weren’t celebrating and shouting with joy.

… The Samaritan man in Luke’s story is once again a model for those of his time and ours that Jesus intentionally includes outsiders, whoever the outsiders are. Back then, the outsiders were Gentiles – non-Jews. Today in the US, that insider/outsider role has sometimes been reversed, with Jews often being targets of prejudice and violence.

In the whole of the history of the USA, people have always identified some groups as insiders, and others as outsiders. People with dark skin have been mistreated, enslaved and believed to be not fully human. And then it was the Irish, and the Chinese and the Mexicans. In the late 1800’s, the Swedes and Norwegians were the outsiders, discriminated against as only smart enough for manual labor. During the World Wars of the 1900s, the Germans and Japanese were interred as not trustworthy citizens. Today it is the various Latino and Arabic peoples who are on the outside, even if their families have been citizens for decades.  

Or, the outsiders are those who are in wheelchairs, or who have speech impediments, or who are missing limbs, or who have Down Syndrome. Or those who are too thin, or too heavy. Or those who are of different political views. Or those who love differently. Or whatever, including a skin disease.  

… So, how are we to respond to these stories today? We can look at them as simple reminders to not take God’s gifts like healing for granted. We can look at them as reminders to use the magic words, please and thank you, with people and with God.  And we can look at these stories as reminders that with God there are no outsiders.

This week, I hope you give thanks to God for all you have, and praise God that we are all equal in God’s eyes, in God’s desire for us to be whole, in God’s heart, and God’s love. Amen