LUKE'S STORIES.

ALMIGHTY GOD SOURCE OF EVERY BLESSING, YOUR GENEROUS GOODNESS COMES TO US ANEW EVERY DAY BY THE WORK OF YOUR SPIRIT, THAT LEADS US TO  ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR GOODNESS AND GIVE THANKS FOR THE BENEFITS. EXCEPT FOR A FEW SUNDAYS WE WILL STAY IN THE GOSPEL OF LUKE. " TELL ALL THE TRUTH BUT TELL IT SLANT." THUS BEGINS EMILY DICKERSON'S DEEPLY RELIGIOUS POEM. ST. LUKE KNEW HOW TO TELL THE TRUTH ON A SLANT. HIS GOSPEL EASILY READ IN ONE SETTING PROVIDES ONE OF THE GREAT ADVENTURES IN BIBLICAL LITERATURE. FROM THE CYCLE THAT RECOUNTS THE BIRTH OF JESUS, THROUGH HIS LIFE AND MINISTRY, HIS PARABLES, HIS MIRACLES, AND HIS TEACHING, TO HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION. WE ARE ENVELOPED IN THE POWERFUL PRESENCE OF GOD AT WORK IN THE WORLD. STORIES OF THE UNFATHOMABLE LOVE OF GOD FOR US AND FOR ALL CREATION COME IN A SLANTED PROFUSION THAT BRINGS US EVER INTO THE FOLD OF THE FAITHFUL. THIS IS NOT A STRAIGHT FORWARD LECTURE IN THEOLOGY. IT IS INSTEAD, AN ACCOUNT OF JESUS, INCARNATE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD, AND NOW IN OUR LIVES. WE LOOK AT LUKE'S STORIES, AND ON THAT SLANT, WE SEE THE UNSEEABLE FACE OF GOD. PERHAPS ONE OF THE STRONGEST IMPRESSIONS GIVEN BY LUKE'S GOSPEL IS THAT STORIES OF PEOPLE ABOUND. THE JESUS OF LUKE IS ONE WHO IS DECIDEDLY  INCARNATE. THIS JESUS IS VERY HUMAN, LIVING, LOVING, AND SUFFERING.  THIS JESUS IS, AT THE SAME TIME, GOD, BECOMES A PERSON, ONE OF US. THE HUMANITY OF JESUS IS UNDERLINED IN HIS CONSTANT ENCOUNTERS WITH PEOPLE LIKE HIS MOTHER MARY; HIS DISCIPLES; THE JEWISH AND ROMAN LEADERS OF HIS TIME.; AND MOST OF ALL, WITH EVERY DAY, NORMAL HUMAN BEINGS LIKE THE WOMEN WHO WASHES HIS FEET WITH HER TEARS, DRIES THEM WITH HER HAIR, AND ANOINTS WITH COSTLY OINTMENT; THE WOMEN WHO WAS CRIPPLED FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS AND IS HEALED; AND ZACCHAEUS, THE RICH TAX COLLECTOR WHO REPENTED OF HIS ABUSE OF OTHERS AND IS FORGIVEN. LUKE THE PHYSICIAN  CALLS OUR ATTENTION TO THE FACT THAT JESUS IS REGULARLY AND DEEPLY IMMERSED IN HEALING. NOT ONLY DOES HE CURE THE CRIPPLED WOMEN, BUT, AMONG OTHER MIRACLES HE ALSO HEALS THE CENTURIAN'S  SLAVE; HE CAST OUT A DEMON THAT IS MUTE;  HE RELIEVES  A MAN OF DROSPY ON THE SABBATH. JESUS HEALINGS REVEAL HIS DEEP LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE, FOR THE WEAK AND THE LAME, FOR THOSE WHO KNOW NO OTHER HOPE, AND THEY REVEAL HIS MISSION TO BRING WHOLENESS AND COMPASSION TO ALL THE WORLD. GRABBED BY THE POWER OF GOODNESS, WE ASK, "ISN'T THIS THE ONE
WHO HEALED... WHO TAUGHT... WHO PROPHESIED.. WHO DIED? ISN'T THIS THE ONE LUKE'S GOSPEL TELLS US HE IS. JESUS ALWAYS SEEMS TO HAVE A WAY TO ARREST OUR ATTENTION. THIS ACCOUNT OF HEALING IN THE MESSAGE TODAY IS NO EXCEPTION, FOR WE ARE PERCENTAGE CONSCIOUS THESE DAYS. WE BECAME A NATION OF POLL WATCHERS. WE LIVE IN A AGE WHEN NUMBERS PLAY AN IMPORTANT PART IN LIFE AND WE BETTER GET WITH IT, IF WE ARE TO GET BY IN OUR COMPUTERIZED SOCIETY. WE CAN BE GRATEFUL OUR LORD KEPT MATH SIMPLE FOR US AS WE DEAL WITH THE TEN LEPERS. WE SCARCELY  NEED PEN OR PENCILS TO FIGURE THIS OUT  ONE OUT OF TEN RETURNED. A LITTLE COMMENTARY ON THE LEPER. HE WAS THE OUTCAST, FROM THE TIME HE OR SHE CONTACTED THE DISEASE. LIFE WAS OVER. THEY DRESSED IN RAGS, CARRIED A LITTLE BELL WITH THEM, WHICH THEY RANG AS THEY WALKED DOWN THE STREET AND EVERYONE WHO HEARD THE BELL RAN FOR COVER, AND IF THE LEPER  DID GET CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE THEY THREW ROCKS AT THEM TO HOLD THEM AT BAY. FROM BIRTH TO DEATH, THE LEPER LIVED A LIFE OF LONELINESS, NEVER A KIND WORD, A WARM TOUCH, A HUG, NO HUMAN CONTACT  AT ALL, UNTIL JESUS TOUCHED THIS ONE LEPER. THE SCENE IS PATHETIC ONE- ONE THAT TRAVELERS ENCOUNTERED OFTEN IN THE DAY OF JESUS  WE DON'T SEE SCENES LIKE THIS ONE TODAY, BECAUSE WE ARE SOPHISTICATED ENOUGH IN OUR AGE TO HIDE THE WASTING ELEMENTS OF HUMANITY INSIDE COMPOUNDS WITH WALLS HIGH ENOUGH TO SHUT OUT THE VIEW. WE DON'T LOOK UPON- AND BE HORRIFIED   BY- THE CONTEMPORARY COUNTER PARTS OF THE LEPER SOCIETY. OH WE KNOW WHO THEY ARE- THE DISENFRANCHISED , THE REJECTED. TOO OFTEN THEY ARE MASKED FROM OUR VIEW BY THE BARRIERS OUR CULTURE THAT HAS INVENTED TO PROTECT UNINFECTED. BUT AS JESUS AND HIS FRIENDS WALKED DOWN THE ROAD TO JERUSALEM, TEN LEPERS STOPPED HIM WITH THEIR CRY FOR MERCY. THE ONLY WALL THAT ISOLATED THOSE CONTAGIOUS DISEASE WAS THE CRY "UNCLEAN" THAT RANG OUT TO GUARANTEE THE PUBLIC HEALTH. JEWISH LAW ORDERED  UNCLEAN TO KEEP THEIR DISTANCE  THEY WERE 'DIFFERENT' THEY CARRIED A COMMUNICABLE DISEASE. THEY WERE TO REMAIN SEPARATE FOR LIFE. WE DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT NINE OF THESE DISEASE LEPERS.  BUT LUKE TELLS US ONE OF THEM WAS SAMARITAN.  REMEMBER, THE SAMARITANS WERE THE UNSAVORY ONES- THE OUT CASTS- THE ONES WHOM THE JEWS SOUGHT TO AVOID. BECAUSE  LUKE TAKES PAINS TO IDENTIFY ONE OF THE TEN SAMARITAN, IT SEEMS THE REMAINING NINE WERE PROBABLY JEWS. THIS DESPISED  SAMARITAN  HAD DISSOLVED IN THAT GROUP BY THE COMMON DISASTER THAT HAD STRUCK THEM ALL. THEIR DREAD SICKNESS HAD FORMED A BOND BETWEEN THEM AND THEY SEEMED TO SAY, "WHATS THE DIFFERENCE?"  THE RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES THAT WOULD HAVE KEPT THEM APART HAD THEY BEEN WELL., SEEMED PRETTY PUNY ALONGSIDE THEIR COMMON LEPROSY.  IT IS SAID THAT WHEN A FLOOD STRIKES THE JUNGLE, THE ANIMALS WHO ARE COMMON ENEMIES  SHARE THE HIGH GROUND OF PEACE. PEOPLE SEEKING REFUGE IN A BOMB SHELTER PAY NO ATTENTION TO RANK OR RACE, OF THOSE HUDDLED TOGETHER WITH THEM IN TERROR. WHATS THE DIFFERENCE ANYWAY?  THE TEN LEPERS FROM THEIR COMMON MISERY, RAISED THEIR COMMON CRY, " JESUS "JESUS, MASTER HAVE MERCY UPON US.  WITHIN THE COMMON CRY FOR MERCY LIES A COMMON FAITH- A FAITH THAT THIS NAZARENE , WHOSE FAME HAD INTO THE ISOLATED  OF THE MORTALLY ILL POSSESSED THE POWER TO HEAL THEIR DISEASE. THE TEN TURNED TO JESUS AND WERE HEALED. THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS THAT TAKES PLACE AFTER THEIR CRY FOR MERCY WAS WRETCHED FROM A BLIND RESPONSE TO THE VOICE OF JESUS.  JESUS TOLD THEM TO GO SHOW THEMSELVES TO THE PRIESTS. "NOTE." IT WAS  NECESSARY FOR A CLEANSED TO PRESENT HIMSELF IN THE TEMPLE IN ORDER THAT THE PRIESTS MIGHT CERTIFY HIS CLEANESS. IT IS OF GREATEST SIGNIFICANCE
 THAT THE  TEN LEPERS STARTED OFF TO THE PRIESTS  AT THE WORD OF JESUS. BUT THE HEALING DIDN'T TAKE PLACE UNTIL THEY WERE ON THEIR WAY. THE TEXT: SAYS, " AS THEY WENT, THEY WERE CLEANSED, HEALED.  THIS IS THE GREAT DIFFERENCE THAT FAITH MAKES- FOR FAITH IS TESTED FINALLY IN THE CRUCIBLE OF ACTION. WHATEVER IT WAS THAT MIGHT HAVE KEPT 90 PERCENT OF THESE MEN FROM RETURNING TO PRAISE GOD AS THEY SHOULD, WE SHOULD SAY THAT THIS ACT OF TURNING AROUND AND HEADING FOR THE TEMPLE BEFORE THE ACT OF HEALING HAD TAKEN PLACE, IS A GREAT DEMOSTRATION OF FAITH AND IT PAID OFF, FOR FINALLY THEY WERE FREED THEY  NO LONGER BELONGED TO THE WALKING DEAD. WE SEE HERE THE MERCY OF GOD ALIVE-INCARNATE, THAT WENT ALL THE WAY  TO "CALVARY."