another Foreigner
In this morning's gospel story, Luke (17:11-19) writes that as Jesus enters a village on his way to Jerusalem, ten lepers approach him crying out, "Ἰησοῦ ἐπιστάτα, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς", "Jesus, master, have mercy on us". Sometimes in Luke, Jesus is called epistata, which acknowledges someone's authority. Not the same as calling him lord, teacher, sir, rabbi.
Jesus sends the lepers to the priests to show that they are healed so they can be declared clean. Of the ten, only one turns back to thank Jesus. As foreigners accepting the gospel is an important element of Luke's agenda, he points out that the one grateful man is a Samaritan.
Remember, in Luke, Jesus is recognied by other foreigners, and Luke reports Jesus telling the Parable of the Good Samaritan; which is not a story encouraging Luke's audience to go and do likewise, but a story with the surprising and perhaps unwelcome news that those we hate are our neighbors, and may be better neighbors than those we like.
Everything in a Bible story has a point. No words are wasted. In today's story, presumably the other nine were Jews? Galileans? IDK, maybe they were all Samaritans, Luke doesn't say, he just singles out the appreciative one and makes sure we know about this one who, unlike Jesus' Jewish brethren, wasn't expected or supposed to recognize Jesus.
What's the point of Luke's story?
Part of it has to do with Luke's connecting Jesus with Jerusalem from the beginning of his gospel right through to the end.
There is always gratitude or its lack.
Some preachers, with today's sermon in this traditional fall stewardship season when we encourage people to commit to tithe and turn in a pledge card, may make a point that touches on guilt for people who are not appreciative of the Lord's lovingkindness.
To me, the story doesn't have anything to do with guilt. Luke is upholding those, here complete foreigners, who accept Jesus as epistata, Master. And we will see that it's a far different story when Jesus gets to Jerusalem, where one might reasonably have expected Jesus to be acclaimed by his brethren.
The other thing, which may be my topic in Sunday School unless someone comes with something else they want us to discuss, is the several stories in the synoptics about Jesus and lepers. Starts in Mark chapter 1. Or, possibly in an obscure noncanonical document called the Egerton Gospel.
About the art, a favorite, and I love that they paint Jesus wearing red. From online:
Vie de Jesus Mafa (Life of Jesus Mafa) was an initiative undertaken in the 1970s to help teach the gospel in Northern Cameroon. French Catholic missionary François Vidil worked with Mafa Christian communities in Cameroon to create an enormous catalogue of paintings depicting the life of Jesus as an African man. The plan was to build a resource that would help Mafa people to teach from the bible in a way that connects with their community.
The Life of Jesus Mafa took a long time to produce. Vidil formed a team of local church leaders, theologians and a carefully selected artist. The team would spend time in Mafa communities, reading bible passages and getting people to reenact them. Vidil and his team would photograph their reenactments as the artist sketched sketched them. These sketches and photographs became the basis of the final paintings in this collection. What an amazing way to produce art for the sake of mission!
The collection includes more than 70 scenes, which covers pretty much every story from all four Gospels.
https://lentproject.wordpress.com/resources/visuals-video-painting-and-design/vie-de-jesus-mafa/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafa_people
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm_mo1Tehys
Jesus sends the lepers to the priests to show that they are healed so they can be declared clean. Of the ten, only one turns back to thank Jesus. As foreigners accepting the gospel is an important element of Luke's agenda, he points out that the one grateful man is a Samaritan.
Remember, in Luke, Jesus is recognied by other foreigners, and Luke reports Jesus telling the Parable of the Good Samaritan; which is not a story encouraging Luke's audience to go and do likewise, but a story with the surprising and perhaps unwelcome news that those we hate are our neighbors, and may be better neighbors than those we like.
Everything in a Bible story has a point. No words are wasted. In today's story, presumably the other nine were Jews? Galileans? IDK, maybe they were all Samaritans, Luke doesn't say, he just singles out the appreciative one and makes sure we know about this one who, unlike Jesus' Jewish brethren, wasn't expected or supposed to recognize Jesus.
What's the point of Luke's story?
Part of it has to do with Luke's connecting Jesus with Jerusalem from the beginning of his gospel right through to the end.
There is always gratitude or its lack.
Some preachers, with today's sermon in this traditional fall stewardship season when we encourage people to commit to tithe and turn in a pledge card, may make a point that touches on guilt for people who are not appreciative of the Lord's lovingkindness.
To me, the story doesn't have anything to do with guilt. Luke is upholding those, here complete foreigners, who accept Jesus as epistata, Master. And we will see that it's a far different story when Jesus gets to Jerusalem, where one might reasonably have expected Jesus to be acclaimed by his brethren.
The other thing, which may be my topic in Sunday School unless someone comes with something else they want us to discuss, is the several stories in the synoptics about Jesus and lepers. Starts in Mark chapter 1. Or, possibly in an obscure noncanonical document called the Egerton Gospel.
About the art, a favorite, and I love that they paint Jesus wearing red. From online:
Vie de Jesus Mafa (Life of Jesus Mafa) was an initiative undertaken in the 1970s to help teach the gospel in Northern Cameroon. French Catholic missionary François Vidil worked with Mafa Christian communities in Cameroon to create an enormous catalogue of paintings depicting the life of Jesus as an African man. The plan was to build a resource that would help Mafa people to teach from the bible in a way that connects with their community.
The Life of Jesus Mafa took a long time to produce. Vidil formed a team of local church leaders, theologians and a carefully selected artist. The team would spend time in Mafa communities, reading bible passages and getting people to reenact them. Vidil and his team would photograph their reenactments as the artist sketched sketched them. These sketches and photographs became the basis of the final paintings in this collection. What an amazing way to produce art for the sake of mission!
The collection includes more than 70 scenes, which covers pretty much every story from all four Gospels.
https://lentproject.wordpress.com/resources/visuals-video-painting-and-design/vie-de-jesus-mafa/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafa_people
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm_mo1Tehys