Faith on the Border

It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee.
Now most Jews don’t do that. They go down to Jerusalem along the Jordan so they don’t have to risk talking to a samaritan and defiling themselves, but not Jesus. Quite remarkable since he must have already know what he was going to Jerusalem for. But I am getting ahead of my story. For now just know Jesus was heading to Jerusalem for a purpose but that didn’t stop him from changing my life.

As he entered our village, ten us, all lepers, met him. We kept their distance but raised our voices, calling out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" That’s right I’m a lepper. Just listen to what it is like… (Song)
Its not easy being a leper and life in the leper colony is a lonely one, though at least we have each other. My friends are all Jews. Go figure. If it wasn’t for our common affliction we wouldn’t even talk to each other. But leprosy has made us all outcasts more than that, it made us all one.

When we saw a traveler coming we went out to meet him to beg. Have mercy on us! We cried. We understood from the crowd and the things they were talking about that this must be Jesus, but we didn’t ask for anything specific, we said, “Have mercy on us!”

We didn’t dare to come near, though we had heard rumors that this man touches lepers. We

Taking a good look at us, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests."
We had heard that he touched lepers, that he could heal with a word, but this time he healed in another way. We turned to go - to obey his command. As we did, our sores closed up, our numb fingers worn down to the nub with out our feeling it grew back, our bodies became whole again. We patted each other on the back and congratulated each-other. We quickened our pace, to show the priest, to return to our families and our lives. Then I stopped. I realized I couldn’t go into the temple and show myself to the preist, I’m no Jew, and worse than that I am a Samaritan! I realized my bond with these friends was over, they were returning to their lives.

You see we lived on a border, Jesus had come to our boundary, a fuzzy zone where Jews and Samaritans could live together because they were outcasts. All of that was about to change. Jesus came to our boundary and came to heal it. He was all I had now.


4.I turned around and came back, shouting my gratitude, glorifying God. I knelt at Jesus' feet, so grateful. I couldn't thank him enough

He placed his hand on my head—and I was a Samaritan!

Do you ever notice that it is the outsider that catches fire more quickly when they meet Jesus? I mean all these Jews knew that they were a special people to God. They kept reminding us Samaritans of it. Maybe they took it for granted when the very Son of God healed them. But when an outsider, someone who doesn’t know the hope in Christ comes and meets him, realizes that there is nothing outside of hope in him, how can he take it for granted? Jesus just met us on the outside of the boundary! How marvelous.

Jesus said, "Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?" Then he said to him, "Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you."

Are you like the other nine, or do you shout for joy with me today? I know you have seen the power of God working inside your borders just as he worked outside them for me. You have the symbols of it before you in these emblems. You are here together as one body! You have witnessed the power of God first hand. What a miracle you are made one with each other, once strangers now one body one family! Do you shout with joy? Or do you go on your way to do your duty without the shout of thanks to God.


Jesus followed the other 9 to Jerusalem. Like I said before he was on his way there for a purpose. He was there to be striped, like we were stripped, clothed only in rags. He was to be beaten and his flesh hang from his body like ours did. And by his stripes we are healed. I wonder if the nine Jews who went to show themselves at the temple ran into Jesus again. I wonder if they were in the crowd that watched him carry his cross. I wonder if they sang his praises at last in the midst of the jeering crowd. Will you?

If they did, we are one again, regardless of borders, because all we have now is Jesus. You are one with me too if you will shout his praises. Shout for joy with me!

What it means to my audience (Proper C23)

Here's what I finally settled on:

Subject: How should the Jews act in exile?

Complement: In exile the Jews should make a
home and wait on the Lord.

Exegetical Idea: The jews were not to revolt, but
rather settle in, pray for the wellfare of their oppressors, and seek God.

Homiletic Idea: In our lives, we cannot let those things
that represent God become gods, instead we should seek him and his kingdom.

Purpose: Hearers will examine their relationship to God
and take communion.

I'm going to work this into a narrative sermon. That is what I've been doing for this series. I'm going to try to do justice to the "Last best hope" plot and unpack a trunk for an object lesson. Any one else working with this text? What are you doing?

Anna Grant-Henderson--the last great hope

"Jeremiah has always seen the future of Israel was through those who went into exile (Brueggemann: 256). "

Hmm... The exiles are the last best hope for a people doomed to destruction at home. Stakes are high. Sounds like a good plot for a space adventure.

What church is like for us

We have been using the Jeremiah text for weeks now as we explore the life of Jeremiah. See a picture.

Where's the gospel? (Proper C23)

My Lutheran friend, Ray Orth, is fond of asking, “Where is the gospel in this text.” Often he will look to the other readings to bring grace to the table. In talking today we decided that Paul must have been a Lutheran too, because a lot of the time he is good for it.

There is a thread through the Jeremiah 29:1-7 and 2 Timothy 2:8-15 about blooming where you are planted. Both speak of an exile and hardship; both speak of faithfulness and glorifying God through the situation.

Paul offers:
“If we endure we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful-- for he cannot deny himself.” (wow)

Jeremiah says, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD

I wonder why that isn’t in the reading—plenty of grace there! The reading does give us the sense that God is here, in this foreign ground away from the temple and Promised Land, and he asks them to pray for their new home.

If this thread intersects the gospel text, it barely does so in the cry for mercy where none should be expected.

Still—what does all this mean to my audience?!

Jeremiah and politics (Proper C23)

"Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

In exile the Jews have no national identity, no temple, no land and yet God says in vs. 13 that if they seek him he will let them find him. This strikes me as being the cure for Judah's callousness throughout Jeremiah.



With elections at hand, I begin to wonder if Jeremiah's words apply to us... Do we hold on to nationalism and politics as part of our spiritual lives? Are patriotism, democracy, capitalism and the like confused in our practice with Biblical truth? Do we reduce God to a republican or a democrat? To the extent that we do we are calloused and unaffected by the call of God to seek him with all of our hearts.


King Josiah's reforms were all about nationalism. He desired to return Israel to her glory days, which meant returning to the practices and rituals prescribed by the God of their fathers. It is clear from Jeremiah that those reforms never affected the hearts of the people. Instead, they continued their idolatry and prostitution with false confidence that the temple was their magic carpet ride.

Stripped of all these things-all that made them great, all that symbolized their chosen status-all of this out of the way, God again calls them to a true worship. He even calls them to pray for the well being of their captors, for the prosperity of the enemy kingdom, "because if it prospers, you too will prosper."