20th Sunday After Pentecost – Year C (Luke 17:11-19)

The story of the ten lepers is usually seen as the classic example of the need for gratitude. That commonplace understanding is no doubt true, but it tends to leave out the other side of the equation. The story of the ten lepers is also about what God does in and through Jesus Christ. First, God does not runaway from the unclean. Both the Law and common sense would have excused Jesus if he had ignored the lepers. Secondly, God’s grace is not limited to insiders. Some might rightly have expected that only nine of the ten lepers would have been healed. The Samaritan was considered to be outside of God’s covenant relationship with Israel. Finally, faith and the grace which follows upon it are at work for good in unexpected people and events, bringing healing to individuals and the world. For this we must all, indeed, be grateful.
On a different note, I think that it is interesting to point out that the Samaritan did not recognize the authority of the priests and that the priests would most certainly have rejected him. There was no point in his going to the Jerusalem temple priests, so instead, he returns to Jesus. There is no need for any external authority to legitimate the inclusion and healing Jesus accomplishes as he ushers in the reign of God.

19 Sunday After Pentecost - Year C (Luke 17: 5-10)

In recent years there has been a growing chorus of voices suggesting that we might have over done the whole self esteem thing with kids now coming to adulthood. Should anyone be looking for an antidote to excessive self esteem, this Gospel passage is definitely for you. Our faith is miniscule and we are, at best, worthless slaves. I think, though, that there might be another way of looking at this that does not require beating ourselves up.


The first thing I would suggest is that we have no need to plant mulberry trees in the sea or move mountains (referencing the better remembered version of this teaching) for that matter. That is God’s work. Secondly, since faith is itself God’s gift to us, we cannot be held responsible for how little we have. Does that mean that to ask, as the apostles did, for an increase in faith is wrong? Of course it isn’t.

Love God with your whole heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. If we are doing what we are ordered to do then there is nothing further necessary. In fact, however, we are not even capable of doing this with any consistency. Once again we are dependent on God to make up the difference.
The Christian’s self-esteem is a recognition of God’s grace at work in an individual and is not rooted in our own achievements. God has loved us first. That is the good news and all the esteem we need.

18th Sunday after Pentecost - Year C (Luke 16:19-31)

If, as many claim, America is a Christian nation, a non-Christian might legitimately ask why anyone in America goes hungry. After all, Christians have as the teacher of this harsh parable one who has indeed risen from the dead. Alas, Jesus knows the answer all too well. The law, the prophets and even Jesus, raised from the dead, are apparently all insufficient motivators when it comes to our treatment of the poor. In addition, the persistent twin beliefs in American culture that the poor deserve their lot and that wealth is a sign of God’s favor have meant that the wealthiest country in the history of the world still has pockets of deep poverty and that millions of Americans go to bed hungry each night. An all of this is to say nothing of the world’s poor and hungry.




What’s to be done? On the level of individual praxis, it is really very simple. Give! That simple answer is actually true on the national and international levels as well. There is enough food to go around. It is simply a matter of will. While it is relatively easy to change individual behavior, changing the structure of the thrones, powers and dominions that refuse to will the feeding of the hungry is a much harder change to make.

17th Sunday after Pentecost - Year C (Luke 16: 1-13)

Beyond the often discussed dichotomy between God and wealth set up in this passage, on closer reading there seems to be an even more radical message that Jesus wants to present. The text seems to imply that all material wealth is tainted with dishonesty. There is no such thing as clean money.


There have been a number of stories in the news lately about so-called blood diamonds. These are diamonds mined in a strife torn region, usually in Africa, and then sold. The proceeds of the sale go on to financially support violence inflicted on the innocent by insurgents, invaders, war lords, etc. Thanks to a movie and recent celebrity testimony at a war crimes tribunal, most socially conscious jewel merchants and members of the buying public are aware of the issue and can make more informed decisions about what they buy and sell. But even if you can be fairly sure that the jewels are not blood diamonds, what do you know about the wages and working conditions of the miners?

Every cent, no matter how freshly minted the actual coin, comes with a history. No matter how honest your own business practices, no dollar comes your way that has not been touched by dishonesty. The Gospel, at least in this instance, does not suggest that Christians should not use money. The point is to remember that money is a tool and an imperfect one at best.

16th Sunday after Pentecost – Year C (Luke 15:1-10)

This reflection is being posted earlier than usual. At the suggestion of one of my readers I am using this opportunity to get a week ahead. That allows preachers who are ahead of the game, and there are some, to get a look at my thoughts in a timely fashion.
We have often heard it said that God’s ways are not our ways and, generally speaking, we are glad of that. There are times though, when God’s ways seem blatantly unfair. This parable is an example. In particular I am talking about those of us who count ourselves among the ninety-nine sheep who are left feeling at best underappreciated and, at worst, abandoned. Which one of you, Jesus asks, would not leave the ninety-nine sheep to go off in search of the one who got lost. Well no one in their right mind. Two in the hand is worth one in the bush. Why endanger the whole herd to go out looking for that one sheep that obviously has nothing worthwhile to contribute to the herd’s gene pool?
In my reflections for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost, I suggested that Jesus does not have much use for rugged individualism. This Sunday’s parable reminds us of the other side of that coin. Jesus does care about individuals. The shepherd risks the ninety-nine to save the one and though the text is not explicit about this, it implies that the woman spends her other nine coins on a party to celebrate the one that was lost. The extravagance of both the shepherd and the woman seem to us, at least, to be misplaced and ultimately, unfair. It is only when we recognize ourselves as the one sheep or coin that we can come to understand the incredible depth of God’s love and mercy poured out for each of us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.