"Let's play 'Mercy'," one of the boys said. Usually the suggestion comes from one of the older boys--who is bigger, stronger (and most helpful)-taller-than the others. This is really not a game as much as a brief encounter of muscle and might. The two contestants simply grab each others hands inter locking the fingers and at the agreed-on signal, attempt to bend the other's fingers back enough to bring them to their knees--or if the hands should happen to become reversed to palms up--the stronger almost lifts the other off their feet at risk of breaking their fingers. Every time I hear the suggestion I know that the game will be played not so much to witness to the grace and wonder of mercy as it is to the power and pain that will produce the cry of "mercy". In my younger days a similar encounter--usually with the class bully or a sibling--would have been resolved not with a cry for mercy but with the out cry--"Say 'uncle'!"--a surrender call that would end the strife and abuse only if the stronger party chose to show some mercy and accept your yielding words. A cry for mercy--for release from that which would press us down--limit our freedom--be it a bully, our place in life, a disease or disaster--Cry mercy--cry release--cry an end!
In our Gospel lesson for today we encounter the cry for mercy on the lips of lepers--ten lepers who wandered the countryside begging for relief from hunger and want--bound by the law and codes of their day to announce their disease to all.--The warning cry was to keep others at a distance. Leprosy--kept at a distance so that others would not catch this disease that kills the nerves that provide the sense of touch--A disease that removed the sense that protects each of us from things so hot they blister the skin. A disease that removes the sense that warns us that the object is sharp--has pierced us or cut us--Open wounds with disabled limbs were common marks of leprosy in bodies quickly overwhelmed by infection and repeated injury. Leprosy was a disease feared in its day as much as AIDS is today--A disease that destroyed families and lives--A disease that held captive any and all identified as a leper.
A cry for mercy--There are only three such cries in the entire Gospel of Luke. The first cry for mercy in Luke's gospel is placed by Jesus in the mouth of the rich man who was in our lesson two weeks ago--As the rich man discovered after his death that he was in torment and thirst he cries out to Father Abraham in heavenly comfort to have mercy and send a drop of water to moisten his lips. There is no merciful solution to this story--the gulf between heaven and hell is too great. The other two cries for mercy are spoken in the Gospel of Luke by voices calling out to Jesus. The one is the cry of ten lepers in our lesson for today -the other will occur a few chapters later in Luke when a blind man cries out for mercy and healing. To my mind-at first reading--these stories lack any literary creativity--they are ridiculous set-up situations. Jesus is walking by and someone cries out for mercy--Is there really ever any doubt about what the outcome will be? This is Jesus--who else would you turn to in desperation, want or need. Jesus has to heal-set free-make right-Jesus has to do this because he is God.
Such is the thinking that guides many in their
relationship to the church and their faith. The other day I had
another of a type of telephone call we get quite often--this one
from a young woman who was looking for a place to have her wedding.
She had already made reservations with a local facility for her
wedding reception and now she was looking for a church. "You
just have to do this," she said. "You are close by and
you're a church--its what the church is supposed to do."
What the church is supposed to do. No need to check the church's
calendar before scheduling the reception or explain how the church
even happens to exist with buildings and programs just waiting
for her need--No need to worry about faith or stewardship--just
my need to be met by the church because that is what the church
is supposed to do. Another telephone call--if there had been
telephones in the day of Jesus I can almost imagine the answering
service he would have needed -another telephone call-this time
a Spanish accent catches my attention -a story that sounds a bit
too well rehearsed relates the struggles of an illegal with three
children and a sick wife living hand to mouth in Chicago -They
need help with their rent -"The church has to help people
in need-that's what makes it the church." Cry need-cry
mercy-and of course the church will respond -What else can the
church do? "Have mercy on us" they cried. But if
we are going to play the "mercy" game then we need
to recognize that the heart of this encounter is the issue of
power and might and maybe even a little doubt about how far we
trust the use of that power for doing right. Remember what we
have observed before about the understanding people in Jesus
time had concerning illness and reversals of fortune -There was
a strong belief that God rewarded the good and punished the bad
-It is called the retribution doctrine -The most basic understanding
of why bad things happened to good people was the belief that
those who suffered tragedy or misfortune were really not that
good after all -that some secret sin and evil demanded that God
carry out judgment -It's what we call today-"Blaming the
victim" -An approach that makes those of us who escape disasters
or disease feel a little better about ourselves as we try to
convince ourselves that there must be some reason others suffer
and we do not. -Retribution thinking causes us to believe that
the cry for mercy from the lepers is perfectly natural since
clearly this leprosy must be the consequence of some very grievous
sin -and their only hope would be to appeal to God's great power
-cry "uncle"-and hope God is feeling merciful. Of course
in our modern times with our post-Christian faith we have moved
beyond linking suffering to sin -We are especially clear about
the fact that illness has to do with disease and conditions that
effect our bodies -We know that the abuse of power and the oppression
of people is not from God but the evil of human imagination and
creativity. -While some might still draw on ancient dogmas of
retribution -most of us desperately want to separate suffering
from divine punishment. The evil that we do unto ourselves is
not from God -which is why it makes so much more sense for us
to cry out to God for mercy. Our God is a loving God-a gracious
God -a life giving God who desires only good for all creation
-A cry for mercy to such a God is calling forth power over and
above the forces that threaten us -It is not a cry for the end
of some divine judgment -Our cries for mercy are calls for power
to move beyond illness to fullness of life -to move beyond suffering
and sadness to hope and joy. While many would claim to have some
inside track to read the mind of God and explain why bad things
happen to good people -the truth is that we really cannot presume
to go there -but we do know why good people of faith are not shattered
by the bad things that happen to them. The cry for mercy is
a powerful clue -the willingness to open oneself to seeing hope
where there should be no hope -value where all should be lost
-life where only death would seem the final word. Those who
cry out to Jesus are opening themselves to seeing the world in
a new way -and they were willing to act on that vision of possibility.
Jesus tells ten lepers to go and show themselves to the priest-
this was the ritual required of any who would claim to have been
cured -the action that would allow them back into the wholeness
of society, their families and communities. We are told the
ten lepers acted in faith-they went to show themselves. Sometimes
I think the defining characteristic of being human is the ability
to create for ourselves worst case scenarios -the ability to look
at any moment in our lives and identify ways in which it could
be worse -scenarios that oppress us further but make others look
good. The proof of this observation may be shaded a bit by
having just returned from a retreat with 23 of our confirmation
students -who collectively have immortalized the words "Do
we have to do that?" To which my usual response was, "Yes,
that's what confirmands do." And their reply was some form
of, "But they didn't have to do that." Mercy is a gift
from God-it is not an accounting process to create a balanced
ledger. Mercy is a way of seeing the world with hope and possibility.
It looks at the illness and says there is always the possibility
of a cure -It looks at the disaster and sees ways to bring hope
through food, shelter, clothing and presence. It is so easy
to live in a world without mercy -to define everything in legalistic
terms of judgment and consequences. To slip into the retribution
game that uses power to exclude-punish-and control. But the Gospel
proclaimed by Christ is not centered in the law but revealed in
mercy -not that which is demanded or expected but offered as gift-by
grace. There are so many needs in our world -there are even more
demands -but clearly there is too little mercy. We judge by
labels of identity-It was true in Jesus' day -one man returns
to thank Jesus and he is identified by the next thing to an ethnic
slur-a Samaritan. This is retribution thinking turned upside
down -the very thing that should exclude-an outcast ethnic identity
-becomes a mark of faith -The leper cried out for want of the
power of healing but returned in the wonder of faith granted
by grace -And even Jesus marveled at this gift -That this one
of the ten would be the one to find mercy. But so it is with
every miracle -the marvel that this time the powers of the world
did not win -for a moment there is healing and continuing life
-for the moment there is one who escapes the disaster to live
more years -for the moment there are those who live in the wonder
of God's blessings in a land of rich bounty -Could it be that
we are the stewards of mercy -to be the hints of what divine mercy
truly is -stewards of great gifts that can bring proof of even
greater mercy As a people of power-a nation of power-we do not
easily embrace a cry for mercy. We are quicker to say-"Let's
play a game"-Let's see how long it takes until others cry
mercy-And let's see how long it takes until we can't stand their
cries any more.. For years there have been a few small voices
that have cried "mercy" for those who are in hunger
and want-oppressed and abused. The global community is not the
most pleasant place. Clusters of modern lepers roam the world
as refugees-illegals-exploited workers. They have waited for
Jesus-for someone-to pass within earshot of their cries for mercy.
Today this lesson comes to us with the invitation for us to stand
with those who cry "mercy"-to stand with those who seek
freedom-justice-healing. Today this lesson also comes to each
of us who also cry for mercy that we might be discovered by God's
grace and live anew by faith. For that is what ultimately came
from the cries for mercy-The final word from Jesus was not just
healing but the commission to go-Go in faith-Go share the faith-Go
live the faith -And remember that mercy is not just a game.
Amen.