Polite, conventional - maybe not ?

from Helen

This mornings readings talk about behaviour. There are bits that may shock us from the 10 lepers in our gospel reading (Luke 17:11-19) being healed and only one going back to say thank you, to Naaman, in our Old Testament reading (2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15b) an important man being made to visit a prophet and then being left on the doorstep, there are bits that just aren’t correct behaviour as we would see it.

It makes me think about saying thank you and treating others with respect. Now in case you are thinking that this morning is going to be a lesson in correct behaviour it is not. After all, (and some of you have heard this already) I was told off on my first day visiting school from nursery for poking my tongue out. To be fair, I had met a little girl who told me that poking your tongue out was nice and not a rude thing to do in reception class.

Still, we all know the correct way to behave. 

I love telling the story of Naaman the very important man being kept waiting to children. Naaman in our Old Testament reading comes across as a very important man. There is something almost comical about the fact that this important man was kept waiting by a prophet. Naaman had only gone to Elisha because a servant girl had suggested it. Another moment outside of correct behaviour the servant girl spoke up and this is not something that one would expect to happen. 

We might think that Elisha was very rude as well. He instructed Naaman from within his house without inviting Naaman in and made him do something quite embarrassing by having him dip himself into the Jordan river 7 times, Naamanunderstandably was quite put out.

However, Naaman needed to go just as he was, not thinking that he was too important. We all need God’s help and healing and we need to do this not on our terms but on His. This means being willing to go to God trusting in Him and not expecting Him to fit into a neat box that we bring out when we need Him. It means turning to Him always and trusting Him. Sometimes making fools of ourselves and going against convention. 

In the gospel reading the 10 lepers went against convention. As lepers they weren’t supposed to let themselves be seen, they were the outcasts of society, they weren’t to be touched. But, they were desperate and so they called out to Jesus. Whether they saw something in Jesus and decided that He was the one to help them we don’t know but they called out and Jesus in His compassion reached out to them and healed them.

These lepers were now able to re-enter society, they had to show themselves to the priest in order to gain entry back but they rushed off, ignoring the one who had healed them apart from the one who had already been outside of society because he was a Samaritan. 

10 lepers were healed but only one returned to say thank you and to praise Jesus. What happened to the other 9 ?

Maybe … 

One waited to see if the cure was real.

One waited to see if it would last.

One said he would see Jesus later.

One decided that he had never had leprosy.

One said he would have got well anyway.

One gave the glory to the priests at the Temple.

One said, "O, well, Jesus didn't really do anything."

One said, "Any rabbi could have done it."

One said, "I was already much improved."

We can find so many reasons for forgetting to praise God and say thank you to Him. It really is incredible how many things we can find to use as excuses for forgetting to Praise and Thank God, maybe even that we forgot we asked for His help in the first place. 

There is a story of two angels who were sent from heaven with a basket each. One angel was to pick up all the requests for prayer and the other to pick up all the thank you messages, the one angel had a basket that was overflowing and the other had a basket with a couple of sheets in, yes the one with the thank you messages had the emptiest basket. 

I always find this challenging. It is not a true story, but it does make me think of how much I say thank you to God compared to the amount of times that I ask Him for things. 

The 10 lepers, only one came back. How often do we forget to turn to God and say thank you ? God gives us so many good things, but do we turn to Him and give thanks and praise ?

There was a Scottish preacher called Alexander Whyte, who was well known not only for his preaching but his prayers which always gave praise to God for everything, The prayers were always positive, but one day the weather was particularly bad. One member of the congregation thought that there was no way that the preacher could give thanks and praise to God. However, the preacher stood up, and prayed ‘thank you God that the weather is not always like this.’

We are thankful to God, after all He broke every convention going. God, the Almighty who came to earth as a baby, challenged society, was crucified and rose again and it was for us !! No, we don’t do social conventions, we don’t worship God who fits neatly into a box for us to praise when we want. God is always to be praised and we are always to give thanks to Him. 

We are to come to God just as we are, like the lepers did and as Naaman did in the end. We are to let go of our own conventions and accept what God has done, can do and will do. I remember once going for anointing, and as I was anointed with oil I developed an allergic reaction and was quite frustrated when at the age of 16, trying to impress people my make up would not cover the red cross that remained on my head. I was so busy doing this that I forgot to think aboutwhat that cross symbolised, I had been prayed for. This was the most important bit.  We are to come to God as we are. Remember what’s really important as we give our thanks and praise whether we have a red mark on our heads or not !May we be ready to turn to God. AMEN