“Your faith has made you whole.” -- The Healing of the Heart
A Sermon Preached by the Rev. Peter De Franco
at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Clifton, New Jersey
October 14, 2007
Today’s Gospel story of the ten lepers is familiar to most of us. We all know the story of these ten people, lepers all of them, and because they are lepers, they are outcast, people who could not associate with anyone other than a leper, people who could not worship with others, live with their families, connect with their friends in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in their village.
All that was familiar for them was taken away for once the priest declared you a leper, you were cast out, you were forced to tear your clothing, you carried a bell that would ring to alert people to your presence, and you would live on the fringe of society begging or scrounging for food and shelter.
Perhaps some of you know this sign. Looser. That is what lepers were losers one and all. No hope. No relief. No future. Losers
Little wonder, then, when they know that Jesus is in the neighborhood, they find their way to him. They have heard of cures, even people raised from the dead, so where they had no hope, Jesus brings hope, where they had no relief, Jesus brings relief, where they had no future, Jesus opens a door.
Notice when they cry out to Jesus they do so from a distance. They dare not approach him. But they cry out nonetheless, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!
When Jesus hears their cry, he tells them to go and show themselves to the priest for just as the priest would declare them unclean so too the priest would declare them clean, restored to health, free from the disease that marred their skin they could once again return to their homes and families, to their communities, they could sleep in their own beds, eat at their own tables, worship in their synagogue. Jesus sends them back to their old world.
As they go, one of them, only one, looks at the skin once diseased and now restored, only one of them sees not only his restored skin, but that he is not in his old world. A new world has broken in. The reign of God has slipped into his world without his looking. And now nothing will be the same. Nothing will be the same. Nothing will be the same because of that man Jesus.
So he returns to Jesus. Notice how before he kept his distance. Now he draws near to Jesus and falls at his feet. Notice how before he cried out for mercy. Now he cries out in praise. Notice how before Jesus sends him into the old world where priests mediate God’s presence. Not he goes into the new world where God’s presence comes in the person of this Jesus.
There were ten lepers who were cleansed. Only one leper was able to see the new world of God dawning on the horizon and that light was streaming into that former leper’s heart from the eyes of Jesus. While his skin was cleansed, that was not the miracle. The miracle happened not on the leper’s skin but in the eyes of his heart. Those eyes were opened and he could see. That is why Jesus says to him your faith has made you whole. In our world, we are all beset with physical ills that weigh us down. The older we get the heavier that burden becomes. We pray that our bodies might be cured like the ten lepers in today’s story.
Not all of us will be cured of our illnesses. But all of us can be healed. Like the leper in today’s story, do we look only for our bodies to be cured of what ails us and not seek the real miracle. The real miracle happens in the opening of our eyes. The realization that the reign of God is dawning for us and the we only need to go to the dawn of that first Easter day to feel the warmth of the Son of God rising in our hearts.
For our bodies will all give out and if we invest all our hope in cures for our bodies we will be left sadly disappointed. But if we look for the healing of our hearts, if we look to find that a deep harmony unites our hearts with God, then we will experience healing even if we do not know a cure. For healing happens in our hearts. Restoring our hearts to harmony with God. Restoring our hearts even when our bodies begin to wear out.
I invite you this day to look in your hearts for those places where Jesus invites you to behold a new world dawning, a world of restored relationships, a world of hope where there was hopelessness, of spiritual relief where solitude locked us in on ourselves, of a future where we had given up on ourselves. Pray to God for the vision to see the gifts that surround you. Pray to God to behold the miracles that start even before you open your eyes. Pray to God for the insight to discover a grateful heart. A heart that counts each day the blessings that surround you. A heart that does not leave Jesus disappointed with our ingratitude but a heart that beholds Jesus opening new doors for us every day. A heart that has been opened to the world, in its beauty and its pain, its joy and its sorrow, its triumphs and its tragedies. A heart that knows that no matter what happens, we have a God who is so near to us that all we need to do is to fall at the feet of Jesus and worship the nearness of our God with us. Amen.
A Sermon Preached by the Rev. Peter De Franco
at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Clifton, New Jersey
October 14, 2007
Today’s Gospel story of the ten lepers is familiar to most of us. We all know the story of these ten people, lepers all of them, and because they are lepers, they are outcast, people who could not associate with anyone other than a leper, people who could not worship with others, live with their families, connect with their friends in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in their village.
All that was familiar for them was taken away for once the priest declared you a leper, you were cast out, you were forced to tear your clothing, you carried a bell that would ring to alert people to your presence, and you would live on the fringe of society begging or scrounging for food and shelter.
Perhaps some of you know this sign. Looser. That is what lepers were losers one and all. No hope. No relief. No future. Losers
Little wonder, then, when they know that Jesus is in the neighborhood, they find their way to him. They have heard of cures, even people raised from the dead, so where they had no hope, Jesus brings hope, where they had no relief, Jesus brings relief, where they had no future, Jesus opens a door.
Notice when they cry out to Jesus they do so from a distance. They dare not approach him. But they cry out nonetheless, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!
When Jesus hears their cry, he tells them to go and show themselves to the priest for just as the priest would declare them unclean so too the priest would declare them clean, restored to health, free from the disease that marred their skin they could once again return to their homes and families, to their communities, they could sleep in their own beds, eat at their own tables, worship in their synagogue. Jesus sends them back to their old world.
As they go, one of them, only one, looks at the skin once diseased and now restored, only one of them sees not only his restored skin, but that he is not in his old world. A new world has broken in. The reign of God has slipped into his world without his looking. And now nothing will be the same. Nothing will be the same. Nothing will be the same because of that man Jesus.
So he returns to Jesus. Notice how before he kept his distance. Now he draws near to Jesus and falls at his feet. Notice how before he cried out for mercy. Now he cries out in praise. Notice how before Jesus sends him into the old world where priests mediate God’s presence. Not he goes into the new world where God’s presence comes in the person of this Jesus.
There were ten lepers who were cleansed. Only one leper was able to see the new world of God dawning on the horizon and that light was streaming into that former leper’s heart from the eyes of Jesus. While his skin was cleansed, that was not the miracle. The miracle happened not on the leper’s skin but in the eyes of his heart. Those eyes were opened and he could see. That is why Jesus says to him your faith has made you whole. In our world, we are all beset with physical ills that weigh us down. The older we get the heavier that burden becomes. We pray that our bodies might be cured like the ten lepers in today’s story.
Not all of us will be cured of our illnesses. But all of us can be healed. Like the leper in today’s story, do we look only for our bodies to be cured of what ails us and not seek the real miracle. The real miracle happens in the opening of our eyes. The realization that the reign of God is dawning for us and the we only need to go to the dawn of that first Easter day to feel the warmth of the Son of God rising in our hearts.
For our bodies will all give out and if we invest all our hope in cures for our bodies we will be left sadly disappointed. But if we look for the healing of our hearts, if we look to find that a deep harmony unites our hearts with God, then we will experience healing even if we do not know a cure. For healing happens in our hearts. Restoring our hearts to harmony with God. Restoring our hearts even when our bodies begin to wear out.
I invite you this day to look in your hearts for those places where Jesus invites you to behold a new world dawning, a world of restored relationships, a world of hope where there was hopelessness, of spiritual relief where solitude locked us in on ourselves, of a future where we had given up on ourselves. Pray to God for the vision to see the gifts that surround you. Pray to God to behold the miracles that start even before you open your eyes. Pray to God for the insight to discover a grateful heart. A heart that counts each day the blessings that surround you. A heart that does not leave Jesus disappointed with our ingratitude but a heart that beholds Jesus opening new doors for us every day. A heart that has been opened to the world, in its beauty and its pain, its joy and its sorrow, its triumphs and its tragedies. A heart that knows that no matter what happens, we have a God who is so near to us that all we need to do is to fall at the feet of Jesus and worship the nearness of our God with us. Amen.
