Seeing 'Jesus' from Below #28

[November 1999 journal entry]

Reflections during a senior Presbyterian USA pastor’s sermon based on the story about ‘Jesus’ healing ten lepers (thinking of the story as drama) --

1. I began wondering if the Samaritan in the story has a priest to whom to go. In other words, perhaps in the initial reaction, he rushes away with the others and then remembers how he will be received as a Samaritan. Or perhaps the other nine lepers remind the Samaritan of this reality by their reactions to him if not by their words.
2. Had the shared plight of leprosy trumped their ethnic/religious prejudices and divisions when being lepers brought them together, resulting in a ‘community’ experience that had included the Samaritan? How soon after being freed from leprosy do ethnic/religious prejudices and divisions begin to erode their ‘community’ experience?
3. Is it better/preferred for someone previously ‘untouchable’ to return to membership in segregated and discriminating societal spheres (including but not limited to the ‘religious’ sphere)? In going to a priest, are the lepers in the story moving further and further from the experience of ‘community’ to which the actions/words of ‘Jesus’ point?
4. I found myself wondering if the pastor diminished the force of ‘leprosy’ when he began his sermon with the stated assumption that everyone in his audience could “climb into the story”. Individuals can have needs/wounds and still retain their place in societal spheres (‘religious’ and otherwise). They are not necessarily outcasts or on the margins, having lost their place in societal spheres. They are not necessarily ‘lepers’.