I Break, You Fix
노는(遊)신부 Pastor Huck의 길 잃은 양을 찾아 길 떠난 예수
Following Jesus, Being Jesus, and Living Jesus – Part I
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:11-19)
photo by noneunshinboo 1. Not That Easy and Not That Simple!
Happy Thanksgiving!*
Jesus is always on the road. He is always making a journey, and always being interrupted by the people, especially by the suffering, the poor, the needy, and the sick, the outcast, the marginalized, and the sinners, coming for help. And Jesus always sees them and has pity on them, and heals them.
Today, Jesus is on the way as well. Jesus is making his journey to Jerusalem, going along the border between Samaria and Galilee. And there are ten lepers outside the village. They live somewhere in nowhere, as the marginalized, as the sinners. They are not allowed to come close to people. They are outcast from their communities, their families. They have heard and known about Jesus, and now they see him going into a village. They stand at a distance and shout together,
“Jesus! Master! Have pity on us!”
And Jesus sees them as usual, and his heart is filled with pity for them as usual. They are like sheep without a shepherd. (Mark 6:36) Jesus calls them to himself, and touches them, and prays to God, and heals them. But, No! Not today. Not this time. He does not even call them to himself, not touch them, not immediately heal them. Instead, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”
He just tells them to go and show themselves to the priests as if he already healed them. And, ‘surprisingly’, they believe him. ‘Surprisingly’, they follow his word. ‘Surprisingly’, they are going to show themselves to the priests. And, ‘Surprisingly’, on the way, they are all made clean. And as we know the rest of the story, only one comes back to give thanks to Jesus, and the other nine continues on their way to see the priests.
We, reading this gospel story, are tempted to move on to the next story, to the next chapter, thinking or saying, or praising of God’s wondrous, unmerited gift and grace. And criticizing the other nine, saying, “How ungrateful they truly are.” However, the story is not that simple.
2. What Jesus has done for people
“Jesus! Master! Have pity on us!”
“Go, show yourselves to the priests.”
Let’s imagine that you have suffered from severe illness for a long time, and you have seen so many doctors for your illness, spending lots of money and time also for it. But nothing has happened to you. And someone tells you to go and show yourself to the priest, not the doctor. He says as if you are already healed, “Just go to the priest, just go to priest not the doctor, and, let him examine you and confirm that you are healed.” But, not that Easy! Frankly, it’s not easy to obey. No, absolutely not.
Of course, we all know, the ten lepers know that He is not a someone, but Jesus. They know him, they have heard about him, even though they have not known yet who Jesus really is. However, they follow his word without hesitation, because they have already heard about the miracles that Jesus did. As we know, probably they also know, he healed a nobleman’s son at Cana, restored sight of blind man at Bethsaida, restored sight of man born blind, raised Lazarus and Jairus’s daughter and son of widow of Nain, cured demon-possessed man, healed invalid at Bethesda, cured woman with twelve-year bleeding, restored of paralytic at Capernaum,
cured of leper near Gennesaret, restored someone’s withered hand, healed a child with demon, and gave sight to two blind men. Yes, they know what Jesus has done for people. Then, why not for them, for us, for me.
But who is this Jesus?
3. Who do people say I am?
“Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? . . . Aren’t his sisters here with us?” (Mark 6:3)
People know Jesus, just a carpenter, or Mary’s son, or James, Joseph, Judas and Simon’s brother. They know him. They believe they know him well. They see the finger pointing to the moon. Not the moon, but the finger.
And, on the way, Jesus asked his disciples.
“Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” (Mark 8:27-28) They still see the finger pointing to the moon. Not the moon, but the finger. They see him as ‘a miracle-worker’. Some say he is a great prophet like Elijah, or one of the prophets of long ago.
But who knows? He could be John the Baptist returning from the dead. Who knows? He could be the one coming to save us from suffering like King David. Who knows? He could be the Messiah whom we have waited for a long time, liberating us from this Gentile Empire. Yes, they have faith in Jesus. Yes, they are believers. But they are not such Christians like us today. But in some sense, they are believers. They believe Jesus would listen to their agony and suffering, and could help them and heal them. And, Yes, he has done that for them. So, “Jesus! Master! Have pity on us!”
They are not true Christians. They have not enough faith to be true Christians, confessing Jesus Christ is the Son of God, our Lord, and our Saviour. But they have enough faith to obey his word, even while they are not healed yet. Yes, they have faith in Jesus. He would restore them to their normal, help them to return to their families and communities. That’s what they have expected from Jesus, a miracle worker, a prophet, an Elijah, a John the Baptist, a Messiah. That’s all they have faith in him.
4. Christian? or Believer?
“Go, show yourselves to the priests.”
They believed obeyed him. They are going, to find the priests, and show themselves to them, and explain what happened to their bodies on the road, and let them examine their bodies. And the priests, after examination, will give some direction for ritual of cleansing, and give allowance to them to return to their families and communities. That’s all. That’s what they have wanted exactly. That’s what they expect from him exactly. That is what they think they could get from him. Even though we cannot call them Christians, but at least they are believers.
But, why not Christian, just a believer?
photo by noneunshinboo ‘U BREAK I FIX’
You Break, I Fix. I Break, You Fix. That’s all.
For them, Jesus is kind of a someone. He is just one of someone. They need the someone who will help, and fix them. Never mind of who Jesus really is. They do not know ‘Who Jesus really is’. They do not know what the exact meaning of, ‘Jesus! Master! Have pity on me, and on us!’ is. They just know him as a someone who fixes their watch or computer or any other problems, as a mechanic whom they call when their car is broken. For them, Jesus is a person who solves and fixes their problems. So, “Our job is to Break, His job is to Fix.”
“But what about you?” Jesus asks. “Who do you say I am?” (Mark 8:29) We Break as usual; You Fix as usual. Yes, we break. Yes, you fix. Yes, we are broken. Yes, you come to fix us.
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” (Mark 8:29) Yes, He is the Messiah. Jesus is the Messiah who has come to us to fix us. But not come to us just to fix such visible and external problems like leprosy, the skin disease, but come to restore us to the wholeness, the image in which the Father created us in the beginning.
The ten lepers were broken, they got lost. They lived somewhere, and nowhere. But they heard and knew about him and came to him, and stood at a distance and cried out, “Jesus! Master! Have pity on us!” They believed him to heal them, fix them. And surprisingly, but as usual, they were all healed.
But only one of them knew they were not fixed yet. Yes of course, he was healed from skin disease like the other nine, but not yet. He believed, that’s not enough. That’s not all that Jesus was going to give them. He knew that’s not all that Jesus could do for them, for him. NO. Not Yet! Only one of them was so unusual. So weird. But, . . .
(→ Part II)
* 캐나다는 지난 주일이 추수감사주일이었습니다.
