(P)Review Bible Study: Luke 17:11-19 And The Samaritans Are Two For Two

    I have a confession to make.  I used to love baseball.  I remember being a kids and going to the see the Reds play in Cincinnati with my grandparents and thinking that it was the best thing in the world. Then the players all went on strike in 1981 and it simply ruined my love of the game.  In my life now I, once in a blue moon, go to see the Indians play in Cleveland.  Progressive field is beautiful and it is a lovely way to spend a day, but I really hardly ever do it.  Lately though, the city of Cleveland, which if you don't know where I live is a mere hour away, has enjoyed a bit of a sporting renaissance. First, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA championship, then the Indians won the AL Central Title...for the first time in nearly a decade... and they have not won a world series in nearly seventy years (It's enough to make an ex-fan like me perk up and pay attention. )...but who's counting.

By The Way:  The answer is lots of people are counting. Baseball is one of the most slavishly documented sports in existence and stats on EVERYTHING are tallied and recorded. 

Frankly the attention to detailed stats was one of the things I used to love about the game.  I like numbers, always have.  Everything in baseball has a statistic attached to it.  For example did you know that the great Babe Ruth had a batting average of .342?  That means that he hit the ball 34.2% of the time at bat. Which is to say he struck out 63.8% of the time.  He was basically one for three, but that's OK no one bats a thousand.  

To say "Batting a thousand" means you have a perfect batting average of 1.000, on in other words you are one for one, never failing to hit the ball. 

No one has a perfect batting average, except for the Samaritans in the Gospels.  How did the Samaritans become the team to beat in the New Testament? If you read the stories of Jesus' life you might get the idea that being a Samaritan was a pretty holy occupation. They have good manners, are appreciative, and help strangers.  But if you lived in Jesus' times you would know an entirely different narrative. 

    The relationship between Samaritans and Rabbinic Jews (that is to say the rest of Judaism) is a tricky one to describe.  The Samaritans are comprised of the Jews who remained behind when the rest of Israel was taken into the Babylonian exile and the local Palestinians who married into the small Samaritan population.  For this reason the Rabbinic Jews rejected the Samaritans as "foreigners" as they were a mixed race people.  For their part the Samaritans rejected the Rabbinic Jews because they only accepted the first five books of the Bible as authoritative believing that the time in Babylon had tainted the faith of the Israelite Jews.  The main sticking point between the two was which mountain was the correct mountain to worship on, the one in Jerusalem or the one in Samaria. Given this complex relationship the feud between the two was simply intractable. 

Fun Fact: There are still Samaritans living in Israel today, but only a handful.  As few as three hundred Samaritans are alive currently.  They meet annually to celebrate Passover on the holy mountain of Samaria. 

So how did this minority population that was so at odds with the rest of Israel turn up, time and time again, as the "good guy" in the New Testament? No one bats a thousand.  How then does this happen. Take today's text for example:

Luke 17:11-19On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

The answer is a lot simpler than it sounds. It has nothing to do with whether or not the Samaritans are inherently noble and worthy people and everything to do with the fact that everyone a the time knew the Samaritans were one thing:  The Enemy. 

     They were the foreigners living in their midst who had corrupted the Jewish religion.  They were the accepted enemy.  If Jesus were preaching today who would take the place of the Samaritan in his stories?  I suppose it depends on your point of view but one thing is certain, God liked to choose the enemies of the people of God as the heroes in Jesus's stories and miracles.  Why?

    The Samaritans are our stand-ins.  Like an actor in a green-screen body suit doing special effects they are there to just hold the place for the elements that get added to the story later on. The redeemed enemy is played by the Samaritans in the Gospel because God wanted us to understand something fundamental about the ministry of Jesus.  We are the enemies of God, and Jesus came to save us, even if it meant saving us from ourselves.  We are the redeemed enemies.  The Samaritans are us.  Now, I know some of you are taking the term "enemy of God" a little personally.  After all, you are a good person, God certainly does not think of you as an enemy.      Is that really true?  Are you really a good person?  All the time? Without fail?  Hmmm...think on that one for a second.  I know I have failed.  There are a few moments in my life that I look back on and realize that I messed up, immensely. Maybe, you too can think of a few moments like that.  Take heart.  The whole point of God using Samaritans as the subjects of redemption and forgiveness in his stories is to remind us of our own redemption and forgiveness. 
    Think back again to that thing you did that you are sure would have made an enemy of God.  Good news and bad news.  The bad news is that you are right, it sure made an enemy of God (as he cannot tolerate sin).  The good news is the way God treats his enemies (insert greenscreen suited Samaritan here) is to love, forgive, redeem, and heal them.  

    The Samaritans only look like they are batting a thousand because Jesus keeps pinch hitting for them.  He does the same in our lives too.  When you find yourself feeling like you have really let yourself and God down, and you certainly cannot imagine how you could not have alienated God and made yourself into His enemy just think of that Samaritan leper who returned to Jesus to give thanks for the healing that Christ offered to His enemy.  Know that this story was written about you, you are the one  to whom Jesus said "get up and go on your way, your faith has made you whole".  As long as it is Jesus' perfect grace that does all the hard work we will keep batting a thousand in heaven as well.