EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Notes on the Readings

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
In this passage the exiles are told to make their homes in and pray for Babylon, even though it is where they are being held captive. They can do this because God has promised to restore them. This is not unlike the writer of 2 Timothy’s capacity to endure suffering through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Here, it is important to note, this is not about giving in to their captors but trusting in God’s ultimate judgement. The call to build houses, plant gardens, and have families encourages the exiles to create and flourish, even in the most difficult of places. Although everything might not be perfect (far from it, in fact), they can make it beautiful and truthful. This passage, then, foregrounds human actions as a gift from God, highlighting our vocation as co-creators and showing forth a realistic hope grounded in faith.

Psalm 66:1-11
The psalm calls all creation to worship God, made possible by remembering God’s past actions, such as creation and the exodus. This remembrance makes present – it makes the full significance of God’s activity in the world present to them – not unlike the Church’s celebration of the saving acts of God in Jesus in the Eucharist. It is possible to imagine these words being spoken by the Samaritan healed in the Gospel story, especially the verses which follow the appointed lectionary reading: the psalmist thanks God for an experience of rescue from distress, saying, ‘I will pay you my vows, those that my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble’ (Psalm 66:13b-14). Like the Samaritan who returns to Jesus, the psalmist gives personal thanks for deliverance.

2 Timothy 2:8-15
The writer firmly believes in the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This inspires them to keep faith despite suffering, confident that salvation is a free gift from God. The writer’s endurance is not required for salvation but is a response to grace. Echoes of the Gospel story can be found here: the healed people did not need to prove anything to Jesus before being healed. Gratitude – in fact, grateful obedience – is the right response to God’s action, but not a condition for God’s love; hence, ‘It is right to give you thanks and praise…’ in our Eucharistic Prayers.

Luke 17:11-19
Be careful not to see Second Temple Judaism through a negative lens in a strange attempt to make Jesus look even better (as if that were, in fact, possible or necessary). Second Temple Judaism is the period from the rebuilding of the Temple around 516 BCE through to its destruction in 70 CE – in other words, the context of Jesus. It is important to note that it was not a static legalistic religion (a stereotype we often fall into in the Christian tradition) but a complex and diverse faith. The text does not pit Judaism against Jesus (or vice versa), but rather shows that while all ten are healed, only one sees and takes up the deeper invitation into relationship. Moreover, the Gospel shows all the healed people, including the Samaritan, being told to go to the priests. The priests had the capacity to declare them clean or unclean. Samaritans were not easily classified as Gentiles but as part of Israelite identity dynamics. Even if the society of the day excluded those with skin conditions, the healing was complete for all, and the requirements of Jewish customs were maintained. Clear comparisons can be drawn to 2 Timothy 2:13a: ‘if we are faithless, he remains faithful’. God’s love in Jesus is unconditional, and our actions, like giving thanks, are responses, not requirements for salvation.

Reflection

Building on a distinction made by the fourth-century bishop from North Africa, Saint Augustine of Hippo, Church of England scholar-priest Samuel Wells elaborates on the difference between what God intends for our use and what God intends for our enjoyment. The two categories are not, of course, mutually exclusive. Sin, Wells observes, can be broadly classified as either enjoying that which God meant for use, which is idolatry, or using that which God meant for enjoyment, which is ingratitude. Christianity has focused much of its thinking around salvation from sin, understood especially in terms of idolatry – enjoying what God has given us to use – perhaps leaving the issue of ingratitude underdeveloped.

The Gospel reading places emphasis firmly on the second category: ingratitude. Ingratitude involves not only using what God intends for our enjoyment but also using Jesus himself, the human face of God, rather than enjoying his company. Although all ten people were suffering from skin conditions, only the Samaritan returns to express gratitude.

It is important not to overlook the effort involved for those seeking healing in the text. This was not simply about being healed by one touch from Jesus, as we might expect. Jesus was travelling in the borderlands between Galilee and Samaria, and visiting the priests, mostly near Jerusalem, required quite a journey for the ten. Healing occurred on this journey, not instantaneously. Here we have yet another reminder of the need for endurance highlighted by the writer of 2 Timothy.

It is also important not to take too self-righteous a tack in our treatment of the nine. Perhaps they were driven by a diminished sense of their value, convinced that a declaration of cleanness was the best they could desire or hope for. If anything, it is a failure of imagination: we need to dream big dreams, for ourselves and others. The nine sought comfort rather than change, relief rather than transformation. They desired the gifts of Jesus more than Jesus himself.

Yet there is always one who goes deeper. The Samaritan, sensing something of the deeper texture of reality (even if he does not fully understand it), turned around and took a different path: back towards Jesus – the one who restored his health and could make him whole. His was a bold move, driven by a desire for wholeness. It was just as risky as the path Jeremiah writes into the experience of the exiles: calling them into a place of potential disconnection from their roots – a place of great uncertainty and discomfort – to build, live, and plant. We must remember the Samaritan had to make this journey twice: to the priests, then back to Jesus.

Today, we are not exempt from misusing what God intended for our enjoyment, especially as we exploit the good creation instead of treasuring our interconnectedness. Idolatry is when we cling to what was meant for use. Think of single-use plastics: convenient for a moment, yet deadly for the God’s beloved creatures of the sea. Ingratitude is when we exploit what was meant for enjoyment. Think of landscapes stripped for profit or reduced to backdrops for tourists, rather than received as God’s good gifts – to treasure and cherish. The call is clear: recover wonder. Delight in creation as our neighbour, not as a tool. All creation is likewise meant to delight in God and resound in praise and glory, but our idolatry and ingratitude silence the song of creation. For all the ways we drown out that song, may we seek a deeper sense of repentance. The wounds of our world are the very wounds of Jesus to us. We love him only as much as we love our neighbours in creation, which are also his.

We also risk using God for personal gain. The great Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, reflecting on these verses from 2 Timothy, cautions against treating God like an ‘Automat’ – a vending machine for our wants and needs. Although God remains faithful when we falter, the writer warns us that if we deny God, God will deny us. It is strong stuff; but enduring with Jesus means enjoying his eternal companionship – companionship with the one who sympathises with our weaknesses and lovingly tends our wounds.

True enjoyment of God and God’s good creation begins here and now – hence the psalmist’s call for all creation to ‘make a joyful noise to God’ – and extends into eternity. The bottom line is that we are called to align our desires with what God intends for joy and gratitude now. Recognising the call for wholeness over fleeting comforts leads us to truly delight in the good company of Jesus. With the Samaritan and all creation, we will one day be found at his feet.

Illustration

“Isenheim Altarpiece — FIRST OPENING” by Gsimonov is marked with CC0 1.0.
The Isenheim Altarpiece, by Nikolaus of Haguenau and Matthias Grünewald, is now in the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, France. It was originally made for the Monastery of St Anthony, whose monks cared for people with skin diseases. In the painting, Christ’s body is covered in sores, showing that he shares in the sufferers’ pain.