There is a supermarket in my city whose mission is expressed through the philosophy of Servant Leadership. Servant Leadership is a theory of management that fosters organizational growth, individual development, and values. Its characteristics are: listening, empathy, healing relationships, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to human resource development, and commitment to building community. (I wonder if the US Government - Senators and Congress members would be interested in this form of leadership?)
So here we are with this Sunday’s Gospel of the Ten Lepers and another view of Servant Leadership with all its characteristics manifested in Jesus! We have in our story a band of ten men (nine Jews – “insiders” and one Samaritan - an “outsider”) who would normally not be in relationship with each other. Jews despised Samaritans – they were considered heretics. However, their common affliction of leprosy brought them together as “outsiders”. This disease of physical disfigurement brought with it isolation from the faith community as well as social isolation. Lepers lived on the outskirts of the town, begged for alms, had to stay yards away from the healthy people, and were outcasts from their family, friends, work, and especially the Temple.
“Shunned by family and friends, called ‘unclean’ and forbidden to come within two paces of a healthy person, they lived in graveyards and garbage dumps and begged for scraps of food from passersby.”
The story unfolds when the lepers saw Jesus, they asked for mercy. They turn to Jesus for not only physical healing, but spiritual healing as well. Such amazing faith! Jesus, in turn, invites them to move toward Jerusalem and show themselves to the priests. It is in the turning that they become healed, freed, restored. “The purpose of visiting a priest after a cure (Luke 5:14; Leviticus 13:49; 14:2) was so the cured person could officially resume his place in society. The nine lepers, presumably Jewish, had their minds on the future, on resuming the life they had left behind with the onset of illness. Their minds were full of scenes of reunion with wives, children, with reentry into market and synagogue. There is no indication that their goals and future actions were anything but respectable and legal.”
Now what about the leper who returned to give thanks to Jesus? As a Samaritan (an outsider) he knew that he would not be welcome to enter into the Temple at Jerusalem. Author, John Pilch, writes: “In the ancient Middle East, to say ‘thank you’ is to end a relationship . . . The Samaritan recognized it would be impossible to repay his Galilean benefactor or approach him again if the problem returned. The Judean lepers were a different story. As members of the same in-group, they could approach Jesus anywhere at any time. The Samaritan knew he was in the ‘wrong’ place at the ‘right’ time, and such an opportunity may never occur again for him.” Through the writings of Luke, we witness Jesus welcoming “outsiders” into the reign of God, so that all become “insiders.” Let us pray to be aware when we keep others as “outsiders” – may we have the faith and courage to be servant leaders wherever we are.
So what is the good news for us reflecting on this reading?
• Ponder if you have ever been an “insider” or “outsider.” What were the circumstances? What were your feelings surrounding this experience? Was there a time when you noticed a movement of gratitude for your feelings, insights, and learnings in this circumstance?
• Thomas Merton writes that God is mercy, within mercy, within mercy. Reflect on this and ask for the gift of mercy – compassion – and healing for your life, those of others, and our world.
• “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
― Melody Beattie
- Did Jesus consider himself an “insider” or “outsider”?
http://www.gratefulness.org/brotherdavid/a-good-day.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=related&hl=en&gl=IL&v=bzM4aRIg-xo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jF6u4GJQ-U
• The paradoxes of being a "Servant-Leader" poem
Strong enough to be weak; Successful enough to fail;
Busy enough to make time ;Wise enough to say "I don't know"
Serious enough to laugh; Rich enough to be poor;
Right enough to say "I'm wrong"; Compassionate enough to discipline;
Mature enough to be childlike; Important enough to be last
Planned enough to be spontaneous; Controlled enough to be flexible
Free enough to endure captivity; Knowledgeable enough to ask questions
Loving enough to be angry; Great enough to be anonymous
Responsible enough to play; Assured enough to be rejected
Victorious enough to lose; Industrious enough to relax;
Leading enough to serve
Poem by Brewer --- as cited by Hansel, in Holy Sweat, Dallas Texas, Word, 1987. (p29)
No comments:
Post a Comment