The Still Excluded Marginalized Outcast Victimized Leper Gets Sozo

One of ancient Israel's central preoccupations was in deciding who was "in" and who was "out"--that is, to decide who mattered, who was valued, and then to make sure everyone knew the difference. In ancient Israel, this was defined in terms of ritual cleanliness and uncleanliness, by wealth, and by ethnicity. Here in Marshall County, Tennessee, we share this central preoccupation. Some of the ways that we define worth have changed, and some remain the same, but the preoccupation remains.

Ten lepers are healed by Jesus. The Israelite lepers are part of the "out" group. But now they are katharizo, made clean, and consequently, are now "in". The Samaritan leper is still "out" because of his ethnic group. And what do the Israelite lepers do? The first thing that is on their minds is to run to the priest to replace their "out" badge of uncleanliness with an "in" badge of "I'm in the in group now. "

The Samaritan leper, who is now still part of the "out" group, is the only one who returns to give thanks. The one who still has the most to be ungrateful about, to grip about, is the one who gives thanks. Because the Samaritan lives in gratitude, the Samaritan gets something more important than katharizo. He gets sozo--redemption.

Ironically, the more we obtain the trappings of the "in" group, the more we can potentially lose sight of the fact that all of us get sozo by grace. Sozo is a gift given to us. It is not obtained by our perfect attendance Sunday School pins or being the president of the noon rotary.

The Samaritan leper, who, as far as we know, remained part of the "out" group, was part of the only group that mattered, the redeemed, simply by his capacity to acknowledge that a gift had been given.