28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Proper 23), Year C

[S]eek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
~Jeremiah 29:7

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.”
~Luke 17:17-19
 
Seek the welfare of the city. And for good reason, according to Jeremiah’s apparent logic: your welfare, our welfare is caught up in your neighbor’s welfare—no matter where you live, no matter your status, no matter how you’ve been treated.
 
Insiders and outsiders both inhabit all these texts. Jeremiah’s letter is sent to the Jerusalem exiles who have been remanded to Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. He fills his pastoral letter with practical advice. Set up shop. Have a family. Make the very best of the situation you can. Be a good neighbor there just as the faith calls you to be a good neighbor at home.
 
This is, of course, an easier path if things are going well for you, and easier instructions to give if you aren’t the one making sacrifices. We should not lose sight of this!
 
In these stories, though, it is Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, caught up in loss who can find his way to faith in a God who redeems, in a world in which the logic of generosity, grace, and justice, in the logic of a God who is present keeps him in hope. It is not that different for Jesus. The healing of the lepers not only restores their health, but enables them to return to their communities where they, too, can presumably begin to rebuild.
 
But the one who returns to say thank you, the Samaritan, has no place in the community. His people are enemies of Israel, and he cannot be cleansed of his Samaritan-ness. Turning back to Jesus seems not only to be about gratitude, but about a turn toward a different kind of community, and a different way of community that resists the labels and limitations that end up restricting us through all sorts of othering. Could it be that the turn away from the common sorting systems of the leper’s day and ours may be the turning that Jesus is thinking of when he says to the Samaritan, “your faith has made you well”?
 
Enter into worship.
Readings: Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 † Psalm 66:1-12 † 2 Timothy 2:8-15 † Luke 17:11-19
 
About the Art: Bill Hoover, Ten Lepers, from BillHooverArt.com. Retrieved September 22, 2025 from https://bishopandchristian.com/2017/11/24/daily-bread-for-lepers/.
 
Background: Bill Hoover has been making art in Omaha Nebraska for over thirty years. His art is a dynamic synthesis of his interior and exterior worlds, with a strong emphasis on storytelling.

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