Luke 17:11-19; 2 Kings 5:1-3,7-15c
Revised Common Lectionary
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
October 12, 2025
In these days of endless news cycles and hot political takes, many people want a break from it all, even if just for an hour on Sundays. Shouldn’t the church be a sanctuary from the divisive politics of our day? Can’t we leave our personal political beliefs at the door and just be united in Christ?
Then again, it’s hard to say or do much of anything without it being interpreted through the lenses of sides, parties and slogans. Even preaching Jesus can be dangerous. A preacher might be labeled “too woke,” or worse. What, then, are we to do when Jesus talks about foreigners in Luke 17:11-19?
A sermon on this passage might examine the implications of living with a skin disease during Jesus’s day, and the social implications of chronic illness today. Another might focus on how the shared experiences of the nine Jews and one Samaritan brought them together in a context in which their differences would ordinarily make them enemies. A preacher could invite worshipers to reflect on our human inclination to forget our reliance on God, or to practice gratitude and praise, acknowledging God’s blessings in their lives. A focus on the last verse of Luke 17:11-19 could lead the preacher to consider what Jesus meant when he said, “Your faith has made you well.”
With so many potential threads to follow, why bring in politics? Well, because Jesus did. Luke 17:11-19 became political when Jesus identified the one person who returned to offer gratitude as the only foreigner in the lot. He was a Samaritan. The reviled rival. The exemplary enemy. The archetypal antagonist. What could have been a simple healing story took a sharp partisan turn when Jesus took the wheel.
The complementary reading from 2 Kings 5:1-3,7-15c already made a cameo in Luke’s gospel, in Jesus’s first sermon at the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:14–30). After reading from Isaiah’s scroll, Jesus began to teach. He was off to a good start. People were proud to see this hometown boy, all grown up and coming into his own. Unfortunately, he kept going. The offensive turn in Luke 4 focused on God’s historic favor of the outsider, including Naaman, the Syrian, who was healed from his skin disease. A perfectly palatable sermon quickly became the impetus to throw the preacher off a cliff.
Once again, Jesus is off to a good start with a healing story in Luke 17:11-19. Who could find fault with that? But Jesus didn’t end the story there. The foreigner is lifted up as the model for right behavior, echoing the moral of the “Good Samaritan,” a few chapters back.
That parable answers the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Paired with today’s semi-continuous reading from Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7, the concept of neighborliness turns from innocuous to scandalous. Jeremiah sends a word from God to the exiles in Babylon, encouraging them to be good neighbors, even in the place and among the people responsible for so much trauma and devastation in their lives. God’s people would find peace and wholeness in Babylon only by seeking wholeness and peace in their new home, with their new neighbors.
In his sermons and stories, Jesus pushed his listeners beyond their comfortable boundaries. In some ways, they wanted him to be more political — to focus on liberation from the Roman Empire. Jesus didn’t shy away from confrontation with the state; that’s what led to his crucifixion. But he also didn’t let his primary listeners off the hook. If we don’t find ourselves offended by the Gospel, we probably need to go back and reread some of these texts.
Jesus challenged the powers and systems of his day, and he challenged his listeners to examine their role within those systems. Even the oppressed can oppress. Even the marginalized can find ways to leverage privilege. If we are to work together towards God’s final realm of peace, justice and righteousness, we have to find our own blind spots and be aware of ways we inadvertently participate in the death-dealing systems of this world. Some might call that being woke.
The question of how we regard and treat neighbors who are different from us – especially foreigners – is a critical one for us to examine these days. It is hard to imagine a faithful reading of these stories that doesn’t get political. However, the focus must be on the politics of Jesus. If we’re following Jesus’s example, we’re nearly guaranteed to cause discomfort or offense. May all preachers be challenged and inspired by the Gospel, as we heed the charge from 2 Timothy: “Do your best to present yourself to God as …a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.”
Questions for reflection on Luke 17:11-19; 2 Kings 5:1-3,7-15c
- The ten men with a skin disease were living on the margins, cut off from full participation in society. Who is living on the margins in your area? In what ways might they be cut off from full participation in society today?
- How does this story challenge you? How might it challenge your congregation? Who are the Samaritans in your context?
- Jesus healed all 10 of the men who cried out to him, but to the Samaritan, he says, “Your faith has made you well.” What is the relationship between faith and healing in this story? How do we wrestle with the same question today?
View the corresponding Order of Worship for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost.
Sign up for worship resources in your inbox every Monday.
