THE CALL OF
RECONCILIATION ( ...page
7 )
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THE CALL OF
RECONCILIATION ( ...page
7 )
October 11th 1998
Luke 17, 11-19
" As Jesus made his way to Jerusalem, he went along
the border between Samaria and Galilee. He was going into a village when he was
met by ten men suffering from a dreaded skin disease. They stood at a distance
and shouted «Jesus! Master! Take pity on us!»
Jesus saw them and said to them, «Go and let the priests examine you.»
On the way they were made clean. When one of them saw that he was healed, he
came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself to the ground at Jesus'
feet and thanked him.
The man was a Samaritan.
Jesus said, «There were ten men who were healed; where are the other nine? Why
is this foreigner the only one who came back to give thanks to God?» And Jesus
said to him, «Get up and go; your faith has made you well». "
Meditation
This text uses some expressions that
are not familiar to us, because we don't live at the same period, in the same
culture.
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
We meet him on the road.
Jesus' home is the road.
He lives on the road.
The only home Jesus had as far as we know, is his empty tomb.
His house is the road.
This is why we are always invited to
have a heart that is on the move.
Faith always says «Stand up and go».
Jesus is on the road and for this he had to «leave».
Jerusalem is behind, it is the capital, the big city, the holy city, the city of
the Temple.
Jesus left the holy city and he left
it in order to go to the North: to Samaria and Galilee.
Samaria is a land of heretics, they have their own Temple, their own religion.
Jews despise Samaritans and Samaritans despise Jews.
Jesus goes towards Samaria and Galilee that lies on the frontier to Syria. And
Galilee has a bad reputation, it is called the land of nations, because all the
people who have been chased or expelled are sent to Galilee. It is a land of
immigrants who come from everywhere, it is full of people who are not exactly
angels. Jesus chooses to go to this land of heretics, he leaves behind the «nice
people» in order to join those who are definitely a mixed bunch, and on his way
he meets ten lepers.
The Galileans are outcasts.
The Samaritans are outcasts.
He meets the lepers who are also outcasts.
At Jesus times, leprosy was the illness of the outcasts. As a protective measure,
they were not allowed to enter into towns.
Leprosy was a social illness.
If one caught the disease one was chased from society, particularly because it
was believed that it was God who sent the disease as a punishment for committed
sins.
Jesus enters today in the world of the outcasts. He goes
to meet those who are chased, forgotten, those who are on the fringe, those who
one prefers not to see. Among the lepers there is a Samaritan. He is an outcast
because he is a leper and because he is a Samaritan.
All these lepers rush towards Jesus and Jesus tells them: «Go and let the
priests examine you». The priest had the power to decide if someone was a leper
or if he was cured. They were able to exclude people or state: «you are healed»,
and so the priest had also the capacity of reintegrating people into society.
If Jesus says: «Go and let the priests examine you», it is so that the priests
could testify the healing.
He says: «go to see the priests to show them you are healed» And they leave.
Jesus challenges their faith.
They are not healed but they
leave nevertheless in order to show that they are healed. It is faith!
And on their way there they were indeed healed. It is while they were on the
road that they are healed.
So among the 10 lepers there were nine who were in such a hurry to regain their
place in society that they hurried to the priests to say: «look we are healed»!
And there is only one that doesn't go first to see the priests, because for him
there is something more important, which is to recognize God's tenderness. He
turns back and throws himself at the feet of Jesus to thank him. And this one
happened to be a foreigner, a Samaritan, an heretic. Jesus tells him «get up,
your faith has saved you»! It is to a heretic that Jesus says: «go your faith
has saved you».
Now you understand better this gospel. We, guide leaders, will take this as a
starting point for our meditation.
Guiding is concerned with education. But what is education?
It is to allow little girls, teenagers and young girls to find their place in
society, to allow their integration into society , to belong to society.
The question that is put to us then is to determine what is more urgent? Is it
more urgent to welcome first in guiding those who are already established in
society, or those who still haven't got their place in society?
Is guiding meant to be destined only for the people of Jerusalem or is it also
destined for those from Samaria and Galilee? Can it also be destined for lepers?.
Guiding was born in England, in the West, in Europe. But neither Europe nor the
West owns Guiding. Guiding belongs to those who practice and develop it.
Do the people of Galilee have to live in the same way as
the people of Jerusalem? Is Jerusalem the model or is it the heart of God?
Should the Samaritans go to Jerusalem, or should the people of Samaria and
Galilee go to the heart of men? Do lepers have to wait to be healed, before
being loved by God or does God love everybody, even those who are outcasts, who
are marginal?
Has the time not come to ask a certain number of questions?
If I distinguish between young and old, I am old, and I am happy and content
with being old, it doesn't make me feel superior to you. Among us, there are
quite a number who are more knowledgeable than I am.
My question is: what do I expect from the youngsters today, what is what I need
from you, why are you necessary to me?.
Your question is: Why do you need the old? Why are they necessary to you ? If
there were no older people, what would you be missing?
If I as an European will say what we expect from Africa,
why do we need Africa? The answer might be that we need Africa for its peanuts,
for its cotton...
Why do you, Europeans, need the heart of African people?
And the same question applies to you. If one asks you: Why do you need Europe?
You'll say: iron, paper...
Why do you need the tenderness of Europe, the heart of European people?
You need to look at African Guiding.
Be proud of practicing African Guiding.
You have an African culture, an African heart, you have things, present in you,
things that you have to transmit to children. Do not seek models in Europe, seek
your models in the African heart. It is ready for love.
And us, ICCG we have to ask ourselves the question: What
do we expect from Africa? Do we expect certain things or do we expect just love?
What we have begun here is a big victory, a big deed, here there is an Africa
Region! Introduce Guiding in your culture, that Guiding is at home here with you!
Get up, your faith has saved you!
Because Guiding in Africa is today a question of faith! We do believe in it! Go
and get up, your faith has saved you! We need your guiding
And please, you Africans, teach us your Guiding. Thank you.
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