A WORD FOR TODAY, October 8, 2025
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, October 8, 2025
Lectionary Scriptures for October 12, 2025, Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Ruth 1:1-19a; Psalm 111; 2 Timothy 2:1-13; Luke 17:11-19
“Then he said to him, ‘Get up, and go your way. Your faith has healed you.’” Luke 17:19, WEB
Reba McIntyre played a divorced mom of three whose life was anything but ordinary. Her oldest daughter, Cheyenne, became pregnant as a teenager, married her beau and they all lived in Reba’s house. Her husband married his pregnant girlfriend, and they moved into a house located seconds away. The girlfriend, Barbra Jean, was a ditzy blonde who thought of herself as Reba’s best friend. Everyone in Reba’s life made decisions that led to horrible consequences and in the end, they survived because Reba managed to find some amicable solution to their problems.
The middle child was a daughter named Kyra who was a very intelligent young lady, though a little bit rebellious. She was smarter than her older sister and often took advantage of her. Since Kyra was a highly independent and mature young lady, she often found herself outside the conflict and troubles of the day. She rarely got into trouble herself, so she was the last one to get any attention. Most of the time she liked being the stealth force in the family because it meant she got away with so many things. Unfortunately, it also meant that she was last to see the fulfillment of promises. In one episode Reba promised Kyra that they would go rollerblading, but problems with Cheyenne took all Reba’s energy.
In another episode, Kyra had the chance to go on a trip to England. Reba knew that it was important to her, that it was the least she deserved because she was such a great kid. Unfortunately, the trip was going to cost a lot of money. Reba insisted that Brock, her ex-husband, had to help her to ensure that Kyra could go. Reba worked out the budget and promised that she could go. Brock managed to find some excuse to get out of his half, but Reba still did all she could to fulfill her promise. Then Cheyenne had another crisis so the money set aside for Kyra went to the young married couple to fix their problem. In the end, Kyra lost again. It broke Reba’s heart to tell her that she could not go.
During my children’s lives there have been plenty of times when I have had to go back on a promise. We never know what will happen tomorrow. We don’t know if we will have the money or time to do what we promise. We do not know what circumstances might make our promise impossible at that time. When we make a promise in the heat of the moment, we often discover that fulfilling it might actually bring horrible consequences. We can’t see beyond this moment, so we are often unfaithful. We disappoint those who trust us to be true to our word, but we are human, and we make mistakes.
That is why there is only One who can truly be trusted with our hope. The psalmist wrote, “He will ever be mindful of his covenant.” God is faithful. He remembers His covenant promises and He has shown His people over and over again that He is trustworthy. He made his wonderful works remembered. He has shown His people the power of His works. His Word is right and true, and His Law is eternal. We who believe are reminded of God’s power and justice and it is in awe that we find real wisdom. Our life of praise begins with our response to God’s mercy, as we live in hope according to His promises and His Word.
You can’t always trust what you see. This includes improv comedy. Improv by definition is “composing, reciting, playing, or singing offhand, fabricating something out of what is conveniently on hand.” When we watch improvisation, we think they are making everything up on the spot. The reality is that the actors might “make it up” at that moment, but only after they have practiced. My daughter was involved with theater in High School, and I recall a variety show that they did. Most of the students put on sketches or mini plays. They had monologues, a comedic rendition of “American Idol,” and a slightly longer dramatic presentation. There were also a few humorous skits, including a sketch out of the archives of Monty Python. Some of the acts seemed to be improvisation, made up on the spot.
I saw the show twice and was disappointed to learn that the “improv” was exactly the same the second day. It had been rehearsed even though it all seemed to come out of their imaginations on the spot. The “improv” was carefully written and memorized. They made it look easy. They knew their stuff because they had practiced. They worked together daily so that everyone had the right timing, cues, and staging. They knew the words and actions of the other actors, because without all that work their show would have been a confusing mess. After that show, I wondered about the improv shows on television. Do those actors really make things up on the spot, even if it appears they have no previous knowledge of the challenges?
Timothy was a believer for as long as anyone could remember, having been raised by Eunice, his mother and Lois, his grandmother. They taught him, planted the seeds of faith, and prepared him to follow the vocation to which God had called him. Paul continued to teach him everything he would need to know, mentoring him into a pastor that would serve God and the people of Ephesus. Timothy heard the story of Jesus repeatedly so that he would remember and stay true to the truth. The knowledge gained through a lifetime of learning gave him the resources to minister to the people. He was prepared to speak the Gospel.
Unfortunately, the people of Ephesus were deceived by the Gnostic heresy, and they had no respect for Timothy. Some even held Paul in contempt. Since Timothy was so young, they thought it would be easy to turn him into the kind of preacher they wanted him to be, teaching the heresy that tickled their ears. Paul wrote to encourage him to stand firm in the Gospel, to teach the Word as he’d heard it from Paul, even if it was hard to make the stand. He had a very specific job to do: God called him to teach the truth, not to conform to the desires of the world.
Paul encouraged Timothy to believe the word he spoke and to continue to follow it. Paul had to justify himself repeatedly. He had been a Pharisee, but he was changed by Jesus and was constantly persecuted for his work as an Apostle. He was in prison when he wrote his letter to Timothy, and it would have been natural for his adversaries to use his suffering as proof that he was not a reliable minister. Paul encouraged Timothy by reminding him that suffering does not mean God’s Word is untrue. Though Paul suffered, God’s salvation is real. So, Paul charged Timothy to take that message to the people, the message that Christ is faithful even when we are faithless.
Paul’s letters are filled with repetition. Though each letter is written in response to specific situations, there are some things that remain consistent. In every letter Paul share’s God’s grace with the reader. In many of the letters Paul restates the story of Christ, reminding the readers of God’s saving work through Jesus. Though it may seem redundant to tell people over and over again to “Remember Jesus Christ,” He is the center of our faith, so it never hurts to be reminded of the work accomplished through His death and resurrection.
We love to hear the story, over and over again, but sometimes we would prefer to hear only parts of it. The Christmas story of the baby in the manger is beautiful and peaceful. We see the victory of God and the life we have by faith in the story of the Resurrection. It is uplifting and inspirational to know what God did for us. We know how Jesus fulfilled God’s promises. We accept that the cross was the way to true life, but we do not want to talk about death. Paul reminds us that the story of Christ includes death, not only His death but our death in Him. We die with Him to live with Him.
This does not come easily. We live by faith and trust that God has done this great thing, but we don’t fully understand the way death can bring life. We try to explain away the things we do not understand, and we whitewash the story of God to make it more palatable. Yet, by taking away from the grace found on the cross, we deny what God has done through Him for us. We make it more difficult for the world to know Jesus, because it is through the reality of the Gospel message that we come to faith and receive the gift of true life.
Just as improv isn’t really improvised, reality television is not real. It is never what it appears to be. I like to watch baking competitions. I am always amazed how those contestants can think of their project and complete it in such a limited time. They are tasked with creating complex showstoppers in just a few hours that would take days to complete. These big projects are very complex with specialized equipment. Sometimes they even require moving parts! The teams are well prepared with the right electronics and structure pieces, as if they’d designed the piece long before the show. However, they always appear surprised when they hear the assignment. I’m sure the kitchens are filled with all sorts of interesting kitchen gadgets, but the supply seems endless. They must have some warning about the tasks they will be asked to do because they are prepared with all they need to complete their design. The reality is that reality TV is not quite as improvised as they make it seem.
Even the contestants are not real. They are characters created by the producers to make the show interesting. Those characters might have a glimmer of their real selves, but they are exaggerated to make good television. The producers want them to conform to their expectations, not be true to themselves. Some contestants have admitted that their character was nothing like the real person. Sometimes the “mean guy” is actually the nicest person on the set but is acting a role. All reality shows are well edited, giving you just a forty-minute glimpse of days’ worth of film. You see only what the producers want you to see.
It is still amazing to think that these contestants can create remarkable displays in such a short period of time. There is always a disaster or two, but the bakers can usually overcome their problems and make something that looks and tastes wonderful. They can do this not only because they are prepared, but because they have practiced. They have learned their craft through hours of work and research. They were chosen to appear in the show because they had experience. The more they practice, the better their pieces turn out in the end.
It takes practice for us to tell the story. It takes study. It takes daily immersion into the grace of God for us to stand firmly in the truth. Living by faith is not something that we can ad-lib. It is not something we can do by improvisation. It takes something outside ourselves: the grace of God.
Orpah is one of those obscure figures from scriptures. We know her name, but she gets lost in Ruth’s story. We talk about Naomi, her troubles and her bitterness. We talk about Ruth, her generosity and courage. We barely mention Orpah, the one who went home. I suppose we see her as the opposite of Ruth, self-centered despite her love for her mother-in-law. We are quick to dismiss her because she seems selfish compared to Ruth.
And yet, Orpah did not do anything wrong. As a matter of fact, she was obedient to her mother-in-law’s wishes. Naomi was a widow with no sons and no means of support. She wanted to return to her homeland where she might find generous relatives who would take her into their home. It wouldn’t be right for her to demand they also take in her daughters-in-law. The women were Moabites, and their life would be much better among their own people. Naomi was being kind by telling them to go home, even if she did it from a place of grief and bitterness. Orpah wept in grief about leaving, but she did so out of respect for the woman she’d grown to love.
We have another story of opposites in the Gospel lesson. Nine lepers left Jesus to go to the Temple while one stayed with Him. The nine did what was right according to Jesus’ word and the Law. We are quick to dismiss the nine because they didn’t go back and say “Thank you” to Jesus, but they did what He told them to do.
Jesus commanded them to go to the priests, and they all went in faith. I wonder what they were thinking as they left Jesus. It was proper to show yourself to the priest when you were cured of a disease, but they had not yet been cured; it was only as they were leaving that the leprosy left them. Nine of the lepers continued to the priests, doing exactly as expected according to their religion, society, and Jesus’ word. Then they disappeared from the story. They were thankful, I am sure. The miracle saved their lives. They could return home, work and live as a normal person again. It probably saved the lives of their families who suffered along with their loved one who had been outcast. Their world was returned to them, and their thankfulness was displayed in a return to the normal course of life. This is not a bad thing, especially since it is exactly what Jesus told them to do.
The decisions Reba made on the show may have been right, but that didn’t make them any more acceptable to the daughter who was always left out. It was not bad that she helped the child who needed her, but it may have been better for Reba to choose the other way. It was just a scripted situation comedy, but we can learn from Reba’s mistakes. We can also learn from the failures of the Bible characters in our lessons this week. Orpah and the nine lepers did what was right, even obedient. However, there was a better way as we see in the stories of Ruth and the tenth leper.
Ruth followed Naomi, who was probably not very good company. Her bitterness made caring for her difficult, but Ruth willingly went into the fields to glean so that they would survive. Ruth’s love and generosity made a difference to Naomi, and Ruth found love, a future, and offspring. Her great grandson was King David and through his seed Jesus Christ was born. It might have been frightening to go with Naomi, but God had plans for Ruth’s life. Orpah probably had a wonderful life back home in Moab, but Ruth was greatly blessed when she went the other way. She experienced the blessing of relationships, not only with Naomi and her family, but with a husband, children, and the God of Israel.
Jesus told the lepers to go to the priests. The tenth leper was a Samaritan, but he went with them in hopeful expectation for healing. They all experienced the miracle. The nine continued in joy, but the Samaritan returned to the One who made him clean. The ten lepers were all healed physically, but only one sought out the true healing. When He praised God, Jesus gave him far more. He was healed and made whole. Jesus is concerned for both our physical and our spiritual wellbeing; He changes people from the inside out, granting them forgiveness and filling them with the love of God, bringing them deeper into a relationship with the God who is faithful. It is that relationship that heals them.
Ruth and the thankful leper were not obedient to what seemed right, and they responded to the situation from deeper in their hearts, with faith that came from the love of God.
Do we respond to God’s grace with simple obedience and then go on to our normal lives or are we changed forever by what God has done? That was the difference between Ruth and Orpah, the nine lepers and the Samaritan. Those who trusted in God were changed; they were made new. When they turned to God, they began a life of faith. What is faith? I often define faith as trust in God, but is that definition deep enough? What does it mean to trust God?
The easiest relationship in our lives should be with God, but it is the hardest because we have to turn away from the expectations of the world to follow Jesus into the unknown. Today’s passages show us people who were able to do it. They humbled themselves before the One who does great things. We see that in Timothy. We also see it in Ruth and the leper from Samaria.
Ruth took the hard road, and she was blessed. Timothy took the hard road, and he was blessed. Who took the hard road in today’s Gospel lesson? Was it the nine who went to the Temple to show themselves to the priests even before they were healed, or was it the one who turned around and fell at Jesus’ feet in worship when the leprosy was gone?
It might seem like the Samaritan took the easy road. He didn’t walk all the way to the temple or face those who would question them about the healing. He didn’t provide thankofferings. Were the nine unfaithful because they didn’t worship Jesus? They did exactly what He told them to do. He said “Go” and they went. They trusted that by Jesus’ word they would be healed. They did what was required of them according to their law. We should be heralding their faithfulness.
We don’t, however, because we know that they did not need to seek forgiveness or absolution from the temple priests; they could find everything they needed in Jesus Christ. The one who turned back took the hard path, because it was the path that went against the expectations of the world. He died to self and turned to God. And in doing so, he was blessed beyond measure. The other nine were healed, but he was made well.
Like Ruth, the one leper who turned to Jesus was a foreigner. Jesus was passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee. There is always more diversity along the borders. The Galileans were from Judah; the Samaritans were from the Northern tribes that had been Israel. The differences between the people were largely political; there were some religious differences, but in many ways the ordinary people related to one another on a human level. Yet, among those who were strictly observant of the Law, the Samaritans were unclean because they had a history of syncretism (accepting and trying to meld together opposing and conflicting belief systems), allowing the worship of other gods in their communities. These differences did not matter much to the lepers. They were all outcast, all unclean. They all stood at a distance from Jesus, because they respected His role as a rabbi and did not want to make him unclean. They all sought mercy, but only one recognized the source of true grace.
We are healed for more than just a return to our old way of life. We are saved to be a blessing to others. Ruth followed Naomi and a God she did not know, and she became the mother of kings and the King. We don’t know what happened to the Samaritan leper after he left Jesus, but as soon as he knew he was healed, he worshipped then went home to tell others about Jesus, praising God.
Paul told Timothy to pass on the knowledge that he had been given. It isn’t enough to hear the Gospel and go on to live our lives as if nothing has changed. God’s grace gives us new life, life that is meant to be shared. The examples Paul gives are interesting because again, it is not bad to live life or do your job as expected. A good soldier is obedient to the commands of his leader. A good athlete focuses on his training. A good farmer reaps a harvest that will take care of his family. None of this is bad. A person of faith, however, takes it to the next step. A person of faith glorifies God in their daily work. We are made new, transformed by God’s grace. We are no longer merely soldiering, running, or reaping for ourselves. We are called to do all this for God. We are saved and healed through Jesus Christ who died for our sake. It takes time, and practice to live according to the faith we have been given, trusting in the God who does amazing things. It takes preparation to share that faith with others.
Faith trusts that it was God who did it for us, then praises God for what He did. Orpah and the nine did what they should do, but in doing so they walked away from God and the chance to be made well. Ruth and the one leper received far more. Timothy trusted what had been handed down to him from his mother, grandmother, and Paul, and he impacted the world with his ministry. They all received the promise of eternity, the promise of a relationship with the faithful One who makes us well.
Will you make God’s grace your own? Will you respond with a word of thanksgiving before going on with your daily life? Will you be changed forever by what God has done? Jesus cares about our physical healing, but He is more concerned about our relationship with God. This is something that comes to us by grace, but then it takes a lifetime of hearing the story and remembering the great works God has done. It takes practice for us to hear God’s voice and to follow Him where we will experience the greatest blessing. We are called to take that story into the world sharing it with others. God does not expect us to use improvisation. He gives us all we need, even putting His Word in our mouths.
We will make mistakes. We will follow expectations. We will do what seems right even though God desires the better response. Our Lord Jesus Christ expects so much more than we are prepared to give. He wants us to be like Ruth, Timothy, and the leper, willingly following Him everywhere He goes. Jesus has healed you and made you well. He wants your whole life. Are you willing to follow Him through everything?
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