Luke 17:11-19
What seems on the surface to be
another healing story may be much deeper than that. After all, what
conclusions can we draw for our own lives from the story of the ten
lepers? That we should be grateful for what God has done for us?
That we should always remember to give thanks? That we should
cultivate an attitude of gratitude? Well, of course, those are good
things, and we remember that one of the four kinds of prayer is to
give thanks. We shouldn't let a day go by without counting our
blessings and thanking God for them.
But listen to the gospel closely.
First, the lepers cried out to Jesus from afar. They knew who he
was, they called him by name, they named him Master. In those days
before a person with leprosy was considered healed, he or she had to
be inspected by a priest. Why a priest? Moses had laid down the
conditions for re-admission into society way back in the book of
Leviticus. The priest was to inspect every part of the skin and only
if he could see nothing that resembled leprosy would he declare the
person officially clean. There was a ceremony that went with that,
involving the sacrificing of a dove, the sprinkling of the blood on
the former leper, and the release of a second dove. The priests
actually did a fair amount of this sort of thing, because there were
several skin diseases which seemed to fall under the category of
leprosy, and some healed by themselves.
Our ten lepers ask for pity.
Obviously they want to be healed but Jesus does not heal them right
then and there as he does so with so many other healings; he begins
his healing by sending them to the authority who can admit them back
into communion with the larger society; the real curse of the lepers
is that they are isolated from their families and friends, reduced to
begging and living apart from society.
Then on the way they are cleansed. As
they were walking along, the disfigurement of their disease left
them. Certainly they all noticed this. Nine of them probably danced
all the way to the priests – they couldn't wait to complete what
Jesus had began, and they were doing exactly what he told them to do.
Probably they weren't thinking right then about going back and
thanking him, but I'll bet they were thanking God, and I'll bet that
if any of them were to run across Jesus in the future, they would
thank him. Don't be hard on the nine.
One of the lepers realizes that he has
been healed. All knew they were cleansed; one sees that not only is
the leprosy gone, but he has been made whole again. That's the root
of the word “healed” – to be made whole. The leprosy is gone,
but all the consequences of having leprosy are gone as well. He can
return to his family, he can go back to his job, he can have the
company of his friends. One leper feels overwhelming gratitude
because of what has been done, and can't wait to go back and thank
Jesus, all the while glorifying God, praising God.
Finally, the leper falls at Jesus'
feet and gives thanks. Now Saint Luke sneaks in a little theology
here. The leper thanks Jesus, but Jesus says, has none but this
foreigner returned to thank God? When you thank Jesus you are
thanking God. There is another interesting thing here. Jesus acts
surprised. This isn't the only time Jesus is surprised or
disappointed; if you read the scriptures you will notice this. Is
this because, being God he knows everything and simply acts
surprised? I prefer to believe that it's because he's human and
humans can be surprised, apparently even if they possess a divine
nature. Jesus as a human being, even as the greatest human being
ever, goes through life being surprised by God's plan. He is like us
in all things except sin. Foreigners, even Samaritans being touched
by God – that would be a new one for a Jew of Jesus' time.
But the big thing is that Jesus points
out that the man is now saved, and that his faith has saved him. I
think saved means more than healed, more than cleansed. It means that
this Samaritan has come into the Kingdom of God, the very kingdom
which Jesus has been proclaiming, and again, if we read the
scriptures, a kingdom to which some have already been admitted, even
before Jesus has been crucified and risen from the dead. And it is
the Samaritan's faith that is the direct cause of salvation. His
faith is what led him to glorify God and to come into Jesus'
presence.
If we are Christian, we are aware that
God is constantly touching us. Sometimes from a human perspective
those touches bring about joy and sometimes sadness. When God
touches us, it's like the lepers being cleansed. Often we just
passively accept those touches, or we fight against them, but in the
end we react, or we do nothing at all. The Samaritan realized that
the touch of God which cleansed him affected him far more than “skin
– deep.” As we mature in our Christianity we also seek meaning
in those moments when we feel God's touch. We try to understand, we
try to see where God is leading us. Sometimes when those touches
cause suffering, we look into them and see that they are invitations
to accompany Christ in his passion journey.
Learning to see the hand of God in the
course of our ordinary life leads us to faith, and real faith
ultimately leads us to Jesus. God in his mercy gives us everything
we need, but ultimately, like the Prodigal Son, like the Samaritan
leper, we need to make the decision to accept what God has to offer.
That is what faith is all about – trusting in God's mercy, allowing
God to take care of us, learning to say with Jesus, “Not my will,
but your will be done.”
