Wednesday in the 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, November 15, 2023

Luke 17, 11-19

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”

“They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice.”  St. Albert the Great (d. 1280), whose feast day this is, comments on the facts that the ten lepers “stood at a distance”; “raised their voice”; and cried out to Jesus.  Albert says that the “ten lepers” signify ten “spots” or weaknesses found in a soul, and that their standing at a distance means that they became immobile, that they ceased from sin or even from entertaining temptations.  This represents rectitude of will and humility.  Maintaining rectitude of will, a person arrives at a state in which he does not progress in sin of any kind.  Humility is self-awareness and a proper estimation of self so that as a leper recognizes that his disease is abominable to the healthy, so the sinner knows his sinful condition to be abominable to Almighty God.  Albert then cites as an example of this Luke 18, 13 in which “the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven; but struck his breast, saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

Albert comments that the “raising” of the voice of the lepers signifies the exertion of the heart and their vocal expression of this.  Albert says that “raising” the voice is the right term for what they did because the exertion of the heart (for raising is harder than lowering) gives a sign of the compunction of the heart.  He cites Matthew 2, 18 as evidence of this: “A voice was heard in Rama, lamentation and great mourning”, where the Hebrew rama is interpreted as “high” or “lofty”.  The “voice” is a vocal expression conveying meaning.  Albert cites Job 7, 11 for the grief of repentant sinners: “I will not spare my month, I will speak in the affliction of my spirit: I will talk with the bitterness of my soul.”

It is not clear whether the Lord performed this miracle in Galilee or in Samaria.  In either place the lepers would have had to keep away from the healthy.  These lepers seem to dwell together in a camp so that when the Lord comes by the road they are already assembled, probably to beg.  It is not, in fact, clear as to whether they are asking the Lord for money or to be cured.  They simply say, “Have mercy on us.”  They leave it up to God as to how he will do this.  “Go show yourselves to the priests.”  By this the Lord announces to them that he intends to heal them, for Moses legislated that one who was cured of leprosy should go to the priest for the cure to be certified.  He does not cure them on the spot, let us note.  The Lord meant to try their faith and for them to give a good example of trusting in him.  They do, in fact, go off to the priest, but when they are cured, only one has sufficient faith to return to Jesus and give thanks.  Whether the others continue on to the priest in Jerusalem, the Lord clearly expects them to come back to offer thanks before proceeding on.  Their failure to do so shows the limitation of their faith.  It may be that the missing nine, rejoicing over their cure, hurry on to the priest in case the cure is temporary or only apparent.  They need to know for sure.  Or it may be that in their rejoicing they forget the one who gave them their cause for joy.  This man, whom Luke pointedly identifies as a Samaritan, is not sparing in his gratitude.  He fell at the Lord’s feet and thanked him.  He adores him as his God.  

“Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”  St. Albert comments that here the Lord commands the man to rise from the place of his lowliness by raising himself to eternal things from the goods he had pursued formerly.  He cites Colossians 3, 1-2 to elaborate: “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.”  The Lord Jesus also commands him, “Go”, by making progress towards God and in edifying his neighbors.  He cites Mark 16, 15: “Going into the whole world, preach the Gospel to every creature.”  Jesus tells him, “Your faith has saved you.”  Albert equate the man’s faith with his faithfulness, which is an abiding state.  Citing Proverbs 20, 6, “Many men are called merciful: but who shall find a faithful man”, Albert makes a distinction between an act of faith, which may be brief and even insincere, and faithfulness, which persists between two or more people.  You and I are called to lives of faith, to faithfulness to the Lord Jesus, imitating the saints of all the ages.