Wednesday in the 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, November 13, 2024

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.”

“He traveled through Samaria and Galilee.”  Although the Jews despised the Samaritans as Gentiles pretending to be Jews, a Galilean Jew had to pass through Samaria in order to reach Jerusalem.  They would do this as quickly as they could so as to lessen their chances of coming into contact with the Samaritan population.  This could happen on the road and also by having to go into the towns to buy food and procure water.  This would explain why the Lord Jesus “was entering a village”.  “Ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him.”  The lepers camped together outside towns and villages for safety, especially from the animals that prowl at night.  

Contrary to popular opinion, leprosy is not easily contagious.  It can be passed on through close and regular contact with an infected person’s mouth and nose droplets but not, say, through shaking the person’s hand.  The reason for the segregation of lepers as directed by the Jewish Law had to do with the fact that leprosy was seen as divine punishment from some particularly serious sin.  For instance, when Miriam, the sister of Moses, rose up against him, God sent leprosy upon her (cf. Numbers 12, 1-10); and when King Uzziah broke the Law by entering the Temple and going into places reserved only for the priests and burning incense on the altar, he was afflicted with the disease as punishment (cf. 2 Chronicles 26, 19).  We should see these ten lepers in this light: they were regarded by the Jews as grievous sinners with whom no one should associate.  Reduced to begging, they lived as outcasts, rejected by their countrymen.

“Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”  It is not clear whether they were asking for alms or for healing.  Evidently they knew that Jesus was, at least, a rabbi (as per the Greek).  But they do not call him “Lord”, so they may not have known of his power to cure.  “Go show yourselves to the priests.”  This command of the Lord could have had only one meaning for them: that they would be cleansed of their hideous disease.  For, according to the Law, when a leper found himself healed (as sometimes did happen), he needed to appear before the Temple priests, who would examine him before declaring him clean.  These lepers must have rejoiced to hear these words.  It was almost unimaginable that they would be freed of the disease, the shame, the deprivations, and the loneliness.

“As they were going they were cleansed.”  The Lord shows forth his power by healing them when they had left his sight.  We can think of the joy, the shouting, and the dancing as they looked upon their limbs and at one another and saw what had happened.  “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.”  This man would go on to the priests but first he felt his deep obligation to thank the Lord Jesus for his cure.  How easy it is to forget our benefactors!  We are so quick to “move on” and to attribute to ourselves or to luck the good that we have received from others.  But to hold on to the gift, we should pay our debt to the one who gave it to us.  “He was a Samaritan.”  The implication here being that he had less reason to thank a Jew for anything and that by appearing before Jesus as a Samaritan he risked the contempt that the Samaritans were accustomed to receiving from the Jews.

“Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”  The Lord received the man’s gratitude.  The Lord also made a point regarding Samaritans — one similar to that which he made with his Parable of the Good Samaritan.  The Lord calls him “this foreigner”, using a term the Jews used, but then makes it clear that while he had come back to thank the Lord for his cure, the Jewish lepers had not.  The Samaritan acted like a proper Jew and the Jews had acted they way everyone would have expected Samaritans to act — without a trace of gratitude.  “Go in peace.”  The Lord dismisses the Samaritan in a way that a Jew would not normally dismiss a “foreigner”.

We have so much to be thankful for.  We should often thank God for all that we have received from him.  He owes us nothing, but gives us everything we have.