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Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" So when He saw them, He said to them, 'Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" And He said to him, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well."
- Luke 17:11-19
In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught His disciples about discipline in the Church and among themselves. He said, "It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and seven times a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him." And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you. And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'? But will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink'? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.' "
Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Samaria and Galilee are regions which are first, primarily foreign, and in Galilee there were mixed populations. We note that throughout the readings of the past few chapters, Jesus has been on this journey toward Jerusalem.
Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. My study bible notes that "the lepers stood afar off because they were not permitted to approach people or enter into the villages."
And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" So when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. "Have mercy on us!" has remained the cry in the prayer of the Church, so important is this phrase. For love and mercy Christ is in the world; for God's steadfast love and mercy we all pray and ask. Mercy, in this reading and in others in Luke's Gospel, is correlated with healing (see The Parable of the Good Samaritan). Lepers could not participate in community, and so it was necessary to receive a certificate from a priest in order once again to be a part of the community, hence Jesus' instruction to show themselves to the priests. The healing is automatic, not even mentioned: Jesus' mercy is immediate: "as they went, they were cleansed." Setting off on the journey of following Jesus' command, they are cleansed.
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" And He said to him, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well." My study bible says, "Only a Samaritan, despised by Jews, sets the example of gratitude for his healing. God's blessings are all too easily taken for granted or forgotten."
Luke's Gospel teaches us about the inclusion of those who love God and share in faith in God. St. Paul will preach to the Galatians that "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." This story of the ten lepers goes far to teach us something about the love for God we hold in our hearts; we can't really judge by the surface of one who belongs to our particular group or understanding or way of doing things. These nominal ways of saying who's in our party, in our group, in our enclave just don't work when it comes to Christ. There, what matters is what is in the heart, and what is in the heart that is important and essential is love. The love for God here isn't an impersonal understanding of this love; rather in the example of the Samaritan in the story it's an example of participation in God's love, of gratitude, and by extension right relatedness, clear seeing and understanding, and we assume a kind of respect that goes out to all whom this man encounters as a part of his relationship to God. There's a fundamental power in that love that implies right-relatedness in the choices we make and in the ways in which we see things. So this man alone glorifies God for his healing. He see's what's what. This isn't some gift or token one simply takes away selfishly as if to say the giver is not important. And there we get into the spirit of the matter here, and for those of us who live in the United States, a very timely reminder of what it truly means to live with gratitude (for tomorrow is the national holiday called Thanksgiving). Because in this story, to live with gratitude is to live with love in our hearts. Love, first of all, for our Creator, and from there setting us in truly right relatedness to others. To live a life of gratitude is to understand that all of life is in fact a gift, and more -- to have respect for the giver. I think this extends to all facets of life, to the people we forget to thank, to those with whom we struggle for gain, for recognition, in competition, right down to the ways we relate to others in the world when we carry around the idea that we are simply entitled to what they have, what we think everyone else has that we may want. It comes right down to the idea of the way we live our lives in relation to God and others and how we miss our own blessedness. To love God with all one's heart and mind and soul and strength is really up to each of us, and it's in fact a gift that is available to each of us. God doesn't discriminate on the basis of class or group or entitlement. Wherever we are on a social scale, whether or not we are excluded or included in the worldly picture of things, God's love is something that is a gift to each of us and may be reciprocated in relationship in which we participate. All it takes is our own awareness. And yet this one thing necessary seems to be so remiss and so hard to see. Yet it sets us in right relationship to everything. In this case, the Samaritan is the one man who can truly see what is right in front of him. His faith has made him well in many more ways than are apparent.
