Your faith has made you well

 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 said to the disciples, "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 in a day, and seven times in 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 on 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.   It's important to remember that in all the recent readings, Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem, and to His "exodus."  (See the commentary on the Transfiguration, where Jesus discussed His "exodus" with Moses and Elijah.) 

Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.  My study bible says that "the lepers stood afar off because they were not permitted to approach people or enter into the villages."  They are, by virtue of their affliction, a group of "outsiders."

And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"   On the way to Jerusalem, we get stories throughout the Gospels of those who shout to Jesus, "Have mercy on me!"  His reputation precedes Him.  They call Him "Master"  - He is known as a holy teacher, and obviously a healer.  We recall how He will be welcomed into Jerusalem as Messiah on the day we celebrate as  Palm Sunday.

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.   My study bible tells us, "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."

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."  It's interesting to take a look at this word in the Greek for "made you well."  Really, literally, it reads "your faith has saved you."  "Saved" of course is the same word from which we derive the name for Jesus, Savior, and also the word "salvation."  Literally, it comes from the action of being rescued from danger, and taken into safety.  All of these meanings are bound up with healing.

We could think of all these men as "foreigners," really.  That is, they are ostracized, outside of the society, because of their affliction.  In understanding disease -- especially leprosy -- as affliction, we also get a picture (seen throughout especially Luke's Gospel) of what Jesus is about:  He rescues from affliction, from the one who oppresses, the prince of this world, the evil one.  All throughout the Gospels, and especially in Luke, we get this image of Jesus as healer:  He's the one who lifts our burdens and afflictions, breaks the bonds of the "strong man" with which we are bound, rescues us -- even as we are "ransomed" by Him.  Here, He assures the one who is the foreigner among foreigners, if you will, "Go your way, your faith has saved you."  All of them have been healed, but there's one who is really saved, and that is this foreigner of the foreigners, who's not just been returned to society but also to Christ, to God, in a direct way.  To save -- to heal, in this case -- is also to be returned to safety, to the place in which we are loved.  There we get to the real root of healing and salvation, and that's to know we are home among those who will truly love and care for us.  This is the true profound message of this Gospel.  God's work is love, and to bring us into that love through release of anything that afflicts us or binds us or keeps us from it is His job, His mission in the world.  Thereby we understand ourselves, as disciples, even as we follow in the shoes of the apostles.  Our mission is love.  There are those who will not accept it, even when they benefit from it; those who will not appreciate it, nor understand it.  They will not be addressed this way; saved and yet not saved because not accepting of this love.  To show gratitude is to understand, to acknowledge, and to develop a kinship in the truest sense.  A relationship is just that, a dialogue.  Jesus has recently given us the parable of the Prodigal Son; nothing mattered so much as return and communion, dialogue.  This is what love is all about -- even Jacob wrestling with an angel for a blessing was a form of dialogue and communion.  The others, taking this healing from leprosy for granted, as their "due" in some sense, did not bother to come back to thank Jesus, to acknowledge and speak with Him.  Let us remember His teachings from yesterday's reading as well, about how we are to dialogue with one another in the Church, openness and honesty and responsible understanding as the core.  Let us remember this Samaritan leper who is truly "saved."  Let us talk with God, be grateful for God's gifts, and remember what communion really means.  In this way we are saved -- in all the ways we may learn what that really means as we continue in this road of faith.