The Sunday Gospel [October 10, 2010]
Lk 17:11-19
The Cleansing of Ten Lepers
11As [Jesus] continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was entering a village, ten lepers met [him]. They stood at a distance from him 13and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” 14And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. 15And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; 16and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. 17Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? 18Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” 19Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
Jesus Breaks Boundaries
A creative publicist finds a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat on his feet and a sign that reads: “Have pity. I cannot see.” While dropping a few coins he notices that the bag is almost empty. Asking for permission, he turns the sign around, writes another announcement, and leaves. When he returns in the afternoon, he notices that the hat is now full of bills and coins. The blind man recognizes his footsteps and his voice and asks what he wrote on the sign. The publicist answers, “Nothing that is not true, I just rewrote your sign differently.” Then he walks away. The blind man does not see it, but the new sign reads: “Today is Spring, and I cannot see it.”
We are used to seeing suffering and destitution around us. Every day we pass by beggars and sick people with nary a thought of concern about their plight. We dismiss their condition as a “normal” part of life—until we ourselves become destitute or get sick and realize that we have taken our blessings for granted, or until someone makes us realize their pitiful condition. This is what the publicist does for the blind man, and what Jesus does for the ten lepers in the Gospel.
In Jesus’ time, to be a leper is to be much worse than to be blind. “Leprosy” may not be exactly what is known as Hansen’s disease. Yet the scaly condition of the skin (described in Lv 14-15) is feared—not so much for contagion as for “impurity,” requiring that the person afflicted be separated from family and community.
The purity laws of Israel deal with “boundaries” which separate outsiders from the community lest they render it unclean. The Samaritan in the story is separated by two boundaries. The social boundary prevents him from associating with the Jews who consider the Samaritans an impure breed because they are descendants of the Israelites who married pagans. (But the Jewish lepers have accepted the Samaritan among them; tragedy has brought them together.) The body boundary, on the other hand, is “pierced” by the repulsive skin disease.
Exclusion from the community aggravates the condition of the leper who suffers the deterioration of the body. Lepers can call only from a distance, and they ask Jesus to have pity on them, that is, to make them clean so that they can cross the boundary and rejoin their holy community. Their request is an acknowledgment that they believe Jesus can restore them to their family and community. People in those times believe that only God can heal; Jesus is thus seen as a gifted intermediary between God and the poor lepers.
Jesus is presented in the gospels as often challenging the existing boundaries. He is truly compassionate, that is, he “suffers with” those who are afflicted. He does not stay away from the impure. He heals them and restores meaning to their lives. He even singles out a Samaritan as the one who comes back and gives thanks, continuing his “preference” for the marginalized and insignificant people.
The nine Jewish lepers proceed to Jerusalem to “give praise” to God in the presence of the priests who will declare them clean and restore them to their community. The Samaritan knows fully well that he is not welcome at the Jerusalem Temple. There is still an existing barrier between him and the God of Israel whom he also worships as the true God. But he knows that he has Jesus to turn to. He can always thank God through Jesus.
In the end, the Samaritan is the one who is truly purified. His faith in Jesus has made him whole. He is then asked to go on his way—to recognize, from that moment on, the love of God that he, an outsider, has received as a gift. He, in turn, must give it freely and mirror Jesus’ compassion for all.
11As [Jesus] continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was entering a village, ten lepers met [him]. They stood at a distance from him 13and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” 14And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. 15And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; 16and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. 17Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? 18Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” 19Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
Jesus Breaks Boundaries
A creative publicist finds a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat on his feet and a sign that reads: “Have pity. I cannot see.” While dropping a few coins he notices that the bag is almost empty. Asking for permission, he turns the sign around, writes another announcement, and leaves. When he returns in the afternoon, he notices that the hat is now full of bills and coins. The blind man recognizes his footsteps and his voice and asks what he wrote on the sign. The publicist answers, “Nothing that is not true, I just rewrote your sign differently.” Then he walks away. The blind man does not see it, but the new sign reads: “Today is Spring, and I cannot see it.”
We are used to seeing suffering and destitution around us. Every day we pass by beggars and sick people with nary a thought of concern about their plight. We dismiss their condition as a “normal” part of life—until we ourselves become destitute or get sick and realize that we have taken our blessings for granted, or until someone makes us realize their pitiful condition. This is what the publicist does for the blind man, and what Jesus does for the ten lepers in the Gospel.
In Jesus’ time, to be a leper is to be much worse than to be blind. “Leprosy” may not be exactly what is known as Hansen’s disease. Yet the scaly condition of the skin (described in Lv 14-15) is feared—not so much for contagion as for “impurity,” requiring that the person afflicted be separated from family and community.
The purity laws of Israel deal with “boundaries” which separate outsiders from the community lest they render it unclean. The Samaritan in the story is separated by two boundaries. The social boundary prevents him from associating with the Jews who consider the Samaritans an impure breed because they are descendants of the Israelites who married pagans. (But the Jewish lepers have accepted the Samaritan among them; tragedy has brought them together.) The body boundary, on the other hand, is “pierced” by the repulsive skin disease.
Exclusion from the community aggravates the condition of the leper who suffers the deterioration of the body. Lepers can call only from a distance, and they ask Jesus to have pity on them, that is, to make them clean so that they can cross the boundary and rejoin their holy community. Their request is an acknowledgment that they believe Jesus can restore them to their family and community. People in those times believe that only God can heal; Jesus is thus seen as a gifted intermediary between God and the poor lepers.
Jesus is presented in the gospels as often challenging the existing boundaries. He is truly compassionate, that is, he “suffers with” those who are afflicted. He does not stay away from the impure. He heals them and restores meaning to their lives. He even singles out a Samaritan as the one who comes back and gives thanks, continuing his “preference” for the marginalized and insignificant people.
The nine Jewish lepers proceed to Jerusalem to “give praise” to God in the presence of the priests who will declare them clean and restore them to their community. The Samaritan knows fully well that he is not welcome at the Jerusalem Temple. There is still an existing barrier between him and the God of Israel whom he also worships as the true God. But he knows that he has Jesus to turn to. He can always thank God through Jesus.
In the end, the Samaritan is the one who is truly purified. His faith in Jesus has made him whole. He is then asked to go on his way—to recognize, from that moment on, the love of God that he, an outsider, has received as a gift. He, in turn, must give it freely and mirror Jesus’ compassion for all.
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