Luke 17:11-19
11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean.
15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”
Charity Surpasses Legality
There’s a small plain between Lower Galilee and Samaria where those who suffered contaminating diseases were cast out and lived. According to the Old Testament, they were excluded by a priestly order. By Moses’ Law, they had no right to be near nor request anything from anyone that was passing by. Jesus, on His way up to Jerusalem, was implored by ten lepers from a distance to heal them. They were nine Jews and one Samaritan.
Usually, we see Jesus asking about the faith of whoever asks Him to perform a miracle. Here, we see Him responding without any questions. He does heal them, but this is actually the only time He does not heal on the spot. The original Greek says that Jesus drew closer to them when He spoke to them, respecting their human dignity as every human deserves.
Jesus came to heal and to save. He told them to go to their villages and show themselves to their priests, who would give them a certificate of healing and reintegration within the congregation. "Go and show yourselves to the priests!" Luke 17:14.
On their way, keeping their faith alive in Jesus’ word, they were made well and certainly obtained the certificates from their priests, allowing them to regain their dignity and their roles in society.
St. Luke invites us to keep faith not only when we are asking God's mercy to be done on the spot, but to keep faith as we go, even if our good and justified request is not granted immediately.
This Gospel teaches us to value God's gifts that are bestowed upon us, and to acknowledge His love and mercy by offering Him a token of gratitude as the Samaritan did.
The stranger was the only one to return and acknowledge Jesus’ grace by prostrating in His presence (Luke 17:16). We may be tempted to think that God should reward us for our faith in Him and take it for granted that all He grants us doesn’t deserve any gratitude because we are Christians - as the nine Jewish lepers thought that the Messiah has the duty to care for them exclusively.
God doesn't need to be thanked, but we need to be respectful and attentive to His gifts. We can thank Him by sharing charity and compassion with others as He did with the ten lepers!
When we obtain grace from God's bounty, may we know how to thank Him, so that He may not ask, "where are the nine others?!" Luke 17:17
May our charity surpass all of our kinds of legality!