The Cleansing of Ten Lepers

Today's Reflections

The Cleansing of Ten Lepers 

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Lk 17:11-19

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.”

Reflection:

Samaritan. Earlier, in a parable (Lk 10:25-37), Jesus presented a Samaritan traveler as a good neighbor to someone in mortal danger. Another Samaritan now makes it to Jesus’ heroes’ list: the grateful Samaritan leper.

The healing of Jesus here is twofold: as a leper and as a Samaritan.

Being a leper, the man is an outcast in his community. He has to stay outside settlements, towns, or encampments. He has to cry out “Unclean, unclean!” to ward off healthy people from coming close to him for fear of contamination. He is banned from the temple and the synagogues. He is deemed punished by God for his sins.

Jesus calls the Samaritan a “foreigner.” The Samaritan is not a member of the chosen people. He is a half-breed, belonging to an impure race, a hated enemy of the Jews.

By curing the man, Jesus restores him to life, to his community. His ritual impurity is taken away and he is now free to worship with his people. By singling him out as the only grateful leper in a group of ten, Jesus commends the man as better than the Jewish lepers healed. The man returns to give thanks to God through Jesus and is saved by his faith in Jesus. The nine are healed of leprosy, but this man is saved by Christ.

Are you grateful for everyday blessings from God?

How have you made use of these blessings?