That
the lepers started off at all showed some faith in Jesus. They would not have
been admitted for worship if they had had any signs of leprosy. It was on the
way to the temple that they discovered that they were healed and not before. Such
discovery would have released years of frustration, pain, and bitterness. In the
torrent of emotions that came over them, it would have been easy not to have made
a connection with their encounter with Jesus and to think only of their initiative
to have the courage to go to the temple once again.
I suggest that Jesus did not expect any of the lepers
to return and the one who did was a particular surprise. He was a Samaritan. For
him to have approached Jesus and trusted any of Jesus’ words was remarkable
in and of itself. He was a desperate man. It is unclear whether Jesus expected
the Samaritan to go to his own Samaritan priests as opposed to the Jewish priests.
It is certainly questionable that an Ex-Samaritan leper would have received a
warm welcome in the Jewish temple.
Yet the Samaritan in his joy did not forget Jesus. He
made the connection. He realized that Jesus had blessed him with a life-changing
gift. Before he returned home to be reconciled with his family, to give thanks
and make public his gift of new life, he wished to return to Jesus and offer him
a gift of his profound thanks. He had to find Jesus and tell him. I suspect the
sight of the Samaritan kneeling before him brought tears to Jesus’ eyes.
In this second encounter, the very special double blessing of gratitude was revealed.
Jesus in effect told the one who returned, “In discovering gratitude, your
life has been made whole.” Being able to express gratitude was even a greater
blessing than being cured of leprosy.
As
Luke's Gospel was being compiled and edited, increasing numbers of gentiles were
being welcomed into the early church, while the proportion of those who were native
Jews was rapidly decreasing. The rejection of the Gospel by the early Christians’
closest friends and neighbors smarted. To some extent this was reflected in the
story of the nine lepers who did not return to Jesus and the one foreigner who
did. Jesus was hurt by the rejection also. Yet I believe that Luke never intended
us to use this story as a justification for feeling sorry for ourselves or pointing
an accusing finger at someone else.
It’s
easy for us to say, “Of course we know people who are relatively healthy
and have a quality of medical care their parents could only have dreamed of; who
do not really have to worry about where their next meal is coming from; or if
they are going to be evicted and forced to live in the Ithaca jungle. Yet they
are mad and bitter people. Their lives are fragmented and contorted. They are
not whole, for they know no gratitude.” I suggest today’s Gospel is
not primarily a parable about them any more than it is a parable about the nine
lepers who did not return to Jesus. Rather, Luke is giving us the gift of a mirror
that reflects our lives.
In our day, too, the healing ministry of Jesus, the place
where the Good News is often actualized, is at the borders, on the edges, in places
we feel ill at ease, suspicion runs high, and even to some degree where fear takes
over. They are places we do not want to live in, and prefer not to travel through.
Nonetheless, Jesus beckons us as people of faith to venture forth.
In our day, too, often it is outsiders, who are open and
more appreciative of God's blessings and recognize more easily the incidents of
ordinary kindness. They are not as self- satisfied, jaded, or demanding as we.
