Sunday Meditation: The Healing of the Ten Lepers

This week’s Gospel reading is fairly straight forward.

 

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,

he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.

As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.

They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,

"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"

And when he saw them, he said,

"Go show yourselves to the priests."

As they were going they were cleansed.

And one of them, realizing he had been healed,

returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;

and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.

He was a Samaritan.

Jesus said in reply,

"Ten were cleansed, were they not?

Where are the other nine?

Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?"

Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;

your faith has saved you."

Lk 17:11-19

 

The typical homily on this passage is the emphasis on gratitude.  This video dramatization handles it quite well.

Yes, only one leper was grateful, and that is the point of the passage.  But as I’ve meditated on the passage, there’s another emphasis that resonates for me.  When Jesus approaches, the ten, keeping their distance, shout out, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"  We don’t know how they knew Jesus was a healer.  We just see it.  And they ask for pity, for mercy.  And Jesus in His compassion responds.  He heals them.

Gratitude may be the thematic element of this little scene, but so is Jesus’ compassion and His healing.  I don’t think we make enough of the healing miracles in the Gospels.  They are abundant. 

The other day I went to my first Charismatic Healing Mass.  I’ll post on this later in the week, but it made me conscious of just how important healing is in the Gospels.  You may think of it as a metaphor for a spiritual healing.  At least that may be the intellectual thing to do.  But I don’t think all of the healings in the Gospels are meant to be thought of in that way.  Christ heals, literally. 

The ten lepers are healed, literally.