Healing of ten lepers
Jesus crossed Samaria and Galilee
Leprosy at that time was a terrible and contagious disease.
Jesus heard the plea of these ten lepers asking for trust in exchange from those who pray to him. He heals them without touching them and then simply commands them to go to those with the authority to declare them purified of disease.
Yet only one is these healed, the Samaritan, with gratitude to thank his benefactor Jesus, to give glory to God.
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Gospel - Luke [17:11-19]
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
Exegesis - Luke [17:11-19]
Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, passing through Samaria to go to Galilee, when in a village, ten lepers approach him, stop at a distance and shout: “Jesus, master, have mercy on us!”
The Law of Moses prescribed that whoever had leprosy, for fear of contagion, that man had to live outside the villages and cities: “The leper affected by leprosy will wear torn clothes and his head bare, cover his beard and go shouting: “Unclean! Unclean!. He will be unclean as long as he has the plague; he is unclean, he will be alone, he will live outside the camp”.
(Lv 13,45-46).
They were required to report their presence to others, because anyone who met them would avoid them. That of the leper was a doubly painful life, both from the physical point of view, with suffering, mutilation, poverty, hardship, and from the moral and spiritual one. They were considered impure, unable to enter the temple, and deprived even of comfort. Human, of the compassion of their families, estranged from everything and everyone. For all this, leprosy was the worst of diseases and in substance it was equivalent, for a Jew, to death.
However, these lepers, having seen Jesus, do not invite him to leave, warning him saying “We are unclean”, but on the contrary they approach, perhaps because they have understood, that only Jesus is their only hope and here is their cry: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”.
For lepers, the search for healing meant finding purity in order to be reintegrated into the community. Now in this cry, they express a deep faith in Jesus that could heal them and restore purity to them. Obtaining purity meant feeling welcomed by God again and being able to go to Him to receive the blessing promised to Abraham.
Jesus could heal them immediately however he wants to prove their faith and says: “Go and present yourselves to the priests”. The priest had to verify the healing and certify the purity of the healed one (Lv 14,1-32). And they go, they set out, trusting only in the word of the Lord because they believe, even if their body was still covered with leprosy. Their faith is rewarded because along the way they discover that the leprosy is gone, they are healed. Here is the miracle of faith, only faith can activate the power of God allowing him to work with wonders.
Unexpectedly, the episode does not end here, of the ten lepers who have been healed, only one comes back praising God in a loud voice, prostrating himself before Jesus, at his feet, to thank him, he was a Samaritan. That healed leper recognizes in Jesus the Messenger of God, God himself, and thanks him. So that man is saved.
The Jewish people despised the Samaritans and didn't have much to do with them. However, the Samaritans had always observed the Mosaic precepts as expressed in the Pentateuch. In case, it was the Jews who deviated from the right religion, adding deviant innovations to the correct Mosaic faith.
But Jesus observes: “Were not all ten healed? And where are the other nine? Was there no one found to return to give glory to God, except this stranger?” Jesus expresses his astonishment, but how, faced with such a great prodigy, did those nine not recognize Him?
It is truly paradoxical, there is no news that at that time others could perform wonders like this. Yet when they set out to go to the priests, they have no doubts about their healing, and in this they prove their faith.
But even if they have seen only a prophet in Jesus, why they do not consider it necessary to return to thank him. Are they so ungrateful? Were they only interested in healing the body?
When they went to the priests, they will surely have told about their healing, and who was the one who was the author of the prodigy. It could somehow be deduced that the priests who are not in favor of Jesus have somehow tried to discredit him. It is known that the Samaritan was freer in thought and evaluated what had happened without any interference. It should be remembered here that it will be the priests who will have Jesus condemned to the torture of the cross. However, the evangelist does not report any comment, but offers us as a model that Samaritan who saw the power of God in the sign, believed and saved himself, unlike the other nine.
This story testifies to us that sometimes the prodigy is not enough to be able to believe, and it can happen to us too, that Jesus worked with signs in our life. Our response contains our tomorrow of salvation or condemnation.
