Word to the Wise
Sunday, October 13, 2013 - 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time - C
[2 Kgs 5:14-17; 2 Tim 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19]"Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then [Jesus] said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."
Nine lepers were "cleansed" but only one of them was "saved" and he was a Samaritan! There is a difference between being "cured" and being "healed." On one level, all ten lepers were cured. Indeed, for all ten, there was more than "cleansing" from a disease. It meant an end to their social isolation! But only one of them "got it!" He realized what had truly happened to him. He had discovered his faith and that God had truly visited him in the person of Jesus! Like Naaman the Syrian general in the first scripture for today, the Samaritan leper realizes that it is because he put his faith in Jesus' word [like the pagan centurion in Luke 7:6] that he was healed and what that means for him beyond his "cure!"
This gospel passage is often read at Thanksgiving because of the emphasis on being grateful for blessings. There is nothing wrong with that! But the focus is beyond what has happened to us [and the leper] in terms of cures and sufficiency of this world's goods. The focus is on faith and the power of God. Do we really believe that God has visited us? [Lk 1:68] If so, then we can put our faith in Jesus' words: "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you!" AMEN