The Lucan Gospel narrative of Jesus healing ten lepers
(Luke 17:11-19) appears to be straightforward in its teaching message: the
importance of gratitude. In fact, expressing our gratitude for what God has
done and His goodness is essential to our faith in Him (i.e. 1 Chronicles 16:8;
2 Chronicles 7:3; Psalm 107:1; 118:1;136:1-4, 26; 1 Thessalonians 5:18). Jesus
himself thanked the Father (Matthew 11:25//Luke 10:21; John 6:11; John 11:41;
Matthew 26:26-27//Luke 22:17, 19). So, giving thanks, expressing our gratitude,
to God is an integral part of our faith in Him.
According to this narrative, ten lepers pleaded Jesus
to have mercy on them from the distance, as Jesus was traveling toward Jerusalem.
In response, Jesus simply commanded them to go and show themselves to the
priests (Luke 17:14). It is noteworthy here that these ten lepers went to show
themselves to the priests even though their leprosy was not healed yet.
According to Leviticus 13:2-3; 14:2-32, they were supposed to go show
themselves to the priests after being healed for verification and to be claimed
“clean” in order to be reintegrated to the society. These lepers could have
asked Jesus, “Pardon me, Lord, we are not healed yet. We still have leprosy.
How can you dare to tell us to go to the priests now? We are already outcast
because of our condition. We will be thrown away again!”. If they were
fundamentalist to the Torah, they could have argued with Jesus. However,
according to this Lucan narrative, none of these lepers even raised a question
to what Jesus commanded, though it made no sense to the Torah, and simply went
to show themselves to the priests while they still had leprosy. It is important to note in Luke 17:15, they
were healed on their way to see the priests. They were healed because they
simply believed what Jesus said and did it.
To the nine, who were Jew, this was the end of the
story. However, to one Samaritan person, it was not, because he was the only
one to return to Jesus, glorifying God in loud voice, and thanked him by
bending himself down at the feet Jesus (Luke 17:15-16).
Though all of these ten lepers believed in Jesus’
healing power, it must have had a far more stronger impact on the Samaritan
leper than the nine Jewish ones. Perhaps, subconsciously, these nine Jewish
lepers thought that they “deserve” to be healed by Jesus because they were Jew
and so was Jesus. On the other hand, it was not that he doubted of Jesus’
healing power, but that the Samaritan leper could have wondered if Jesus, a
Jew, would really extend his mercy to him, because his ethnicity was despised
by the Jews.
A bit deeper lesson from this Lucan Gospel narrative
on Jesus healing ten lepers – only the Samaritan leper returning to Jesus,
glorifying God, and thanked him –(Luke 17:11-19) is not to assume we “deserve”
God’s mercy, though it endures forever (i.e. Psalm 136) and can benefits
regardless of our ethnicities as long as we are faithful ( i.e. Romans 4:11-13;
Galatians 3:8). Such an assumption can make take God’s grace for granted and
reduces sensitivity to gratitude. In fact, if our faith is strong, we never assume
that we “deserve”, as such a strong faith keeps us humble and consider
ourselves unworthy to receive God’s grace, including His mercy. Faith is not
just about believing in what seems impossible but also to keep ourselves humble
enough to regard ourselves unworthy and to prompt us to express our gratitude
in our praises to glorify God, who is generous and merciful in dispensing His
grace (Ephesians 2:1-7) to the worthy in His eyes.
After all, this is what it means to live a life of
Christian faith: “Rejoice always. Pray
without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God
for you in Christ Jesus!” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). The Samaritan who returned to Jesus and
thanked him was in joy to glorify God.
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