Lk. 17:11-19
“It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich!” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Today’s gospel passage presents to us the account of Jesus healing the ten lepers. As soon as Jesus enters the village, he meets these ten lepers because they were eagerly waiting for him. They might have heard about Jesus, especially the stories of his healing of other leper patients. The interesting factor to be noted is that among these ten lepers, nine of them were Jews, and one of them was a Samaritan. We are aware of the fact that the Jews and the Samaritans did not enjoy good rapport. However, among these lepers, there weren’t any barriers of language or culture. We could see how the leprosy connected them.The greatness of these people is that they did not doubt the person of Jesus, whether he could heal them or whether it was possible for him. They were ostracised from the main stream of society, and Jesus was their only hope. Therefore, as soon as they meet Jesus, they beg him for mercy.
Jesus tells them immediately to go and show them to the priest. Instead, he instructs them to take them to the priests. Immediately, they leave to meet the priests. However, they were not healed immediately, but they were healed on the way. The faith and obedience of these ten lepers is a great role model for each one of us. We see a similar incident in the book of Kings wherein the Syrian commander Naaman comes to the prophet Elisha for healing from leprosy. He too was asked to wash himself seven times in the Jordan river. Though he was unwilling in the beginning, when he did what the prophet commanded, at once he was cured. He comes back to thank Prophet Elisha with gifts.
The miracle was not yet over; we witness another miracle when the Samaritan comes in search of Jesus to thank him. This Samaritan man was the only person who turned to the Lord in order to thank him. whereas the so-called chosen men failed to thank the author of healing. When they received the healing, they failed to give glory to the Lord. They might have been busy showing themselves to the priests and fulfilling the ritual. Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan earlier. Here, we see how this Samaritan man becomes a model of faith, gratitude, and loyalty to the Lord.
In fact, Jesus asks the question, “Where are the nine? That implies the fact that the Lord expected their presence. The Lord does not need our thanksgiving because it doesn’t add to his glory, but he needs us. He awaits us. In our faith journey, at times we too might have called on the Lord for various graces, but once we receive them, we abandon him like the lepers and are unwilling to express our gratitude towards him. As we meditate on this passage, let us make a conscious effort to develop the attitude of being grateful to God each and every moment of our life for all the wonders that he has done in our life.