Healing Luke's Lepers

Homily for Wednesday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

The purity laws in place at the time of Jesus meant that lepers were required to stay outside the city and to warn others of their presence when being approached. They were outcasts in their own community, living on the fringes, dependent upon the generosity of others and yet always isolated and considered contagious. Only St. Luke's Gospel tells us there were ten lepers, one of whom was a Samaritan. The disease has even broken down the wall between Jew and Samaritan. The nine Jewish lepers need a tenth man to form a minyan.. 

This scene from St. Luke’s Gospel is powerful, full of compassion and, ultimately, deep gratitude. Other than the disease that they carried with them, we are not told why they approached Jesus for healing. Had they heard about him and the wonders that he had worked? Did they see him as their last hope, willing to take the initiative in approaching Jesus? Whatever motivated their courageous approach, they clearly sought not just physical healing but also restoration to community and the ordinary joys of life.

What, then, does their request teach us? Their words are simple and very heartfelt: “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” They stand before us as a model of true and candid prayer. It demonstrates a recognition that they have no one else to rely on, and so they turn to the one who has proven himself to be able to answer their need.

However, we tend to remember only their response to being healed. Much is often made of the ingratitude of the nine Jewish lepers and the attitude of the Samaritan leper. In all honesty, while gratitude is certainly called for in the light of what Jesus has done for them, they really had no choice but to go to the temple and ask the priests to declare that they were clean. Having been separated from all community and family life, the Jewish lepers chose what was required of them. Obviously, the Samaritan leper was not yoked with these requirements. As a matter of fact, had he dared to approach the temple priests, he might have been struck down and killed for perceived insolence in entering the courtyard for Jewish men.

At the same time, we must admit that the gratitude of the one leper reminds us that gratitude is an essential part of the life of faith – gratitude for all that God has given us, for all that God has done for us, and for the hope and joy that we have been given through our faith in Jesus.

One cannot live in this community without hearing the words, “thank you,” or “God bless you,” being uttered over and over all day. We are indeed blessed by those who serve us. Their number is legion. Each and every one of the people who generously give of their time and talents is a blessing from God for which all of us are grateful.