The account of the ten lepers who lived, ostracized from the community in the border region between Samaria and Galilee, is the subject of this account of the lack of gratitude by 9 of them, when only one returned to thank Jesus for curing them (Luke 17:11-19).
What of the priests and what did they stand for when they certified a cure? Did receiving their endorsement and affirmation, and the approval of society for the recently ostracized lepers served as a sufficient response to an Act of God? Not, it would seem, in this Gospel.
Today we witness the modern day equivalent of the Pharisaic priests’ affirmation of a cure, when medical doctors receive the adulation and gratitude for these major and minor miracles, and the act of returning and restoring them to the daily activities of society- and for many, the act of acknowledgement is sufficient thanksgiving.
Yet, like the Pharisaic priests, the modern doctor is but a conduit for the spiritual foundations of healing, the underlying spiritual graces that underpin the physical restoration that occurs daily. Like the Pharisaic priests, the modern practitioner of medicine takes undue credit, adulation, and offerings for being a conduit of healing, for ‘merely doing our duty’ (Luke 17: 7-10).
Luke 17:11-19 As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
Luke 17: 7-10 Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’”
Drawing courtesy of Adrian LWS