4th Monday in Lent, March 28. “As they went”

Prepare to Listen.  Still your inner noises then pray: Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; give me life in your ways.
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 17:11-19
11On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.  12As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him.  Keeping their distance, 13they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’  14When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’  And as they went, they were made clean.  15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.  16He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.  And he was a Samaritan.  17Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean?  But the other nine, where are they? 18Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’  19Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’
 
Prayerfully Wonder
Sometimes Jesus appears unreasonable, as he does with these ten lepers.  In biblical culture the term leprosy covered a variety of stuff, from mildew on clothing to a mysterious skin disease with no known cure.  Because people knew so little about it they reacted to lepers with fear, forcing them to social distance to avoid spreading the disease and making others unclean and incapable of partaking in religious rituals.  Fearing rejection, these ten lepers practiced social distancing, crying out to Jesus for mercy.
 
Barely acknowledging them, Jesus merely said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”  It was enough.  These lepers knew that going to priest meant they were healed.  The priest would confirm it and make them ritually clean.  So, without a word, they obeyed, and “as they went, they were made clean.”  Only the Samaritan aborted the trip to the priests and returned to give thanks.  Jesus accepted his gratitude but complained about the ingratitude of the other nine.  And that, I think, is what makes Jesus seem unreasonable.  The nine Jewish lepers were doing precisely what he told them to do, and Jesus complained about that!  But on the other hand, since Jesus didn’t merely heal, but also made them clean, the trip to the priests was no longer necessary.  Only the Samaritan, a foreigner, got it and was had the freedom to skip the priests and return to give thanks.  Jesus publicly commended his faith and sent him on his way.

Only those who have faith are ready to hear him say, “Go on your way.”  And it’s only on the way that we discover Jesus’ way of mercy and healing.
 
Prayerfully Reflect
What did you see in Jesus in this story?
 
Respond to Jesus
Lord, like the foreigner, help me obey you in faith and experience your mercy and healing as I go.  Amen.

Live obediently, as you go.