Luke 17:11-19 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”
Reflection There is an uncharted strangeness to borderlands. They hide and hold the fractious edge between native and other. When contrasting customs, language and beliefs collide, folks on both sides feel vulnerable and strive for protection by building walls both real and in our hearts. The problem is, no matter how ominous our walls, we still feel vulnerable.
Therein lies the conundrum. For as long as we look through jaundiced eyes and hardened hearts we will be contemptuous of ‘those people,’ the in crowd, the out crowd, brown, black or white, for as long as we hold to us and them distinction we will feel vulnerable because we are fracturing what is meant to be one, whole and holy humanity.
When Jesus arrives at “a (borderland) village, and, keeping the prescribed distance, ten lepers approach him, asking for mercy,” he does not ask for their passports, “Are you a Jew or a Gentile?” He does not try to figure out who has leprosy and who has a minor skin rash. Jesus looks at them (and here I believe “look” means more than seeing the condition of their skin or physical appearance), Jesus really looks at them and sees their humanity. Jesus sees people of God who have been separated from their communities and God. (It is helpful to remember that, unlike today, two thousand years ago people did not have a personal, private relationship with God. God was present with people in community which means, if you are cast out of your community you are separated from God.) Therefore healing means being restored to your place in the community with God.
“God is with and for all people, regardless of which side of the border they live,” because people are not defined by geography, ethnicity, religion or disease. People find their identity in relationship with God therefore, all people are one and all deserve mercy.
Walking in the borderlands, the in between places, Jesus affirms the humanity of outcasts. As a devout Jew Jesus knows the Hebrew scripture and acts precisely as prescribed in the fourth book of the Torah, Leviticus. “ When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a leprous disease on the skin of his body, he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. The priest shall examine the disease on the skin of his body…” (Lev 13.2-3) and determine whether or not the person may be received back in the community, worthy of being in the presence of God.
Following accepted religious practice Jesus sends the ten lepers to the priests who will examine them to determine who is in and who is out. But, something more is going on in this parable. As soon as the ten lepers accept Jesus’ instruction to “Go and show (themselves) to the priests,” they are “made clean,” fit to return to their community. I believe what we are meant to understand here is, as soon as the ten lepers turn toward God and ask for mercy, as soon as they acknowledge their dependence on something more than themselves, they are restored to relationship with their community and God. Nine of the ten lepers run off to the temple to receive the priest’s stamp of approval and return to life as they know it.
Turns out, one of the lepers is a Samaritan. A bit of background. Samaritans are half-Jew and half-Gentile. You have heard of the twelve tribes of Israel? When the northern kingdom of Israel was captured by Assyria in 721BCE the Assyrians dispersed the ten Northern tribes. A fragment of the ten tribes that remained in the Northern kingdom became the Samaritans, people who lived among and intermarried with the Assyrians, producing the Samaritans, half-Jew, half-Gentile.
Two of the twelve tribes of Israel never left the southern kingdom. These were the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. They remained pure Jews and wanted nothing to do with the mixed breed Samaritans. Another case of us and them.
There is no point in the Samaritan leper going to the priests of the Southern kingdom because with or without leprosy no priest will stamp his proverbial documents and he will not be welcomed into the temple community. Overwhelmed with gratitude the healed Samaritan leper turns around “praising God with a loud voice.” He has been transformed by the grace of Jesus’ mercy. There we have it. From the depths of his transformed heart the Samaritan claims his true identity, identity found in relationship with God, in the unity of all humanity, the relationship that transcends all borders, inside and out. This is his healing.
Here is the thing. Nine of the lepers know the rules and know their place. They keep their distance when Jesus arrives, they follow the prescribed order to return to the priests and look forward to leaping back into life as they have known it. But the tenth leper who was an outsider even before contracting the ostracizing skin disease is transformed by the grace of Jesus’ mercy.
On the way to Jerusalem we are confronted by important questions. ”Like the nine lepers, is it sufficient for us to follow the rules, know our place, stick with our tribe, get our passports stamped and continue life as we know it? Or, is it time for us to see the people we treat as lepers, foreigners, strangers, ‘those people,’ through Jesus’ merciful eyes? Is it time for us to stop fracturing the community of God and restore the one, whole and holy body of humanity by seeing with the merciful eyes of Jesus?
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