An Exegetical Reflection on the Gospel of the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year, C, Luke 17:11-19, October 13, 2013
WHEN THE TWO commercial jets
that terrorists had hijacked brought down the historic World Trade Center in
New York, leaving in its wake thousands of casualties and tons of debris,
bringing havoc to the American psyche, a number of people went to the nearby St
Patrick’s Cathedral to thank the Lord for having been absent in the vicinity of
the twin-tower when the tragedy struck.
They attended Mass in gratitude to God who saved them from the
disastrous attack. But events of course
are not always as mind-boggling as the assault on the World Trade Center. And what is or has become ordinary does not
normally make a dint. Understandably enough, when one becomes accustomed to an
event, however momentous it may be, it becomes so normal that he misses to see
even its significance, still less perceive the meaning that has yet to be
uncovered in the long run. A sacristan,
for example, may tend to regard the change of the bread and wine into the body
and blood of Christ to be just an ordinary part of the rite, no different from
the making of the sign of the cross at the beginning of the mass. Indeed, sometimes it takes the inquisitive
mind of a little boy, who wishes to have his first communion, to make us realize
the profound significance of the ritual.
At other times, it requires the touch of God’s finger to make us aware
that what is happening is far from ordinary, as in the miracle of the Eucharist
in Lanciano, Italy. And only then are we
conscious that the hand of God is behind what is happening before our very
eyes.
Today’s
Gospel about the healing of the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19) provides us an
example of that experience. At the
outset, it may be noted that leprosy was a general term in the ancient world to
cover a variety of skin anomalies. from rashes, acne, boils to actual Hansen’s
disease (Lev 13). In instances of actual
Hansen’s disease, the afflicted were ostracized from villages, although they
lived near enough on the outskirts to receive alms. Their isolation, which was regulated by Lev
13:45-46 (see also Num 12:15; 2 Kings 7:3-4), was bridged by warning the people
of their approach by shouting “Unclean!
Unclean!” Whether the ten lepers
in the present story had Hansen’s disease or not, the data do not enable us to
determine. At any rate, the episode
seems to be a miracle story, in which the lepers called out for pity and mercy,
and Jesus answered their plea by healing them while they were on the way to the
priests to present themselves for examination (Lev 13:49). One gets the impression that here Luke shows
Jesus as a healer who meets the needs of those who cry for help. He is portrayed as a liberator who frees the
afflicted from the slavery to evil condition and restores them to the community
of Israel.
It seems, however, that—as Luke narrates it—this is not
the main point of the Gospel story. For
one thing, the narrative ends with a pronouncement: “Your faith has been your
salvation” (Luke 17:19). Secondly, the
Samaritan’s faith is praised, obviously in contrast with that of the nine other
lepers, and the gratitude of the former is starkly set over against the
ingratitude of the latter. One is
tempted to say, therefore, that Luke’s point revolves around the act of
salvation that Jesus performed. Let us
uncover what this means. To be sure, the
healing of leprosy was not distinctive of Jesus. There were many miracle workers in the Near
East at that time, and the Greeks called them theios aner, divine
men. Which is why one can assume that
although the nine Jewish lepers showed faith in Jesus, as evidenced by their
shouts for help, yet they must have viewed their restoration to health as no
different from the various healings that miracle workers performed in
Israel. Their mindset was completely
that of an Israelite who lived under the Law of Moses. It was for this reason that they were content
with fulfilling the prescription of the Law, which stipulates that those
cleaned of their leprosy must show themselves to the priests so they could be
restored to the community of Israel (Lev 13:49).
But for Luke, the healing was not ordinary. Although the nine lepers were blind to the
salvific act involved in the healing, it took a Samaritan—a social outcast and
religious heretic in the eyes of the Jews—to recognize that what happened to
all of them was more than a miracle of healing and restoration to the
community. For the Samaritan, the
healing was over and above all a miracle of coming to faith in Jesus, and an
experience of the salvation that comes from him. The nine Jewish lepers were completely blind
to this. In the theology of Luke, Jesus
is the bringer of the messianic salvation; he proclaims the Kingdom of God,
makes it present in the salvific acts he performs, and invites men to experience
the blessings of salvation. But to
experience and participate in the messianic blessings, one must come to faith
in him. That precisely happened to the
Samaritan. It is for this reason that
Jesus said to him, “your faith has been your salvation” (Luke 17:19). In other words, in contrast with the nine
Jewish lepers, the Samaritan was more than healed; he was saved.
Consequently,
in contrast to the comportment of nine Jewish leprous who did not show
gratitude to Jesus because of their blindness, the reaction of the Samaritan to
his experience of the messianic blessings from him, made possible by the eyes
of faith, was one of thanksgiving. He
recognized that Jesus was God’s agent who not only healed but brought or shared
the experience of salvation. Hence, he
came back to thank him, and glorified God through him. In contrast, the nine Jewish lepers did not
recognize this; it was, therefore, understandable that they were content with
simply carrying out the command of Jesus to show themselves to the
priests. For lack of the perception of
faith, they were simply healed, but never saved. They were never converted to Jesus; they
remained under the Law. Hence, they did
not feel the urge to thank him. They
were unlike Naaman, an army commander from the Arameans in the 1st
Reading (1 Kgs 5:14-17) who-- despite his being a pagan and, like the
Samaritan, despised by the Jews—having been cured of his leprosy, recognized
the superior power of the God of Israel at work in the prophet Elisha, and
returned to give thanks, again like the Samaritan. Thus, the story anticipates the gradual
blindness of Israel to God’s work of salvation in Jesus, and the growing
acceptance of it by the Gentiles, whom the Samaritan represents. For Luke, this Samaritan exhibits the basic
element of discipleship: faith in Jesus.
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