Gospel Reflection - 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time



Luke 17:12-19

This week we have the Gospel of the ten lepers who approached Jesus & were healed, but only one returned to thank Him. Most reflections or homilies on this Gospel revolve around the Samaritan - the foreigner who realized he'd been healed & returned to give thanks to Jesus. I'd like to turn our focus to the other nine lepers.

Standing a distance from Jesus, all ten men did not follow the law which required them to announce themselves as unclean. Instead, they called out to Him & addressed Him as "Master", asking for pity. Somewhere along the line, they'd heard stories of His wonderous deeds & healings. Rather them say they were healed, He told them to present themselves to the priests. This was a ritual that usually took place after a leper was healed. Surely they knew this, yet they set off at once for the priests.

The Samaritan leper realized he'd been healed & returned to thank Jesus. What about the other nine, who were also healed? Let me share two possible scenarios.

In this first one, they do realize they've been healed. Perhaps one man notices the man next to him & points out his leprosy is gone. Each then realizes that they've all been healed & hasten to reach the priests. The sooner they get there, the sooner they can return to their families. Wrapped up in their excitement of being cured, returning to thank Jesus never crosses their minds.

In the second scenario, the nine men don't notice their healing because they're too busy grumbling about not being healed immediately. They've heard all those amazing stories of instant healing by Jesus - demons having been exorcised, raising of the dead (Jarius' daughter, the centurion's son, & the widow's son), healing a hemorrhaging woman, & many more. Their anger & frustration over not being healed right away by this great man blinded them to the healing that actually did take place. They didn't even notice the Samaritan was no longer walking with them.

We, too, can fall into the trap of either scenario. In the first one, we can get so joyfully wrapped up in the resolution of our situation, we forget to take the time to be thankful, even when we've been praying for a long time. And in the second, perhaps we've prayed for something so long that we've lost hope. We may not notice that God has answered our prayer after all - maybe not when & how we expected, but answered nonetheless. 

One way we can remedy both situations is to follow Blessed Solanus Casey, a Capuchin friar from Detroit in the first half of the 20th century. He firmly believed that thanking God ahead of time was a great way to focus our lives & experiences in light of God's Goodness. By thanking God in all situations, we express our trust in His love & care for us. So, even when you're going through a rough patch in life, still thank God. Thank Him for His guidance & the opportunity to grow through the experience, trusting the outcome would be all part of His Divine plan for your life.

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"What if you woke up this morning and had only the things you thanked God for yesterday?" (Max Lucado)

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