28th Sunday Ordinary C / Judge with persistent woman
  2 Kings 5:14-17/ Ps 98/ 2 Tim 2:8-13/ Lk 17:11-19
  Introduction
 

          When we were still seminarians our priest formators used to remind us never to forget to visit our benefactors and to thank them for their support. They used to warn us, “Without thank you – there will be no more blessings.” I think there is wisdom in it. All my friends who became successful were those who were grateful to their parents and friends. In today’s Gospel Christ cured all the 10 lepers but only one remembered to return to thank the Lord.

  
  Background
 

  1. Leprosy was a skin disease which was so contagious and there was no cure during that time. They were considered unclean and must be avoided by everyone. They should cover their body and if somebody came near to them, they must ring a bell or shout from a distance to warn them.  They were considered “living dead.” They were thrown out from city the together with garbage. It was near dump site, in the boundaries between Samaria and Galilee, where they met Jesus asked for help.

  2. One of them was not only a leper he was a Samaritan leper. Samaritans were often degraded by the Jews because they inter-marry with other pagan race. Because of this, Samaritans do not deal with any Jew. It was unthinkable for a Jew like Jesus come close to the 10 Lepers especially if one of them was a Samaritan. In the same way it was very unlikely for a Samaritans to ask any help from any Jew. But Jesus reached out to all of them without any distinction. And when the Samaritan returned and thanks Jesus, it was not only a sign of gratitude; it was even a deep gesture of humility.

  3. People who were unclean and impure were not allowed to worship in the Temple. Lepers were not only outcasts from the community they were not even allowed to enter the premises of the temple. Like any other Jews they dreamed that someday they maybe allowed again to go back to the community and to worship in the Temple. Jesus knew their inner longings. Jesus ordered them to go, and show themselves the priests. Priests had the authority to declare anyone as clean and thus fit to go back and worship together with community.
  
  Reflection:  
 
  1. Every night before we close our eyes to sleep, let us count our blessings. We have to thank God for all the things we received from his goodness. But we also need to thank Him not only from the good things we received but even for unfortunate moments (sickness, failures, trials etc) that happened in our lives. They could be blessings in disguise. If only we look closely in all those things, we will surely realize that there is a reason for it, and there is always be a blessing accompanied with it. At the end of the day, we will all be convinced that “everything is grace”. And every grace is worth thanking for.

  2. “Those who wear gold don’t appreciate the glitters of silver.” Some rich people seldom see blessings because their lives are filled with it. But poor people tend to appreciate more, even the simplest act of God’s goodness to them. They believe that everything that they have is a gift from God.

    Sometimes we enjoy the gift and we forget the giver. When we pray and received the blessings we are asking for, they became overwhelmed by it and forget to thank the Lord. Many children forget to thank their parents once they got what they wanted. They only remember them when they are gone. Those 9 lepers beg Jesus to heal them, but when they were healed, they enjoy their new skin, and failed to return and thank the giver.

    Those 9 Jews did not go back to thank Jesus, because they feel they were God’s people and they deserved to be healed.  Anyway it was Jesus’ obligation to do it for them. Some children fell into the same fallacy that their parents have the obligation to help them and they owed nothing from them. They failed to see that they owed everything they have from their parents, because without that life (that their parents gave them) they are nothing.

    Sometimes we can not anymore thank the person because he is either away or gone. But we can still express it some other way, to other persons. I remember a Filipino nurse told me, that whenever she is assigned to an older woman, she always remember her grandma who love her so much. She often experience transference, she gives all the love to her patient, the same love she wanted to share to her beloved grandma.  We can thank anyone in many different ways as long as our hearts are filled with gratitude.

  3. The 9 lepers were only cured externally. But the Samaritan was healed deep within. He was persecuted even by his fellow lepers because he was not a pure Jew. He was in pain – deep within – because he might probably thrown out by his own family, by his own children. But when Christ healed him, he found himself valued and loved by someone he considered enemy. His feeling of being accepted was worth more than just being healed externally from any skin disease. He is cured deep within, so he returned to Jesus and thanked him, from the heart.
 
  Conclusion  
 

         We are saved by God through Christ. We are healed not only from the skin. We are healed deep within our souls by the forgiveness of our sins through Christ. We have to thank Him for sending His only begotten Son to die for us, because of his loves for us.