Homilies

28th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY THE STORY OF TEN LEPERS

LEPROSY IS BETTER known today as Hansen’s disease. During the time of Jesus, this disease had been considered as dreadful. In fact, lepers had to be separated from the community. They should be placed in seclusion.  The story of ten lepers can be interesting. Let us look into the moments of the gospel passage.

Firstly, the ten lepers include nine Jews and a Samaritan. We know well that Jews and Samaritans did not get along with each other. Jews had prejudices against the Samaritans for the latter were thought of as pagan, and therefore, unclean. But why, in this situation, they lived together? Now, the place of seclusion is somewhere in the borders of Jerusalem and Samaria. All lepers, Jews and non-Jews, were placed there.  They had been all sent there and they were forced by the situation to peacefully coexist. This simply shows that Jews and Samaritans had the capacity to live together. It is a myth that they could not live together as a community.

In the same way, let us also try to go beyond the limits of our relationship with one another. Sometimes, in an organization, we hear people saying “Sorry, I don’t think I can work with that person. Better find another one.” We simply put limits to the relationship, when in fact we can go beyond because we all have the capacity to do it.

Secondly, Jesus cleanses the lepers, but he has also high respect to the law. When the lepers approached him, his instant reply was, “Go, show yourselves to the priest!” To end the stage of seclusion, the priest would determine whether a leper is now ready to be reintegrated into the society. That was the law! Jesus could have openly done the cleansing, but, he has high respect to the Jewish law. So, he instructed the lepers to go to the priest. However, the compassionate Jesus cleansed the ten lepers while they were on their way to the priest. Jesus was aware of the situation of the lepers. He knew how demeaning it is to be separated from the society. Jesus made them whole.

We, too, should understand the plight of those people who are separated from the community due to illness or other reasons. Whether in the hospital or at home, the sick people deserve our visit. Like Jesus, we show compassion towards them. In that way, we could do something in order to make them whole.

Thirdly, of the ten lepers only one realized that he had been healed by Jesus. It is ironic that the one who made such a realization was the lone Samaritan in the group. He went back to Jesus, fell at the latter’s knees and thanked him. But the rest were nowhere to be found. Jesus praises this pagan, this Samaritan, who showed gratitude to him.

Every culture and country has its own “language of gratitude.” In learning a foreign language, one of the important words being taught to the learner is how to say “thank you” in a local language. We would say that gratitude is universal. However, it does not follow that all people are always grateful. We often see people who are ingratitude. There are members of our family who have this sickness. There are also friends, as well as members of the community who are ungrateful. Often we are hurt when people forget to say a word of thanks for the goodness we have done to them. In contrast, we feel satisfaction when we receive a word of appreciation for the service we gave them. 

The gospel passage is reminder for all of us that we should always acknowledge the goodness that God has done in our life. God is supremely good. God is the giver of good gifts. In response to his goodness, we should render praise and thanksgiving to him. In the celebration of the holy Eucharist, we always hear some people who offer the mass “in thanksgiving for the graces received.” It is my hope that this tradition would continue to serve as a reminder for us to thank God always.

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