Gospel Meditation

Luke 17:11–19

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.

1.         It is thought that Jesus, with His disciples, were on the Galilean border with Samaria and Jesus, instead of traveling south through Samaria, headed east to cross the Jordan and proceed south along the Jordan River on the way to Jerusalem.

2.         In an un-named village, 10 lepers, standing at a safe distance from Jesus and companions, loudly called out to Jesus to have mercy on them.

3.         Leprosy, very contagious and without a means to treat it, meant a slow miserable and painful dying. Lepers were not allowed to mix with the general population and were forced to live apart, usually in caves and forests.

4.         Jesus, without seemingly coming near them, told them to show themselves to the priests. There was a procedure conducted by the priests to declare a formerly ill person with leprosy to be able to enter back into his or her community. We find these arrangements in Leviticus 14.

5.         Though all were healed of their leprosy on their way to find the priests, only one returned to thank Jesus and this was a Samaritan. By the way, it would be quite unusual for a Samaritan to be with Jews.

6.         Jesus told the now cured former leper to rise, go his way, because his faith had made him well.

7.         Our key point is that the leper did what Jesus said to do, and then came back giving thanks to the Healer.