Jesus makes ten lepers clean Luke 17:13-19
Imaginative Contemplation
Enter into the scene
I was in the crowd with Jesus as he was making his way to Jerusalem. Once again, he was travelling close to Samaria, not the most pleasant place for Jews at that time. I am always a bit on edge when we are near alien places, as people can be quite nasty to us Jews. I could usually sense trouble and was used to escaping into the crowds.
Jesus was walking quite quickly, laughing and joking with some children as he went. I became aware of a noise, some shouting. Fear gripped me and I stood still to listen more intently. Jesus had stopped, too, listening to the voices. I could hear them shouting his name. What was this all about? Someone whispered to him. ‘Look, there they are! A bunch of lepers!’ I gasped in fear. Leprosy is such a contagious disease. Surely Jesus is not going to encourage them to come closer? Listening again, I heard them cry ‘Jesus! Master! Have pity on us.’
Jesus stopped. Surely he is not going down to meet them? To my utter relief, Jesus shouted out to them, ‘Go and let the priests examine you.’ The little group of ten men stopped, turned around and I could hear them urging each other to hurry back to the priests, who were trained to diagnose illnesses and to issue bills of good health.
How relieved I was that they had not come any closer to us.
Afterwards we learned that as the men had returned to the city, they became aware that they had been healed. The priests confirmed their cure.
A few hours later, a man ran up to Jesus, full of emotion and gasped, ’Oh, thank you, thank you! I had leprosy, and now I am clean! I can go back to my family. Oh, I am so grateful to you, Jesus!’ Jesus was delighted to see the man again, and accepted his thanks with a big smile. Then he said, ‘I thought that there were ten men in all who were cured. Where are the other nine? How is it that the one person who has come back to thank me is a Samaritan?’ Then, turning to the excited man, he said, ‘Yes, you can go home now. Your faith has saved you.’
For further reflection
Discuss with Jesus the following points:
· Am I ready to follow Jesus even when he is with people who are alien to me?
· How do I respond when someone asks for help?
· Am I grateful for the gifts I am given every day?
· Do I use the Examen to thank God for the many blessings of each day?
Prayer
Lord, remind me to be grateful to you for all the gifts of my life. Remind me to thank those people who offer help to me. Amen.