As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
He travelled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village,
Ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices,
Saying,
Jesus,
Master,
Have pity on us.
And when he saw them,
He said,
Go show yourselves to the priests.
As they were going,
They were cleansed.
And one of them,
Realizing he had been healed,
Returned,
Glorifying God in a loud voice,
And he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
Ten were cleansed,
Were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?
Then he said to him,
Stand up and go.
Your faith has saved you.
The Gospel of the Lord.
This has to be one of the most well-known healing wonders,
Miracles,
That Jesus performed.
Ten lepers standing away from him,
Asking for healing.
And in this miracle,
Jesus just speaks to them.
He talks to them and says,
Go and show yourselves to the priests.
And on their way back,
Wow,
Beautiful,
Powerful healing.
And oftentimes,
When we read the rest of the tale,
We think about the Samaritan.
We think about this one man who came back to say,
Thank you,
Lord.
According to Jewish culture and tradition,
He,
If he was the only Samaritan in the group,
Would have been the outcast.
Yet he comes back,
And it's interesting that Jesus,
In a later stage or at a different stage,
Talks about the Samaritan helping the stranger.
And this is such a powerful,
Powerful message to all of us that God doesn't give a continental about your race.
God does not care which flag you fly.
God cares about your heart.
God cares about love and compassion.
Just words,
And he healed them.
Imagine the joy that all these people felt.
The idea that they can be reunited with their families.
And I think that that thought made them rush towards the priests.
Now,
There are several things at play here,
Because that was exactly what Jesus said to them to do.
They went away and they showed themselves to the priest or priests.
So now,
Can we maybe say that the Samaritan did not really listen to Jesus?
Because he didn't go to the priest immediately.
He came back to Christ to thank him.
Did he sin?
Maybe,
Maybe not.
But he came back with a heart filled with love.
And Jesus says here,
Stand up and go on your way.
Your faith has saved you.
Beautiful,
Beautiful,
Beautiful story.
But let's think a bit about the other nine.
Jesus was sad or disappointed,
Let's say that.
The other nine,
Where are they?
But here,
Something beautiful still shows.
And this to me is the message that Christ,
That God is not a God of vengeance.
Christ is disappointed in those nine people.
Yes,
We can see that.
But he does not say,
Curse you.
He does not say,
May you get leprosy again.
He does not curse them.
He is just disappointed.
And in that,
In the disappointment of Christ,
Is a massive lesson for us all.
That God will not withhold healing.
God will not withdraw support.
God will not withdraw love.
Just because we disappoint the beautiful,
Beautiful,
Powerful Lord.
God is not a God of vengeance.
God loves.
And we are expected,
I believe,
To share that.
Yes,
There are times that we are going to turn inwards and there are times that we are going to think only of ourselves and sin and choose the lesser good.
You know,
Rush off to the priest so that we can get to our families because we love them.
Is that wrong?
No.
Choosing the lesser good over the greater good.
So we will,
That is human nature,
To make God sad.
To disappoint Christ.
But let's rest in this beautiful assurance that God doesn't hold that against us.
And maybe if we are one of those nine,
We are seen as some of the lost sheep of Christ.
And at some stage He will hook us with His stuff and bring us back into the fold and remind us that it is all about love.
Amen.
