The Lepers
Preaching
Preaching the Miracles
Series II, Cycle C
1. Text
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.11 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance,12 they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"13 When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean.14 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.15 He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.16 Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?17 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"18 Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."19
2. What's Happening?
First Point Of Action
As Jesus enters a village in the region between Samaria and Galilee on his way to Jerusalem, ten persons with leprosy approach him.
Second Point Of Action
From a distance, they call out to Jesus to have mercy on them.
Third Point Of Action
When Jesus sees them he tells them to go and show themselves to the priests.
Fourth Point Of Action
As they go, they are made clean.
Fifth Point Of Action
One, a Samaritan, seeing that he is healed, turns back, and praises God with a loud voice. He prostrates himself at Jesus' feet and thanks him.
Sixth Point Of Action
Jesus asks about the other nine, commenting that only "this foreigner" has returned in gratitude.
Seventh Point Of Action
Jesus tells the Samaritan to rise and go on his way. His faith has made him well.
3. Connecting Points -- Conversations
Interviewing The Leprous Man From Samaria
Asker: In trying to comprehend how life must have been for you who were afflicted with leprosy, I want to introduce to you Christopher Nolan. (I use his words, as only Nolan can express himself.) Nolan calls himself Joseph in the autobiography he wrote by beaming words onto a computer. A disease also "ate up" Joseph's body.1 His disease "gobbled his gumption." Bound to a wheelchair and without the ability to move or speak with voice, Joseph lives "in an alien, silent, lockjawed world."
Person Healed Of Leprosy: An alien, silent, lockjawed world -- what a description. I know your friend Joseph depicts his own prison, but those words fit the situation of anyone who looks different or is repulsive to others. Other people take one look at my eaten, deteriorated body and squirm away as if I were an alien. My disease has brought on a two-sided silence. Oddly, as one with leprosy, tradition requires me to cry out, to announce myself so others can avoid contact with me. Sometimes the silence becomes noisy -- the silence of sterilizing cries, the silence of empty words, the silence of avoiding other people.
And lockjawed. Do people's brains become lockjawed? Others catalog us by that which makes us minor. They assume we are as destitute of spirit and intellect as we are of body. Your Christopher Nolan prospers in both soul and mind. He is deeply alive in there inside his dungeon body.
Asker: That he is. When the youth decided to mainstream at a private school, he discovered much about himself. He also learned about the compassion of others. Thinking about what might happen to him when he left his home, he asked, "God, would you be afraid if you were me?" As he writes, Nolan watches Joseph "nibbling his way into the hearts of his friends." What he finds is that minimally Joseph had "asked for kindness and was given basketfuls of love instead."
Person Healed Of Leprosy: Mercy is a strange thing, is it not? Could it be that we are just waiting to connect -- God with us and we with others?
Asker: The boys quickly learn that Joseph's code for "yes" is moving his eyes to the ceiling. They say, "Lift up your head so we see what you are saying." Joseph wins the respect of his classmates when he renders unique justice to a wheelchair bully. As Nolan follows his peers' sometimes clumsy and sometimes priceless attempts to assist him at school, he makes this observation: "Joseph now nominated God in a new light. Man is God-hesitant and God is man hesitantly trying to help."
Person Healed Of Leprosy: I, too, was God-hesitant. Of course, the ten of us asked Jesus for mercy, but we were hesitant in expectation. Healing can come in the moment of a second. We ten were so wrapped up with ourselves that we failed to see the miracle. We heard only the usual words sending us on to the priest for cleansing.
Have you ever noticed how you can miss a change in yourself until someone else points it out to you? We miss miracles that way. I was so used to limping from the constrictions of my damaged body that I continued to falter after the master healed me. Had I not happened to look down at my hands, who knows how long all ten of us would have gone grouching along the path.
Asker: So your keeping a distance while calling to Jesus spoke not only of fear of contaminating him but also hinted that you were God-hesitant?
Person Healed Of Leprosy: I knew who Jesus was. When I was God-hesitant, I shied from recognizing -- maybe trusting is the better word -- the presence of God for me. I am a Samaritan. Since I have become God-confident, I see signs of God everywhere. I watch for God now. I notice. I invite you. As Nolan observed, God is man hesitantly trying to help. We should not look at the blundering. We should focus on the attempt.
Asker: Is that what compassion is? Allowing the God-present-within-us to speak to the God-hesitant in another person?
Person Healed Of Leprosy: Maybe so, maybe so.
Asker: Then, Jesus, the human being in whom God became present to us, still lives in my day. God is present as any person trying to help -- hesitantly or not. It is our trying to connect with another person at a vital level that matters. This is the love and compassion of God that Jesus made real among us.
Person Healed Of Leprosy: Careful now, you are starting to wax theological. More simply put, those of us with bodies that are calamities must be careful about our need to receive comfort. We seem either to slip easily into an unproductive trap of self-pity or to push away others' attempts to reach us lest their efforts gush pseudo-pity. Nevertheless, those who suffer live in constantly troublesome situations. We still need to be comforted (and to gulp pride long enough to allow ourselves to receive comfort). This is why we feel so moved when another person recognizes this impoverishment and tenderly comforts us without a hint of pity.
Whenever another person, however awkwardly or hesitantly, tries to help -- whether it is Jesus working a miracle or God/Jesus being with us through another person -- there God is also. Does that make sense?
Asker: It clarifies some words Nolan speaks through Joseph. He says Joseph had only cried once. Joseph was then three years old. He cried "the tears of a sad man." Nolan says that Joseph "folded up his feelings" and that "he woke in the morning crucified to his bed." As he writes, Nolan discovers that "[l]ife was never done consoling and surprising Joseph."
Person Healed Of Leprosy: Now do you understand how I could bring myself to cry out to Jesus, "Master, have mercy on us"? Do you see why I had to turn around, return, and express my gratitude for his tenderness of compassion? God is never done consoling and surprising any of us.
Asker: Then, hope speaks of a presence that stays with us inside the suffering. Whenever possible, hope moves us beyond suffering.2
Interviewing Jesus
Asker: While the ten lepers may have been strangers to you, they recognized you and acknowledged your authority. They called you Jesus. They called you Master. They called for mercy.
You are a soft touch, Jesus, a soft touch for compassion. When you heard the ten lepers call to you for mercy, you healed all ten just like that. Well, not just like that. You appeared to play with them by dismissing them to find the priest.
Jesus: Established priestly rituals do have their place. No matter how the ten were healed, they still needed the confirmation of the priest that they were clean of the disease. While it may appear so, I did not play with them or tease them. These were particularly rushed and serious times for me. My time here was running out.
Asker: As with several of your other miracles, Jesus, again here you deflect praise from yourself. You emphasize the faith of the one healed. You must be saying something about the believer's role in healing.
Jesus: Both these people with leprosy and the other leper (Cycle B, Miracle 3) approached me with their illness. They dared to step over the boundaries established for those with leprosy. They had nothing to lose. They asked directly from their faith. Whenever sufferers take the initiative toward their own wellness, whether from an it-cannot-hurt-to-try attitude or an I-believe-this-will-help stance, they deserve credit.
Sufferers will not always find me traversing the deserted road between Galilee and Samaria. However, they will always have the nearness of a caring God who steps over geographical and political boundaries.
Asker: The manner in which you healed the members of this leper colony was inconspicuous.
Jesus: It was so inconspicuous that at first only I knew the healing had taken place. Consider who these people were and where we were. My feet literally straddled Galilee and Samaria. Jews and Samaritans have always been at odds with each other. We share several common faith beliefs but dispute others. The miracle lay in the strength of a Samaritan leper in conceding to ask a Jew for mercy then expressing gratitude rather than huff. Perhaps such humility offers best from one who lives with a debilitating condition or from the position of foreigner.
Asker: I was surprised when you shot back at the one person who returned in gratitude for his healing, "Were not ten made clean? The other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" That is out of character.
Jesus: You misunderstand my intentions if you suppose that I was looking for gratitude for myself. I would expect the non-Samaritans among them, that is, the Jews, to return with gratitude. Ironically, I did not have the chance to acknowledge to the Jews their faith in calling me master.
Consider who is least likely and who is most likely to turn around and express gratitude to you in your life? I would least envision a Samaritan's thanks. That would have been out of character. Nevertheless, God does not look first to see who the person is who needs healing. This gives us the freedom to come to God with our appeals. We know God will honor with faithfulness the gift of the covenant.
Asker: We human beings are not good at mercy. We like to have strings attached. We hold grudges. We hold on to negative memories. We do not give bad memories enough fresh air to dissipate them.
Jesus: God's acts of kindness are not random or capricious. God's mercy is always a loving act. It shows God's faithfulness to God's promises and the covenant of relationship with us, the chosen. God includes the foreigner in God's broad family. In our Creator's family circle, the help, love, and consideration of another's need that comprise mercy extend to the Samaritan. God's chosen ones extend beyond the Jew to include the Samaritan and all other foreigners.
God's mercy takes many forms. God's mercy provides for us within our wildernesses. It pulls us out of the wilderness. The duty of the Hebrew was first to relative. Next in line was the tribe or community. Only then did it extend to the neighbor and friend, and finally the helpless and destitute who were dependent on the community. God's acts of mercy transcend duty. God's acts of mercy are from love. They are outward proof of God's concern for us. God does not check first to see if you are a foreigner or a belonger. Mercy, the inner feeling of sympathy or love, is nothing until we express it outwardly in helping action.
Asker: Jesus, you seldom say much as you work a miracle. A few of your words go a long way. You said, "Go" ["and show yourselves to the priests"]. That little word, go, holds many possibilities. Did you mean to advance, to proceed, to progress? Such movement would have been impossible for one hampered by Jewish law and the societal practices imposed upon one with leprosy.
Jesus: Go, return to the rest of the world. Go, begin your life anew. Go, start over without the jeers and the fingers pointing. Go, touch and be touched. Go, free of pain inflicted by your neighbor.
Asker: Go, you said. Did you intend for the ten persons with leprosy to move, to travel, to walk, to function, to work? Leprosy constricts mobility. Any of these actions would be difficult for one with leprosy.
Jesus: Go, stay no longer with the feet of your spirit hobbled by open sores, by hands and arms rendered useless, by scabbed, distorted faces, by demeaning attitudes. Go, try out the spring in your step.
Asker: Perhaps you meant the command as a dismissal. Go, leave me. Go to the priest who can help you with the rituals of our faith. That is probably what the ten thought -- until they moved down the road and saw what had happened to them. Did you dismiss them from their disease as a teacher dismisses students from a class?
Jesus: Go now, and depart in peace. Depart from this horrible place in your lives. I dismiss you sufferers from the boundaries of your disease. I dismiss you so you might enter wellness. Go and be well. Yes, I am a soft touch for compassion. With all your sins and shortcomings, I want for you to be whole.
4. Words
For a discussion of leprosy, clean and unclean, and the role of medicine and the priest, see the section on words in the second volume, Cycle B, Miracle 3, "The Leper Healed."
Foreigner
Sojourners would have made Israel their home. Foreigners were temporarily in the country as traders, travelers, or soldiers. Foreigners would have no intention of cutting bonds with their own home. In the New Testament, foreigners referred to non-Jews such as Egyptians, Canaanites, and Samaritans. As the word spread, ideas changed toward including as God's people foreigners who were strangers. See Matthew 25:35 for Jesus' words about "I was a stranger and you fed me...."
Master
Literally, master means "manager" or "chief." Among the Gospel writers, only Luke uses the term to refer to Jesus. It is analogous to "teacher." Master is a title of respect often coupled with lord or king. Teacher is the natural counterpart of disciple. This suggests no official position besides Jesus' status as a group leader and the possible recognition of the authority of his teaching.
Mercy
Repeatedly, Jesus felt compassion for the crowds. His actions of teaching and healing were in response to that compassion. See Matthew 9:36, 14:14, 15:32. Matthew 20:34, Mark 1:41, and Luke 10:33 record that Jesus felt pity. Other writings note that Jesus said he had compassion (see Matthew 9:36, 14:14, and 15:32; Mark 6:34 and 8:2; and Luke 7:13). Matthew 20:34 indicates that Jesus was moved with compassion. Luke 15:20 says that he was filled with compassion.
Samaria
Samaria was in southern or lower Galilee. The territory extended to the south foot of the Nazareth Hills. It spanned about forty miles from north to south and 35 miles from east to west. The territory of Samaria was a region in the hill country of Palestine named after the capital city of Israel. The Jordan River surrounds Samaria on the east. To the west are the coastal plains of the Mediterranean. To the north is the south edge of the Valley of Jezreel. To the south are Jericho and the Valley of Ajalon.
Samaria was an exceptionally fertile part of Palestine. High quality soil and sufficient rainfall made the land productive. Olive trees and fig trees covered its gentle slopes. The bulk of the Israelites lived among its mountains and wide fertile valleys. The southern portion of this region was relatively high. On the east and west sides were dangerous valleys leading down to the Jordan Valley and the coastal plain. This made access dangerous by means of these valleys and isolated the region somewhat from the outside world.
The northern portion of Samaria is a central basin enclosed by a series of hills but still with easy access from the western coastal plain and the eastern Jordan Valley. Many broad passes between the hills eased the movement of trade and brought the area both prosperity and exposure to many different cultures. In the center of the basin are two mountains, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Agriculture is very productive here.
The city of Samaria itself was the capital city of the northern kingdom, Israel. It occupies a hill in the central range of Palestine about 42 miles north of Jerusalem and 25 miles east of the Mediterranean Sea. Fertile valleys and slopes surround it on three sides. The city overlooks the main north-south road connecting Jerusalem with the Plain of Esdraelon and the north. The hill on which Samaria is located was easily defended.
Samaritan
Traditional hostility existed between Jews and Samaritans. The Jewish community regarded the Samaritans as offspring of Assyrian colonists. Writers of The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible3 conclude that the Jews considered the Samaritans to be deep-seated heathens. While Samaritans were one degree nearer than Gentiles, they still were not full-fledged members of the house of Israel. The Samaritans, however, saw themselves in a different light, as repatriated exiles of Israel.
The Samaritans were essentially a religious community governed by a high priest. They celebrated Passover, Pentecost, and Booths but made their pilgrimages to Mount Gerizim. They were rigid observers of the sabbath. Their most holy day was the Day of Atonement. Some of their beliefs paralleled those of Islam. They may have borrowed others from the Muslim faith. For more, see "Samaritans, Affinities With Islam" and "Karaite Affinities" in The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible.4
Five dimensions of Samaritan faith included belief in God; acknowledgment of Moses as the supreme apostle of God and as a unique human being; acceptance of the Torah (Pentateuch) as the only authentic law of God (they recognized no other part of the Bible); recognition of Mount Gerizim as the chosen place of God; and the expectation of a final day of rewards and punishments.
They also believed in the Taheb, that is, one, not a messiah or anointed prince, who will appear on earth to usher in the new circumstances. He would be a guide and monitor. The Samaritans divided their history into two eras, the first when God turned away from them, and the second when God favored them.
5. Gospel Parallels
While another healing of one leper exists in the Synoptic Gospels, this is the sole recording of the healing of ten lepers. Cross-references given below may be of value.5
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee (Luke 17:11).
Jesus' destination was Jerusalem. Knowing he would not return, he wanted to make as many stops as possible along the way. The Lukan cross-reference, 9:51-9:56, emphasizes his "setting his face" determination: "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem." His messengers, sent to prepare for him, reported he was unwelcome at a Samaritan village because he was on his way to Jerusalem. Jesus did not waste his energy being mad. Instead, they went on to another village.
"Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem" (Luke 13:22).
"As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately" (Luke 19:11).
As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" (Luke 17:12-13).
Those with the leprous disease were to live alone outside the villages. They were to cry out a warning to anyone who came near. "The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, 'Unclean, unclean.' He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp" (Leviticus 13:45-46). These lepers may have cried out the necessary, "Unclean, unclean." However, they also called out to Jesus to have mercy on them.
Most of the 24 references to "master" in the Synoptic Gospels refer to the slave/master relationship with the master being the head of the household. Jesus frequently used the term in his storytelling. See Matthew 10:24, 10:25, 13:27, 13:52, 24:45-50, and 25:19-26; Mark 13:35; and Luke 2:29, 12:36-47, 14:21-23, and 16:3-8.
Only in five passages, all from Luke, did his disciples address Jesus as Master, that is, as one they respect as having authority. Compared with 24 Synoptic Gospel references as "Master," the title of choice for Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels was "Teacher" with 39 references. Scribes and Pharisees used the term (Matthew 8:19, Matthew 12:38). His disciples called him teacher (Mark 4:38, Mark 9:38) as did persons from the crowds (Mark 9:17, Luke 9:38).
For the address as Master, see "The Catch of Fish" (Cycle C, Miracle 4): "Simon answered, 'Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets' " (Luke 5:5).
See "Stilling The Storm" (Cycle B, Miracle 6, Mark 4:35ff parallel): "They went to him and woke him up, shouting, 'Master, Master, we are perishing!' And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm" (Luke 8:24).
See "Two Healings: The Daughter Of Jairus and The Hemorrhaging Woman" (Cycle B, Miracle 7, Mark 5:21ff parallel): "Then Jesus asked, 'Who touched me?' When all denied it, Peter said, 'Master, the crowds surround you and press in on you' " (Luke 8:45).
See "The Voice From Heaven" (Cycle C, Miracle 2): "Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, 'Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah' -- not knowing what he said" (Luke 9:33).
John called Jesus, "Master": "John answered, 'Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us' " (Luke 9:49).
Only in the present miracle does someone other than an original disciple address Jesus as Master. The lepers are precise and clear about whom they address. First, they call Jesus by name. Then they say, "Master."
When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean (Luke 17:14).
In all three versions of the Mark 1:40-45 healing of the leper (Cycle C, Miracle 3), Jesus also instructed that leper to "Go, show yourself to the priest" (Matthew 8:4. Mark 1:44, Luke 5:14). However, in those versions, he also told the leprous one to "offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
See Leviticus 14:2-32 for the ritual required for the leprous person at the time of cleansing. In summary, first he shall be brought to the priest (v. 2). Going out of the camp, the priest examines the person (v. 3). If the disease is healed, the priest prepares an elaborate offering ritual of two living clean birds, cedarwood, crimson yarn and hyssop (vv. 4-7). The one to be cleansed engaged in further washings and hair shavings over the course of a week (v. 8). Another ritual, a guilt offering, follows with two male lambs, a ewe, a grain offering, and a log of oil (vv. 10-16). Again, the priest performs a cleansing ritual (vv. 17, 18). The priest makes atonement for the one to be cleansed (vv. 19, 20). Adjustments for the sin and burnt offerings are allowed if the leprous person is poor (vv. 21-32).
Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice (Luke 17:15).
"When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings" (Matthew 9:8).
He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan (Luke 17:16).
"These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: 'Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans' " (Matthew 10:5).
Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" (Luke 17:17-18).
No cross-reference.
Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well" (Luke 17:19).
In all three versions of the healing of the hemorrhaging woman (Cycle C, Miracle 7), Jesus used the formulaic words, "Your faith has made you well" (Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:34, Luke 8:48). To the blind person, Jesus said, "[Y]our faith has saved you" (Luke 18:42).
______________
1. Christopher Nolan, Under The Eye Of The Clock: The Life Story Of Christopher (New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1987).
2. From a meditation by the author in Mary L. Mild, Editor, Health, Healing, And Wholeness (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1997).
3. See Volume 4.
4. See Volume 4.
5. Cross-references are from the self-pronouncing reference RSV edition of The Holy Bible (Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company, 1962). Texts are from the NRSV.
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.11 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance,12 they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"13 When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean.14 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.15 He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.16 Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?17 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"18 Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."19
2. What's Happening?
First Point Of Action
As Jesus enters a village in the region between Samaria and Galilee on his way to Jerusalem, ten persons with leprosy approach him.
Second Point Of Action
From a distance, they call out to Jesus to have mercy on them.
Third Point Of Action
When Jesus sees them he tells them to go and show themselves to the priests.
Fourth Point Of Action
As they go, they are made clean.
Fifth Point Of Action
One, a Samaritan, seeing that he is healed, turns back, and praises God with a loud voice. He prostrates himself at Jesus' feet and thanks him.
Sixth Point Of Action
Jesus asks about the other nine, commenting that only "this foreigner" has returned in gratitude.
Seventh Point Of Action
Jesus tells the Samaritan to rise and go on his way. His faith has made him well.
3. Connecting Points -- Conversations
Interviewing The Leprous Man From Samaria
Asker: In trying to comprehend how life must have been for you who were afflicted with leprosy, I want to introduce to you Christopher Nolan. (I use his words, as only Nolan can express himself.) Nolan calls himself Joseph in the autobiography he wrote by beaming words onto a computer. A disease also "ate up" Joseph's body.1 His disease "gobbled his gumption." Bound to a wheelchair and without the ability to move or speak with voice, Joseph lives "in an alien, silent, lockjawed world."
Person Healed Of Leprosy: An alien, silent, lockjawed world -- what a description. I know your friend Joseph depicts his own prison, but those words fit the situation of anyone who looks different or is repulsive to others. Other people take one look at my eaten, deteriorated body and squirm away as if I were an alien. My disease has brought on a two-sided silence. Oddly, as one with leprosy, tradition requires me to cry out, to announce myself so others can avoid contact with me. Sometimes the silence becomes noisy -- the silence of sterilizing cries, the silence of empty words, the silence of avoiding other people.
And lockjawed. Do people's brains become lockjawed? Others catalog us by that which makes us minor. They assume we are as destitute of spirit and intellect as we are of body. Your Christopher Nolan prospers in both soul and mind. He is deeply alive in there inside his dungeon body.
Asker: That he is. When the youth decided to mainstream at a private school, he discovered much about himself. He also learned about the compassion of others. Thinking about what might happen to him when he left his home, he asked, "God, would you be afraid if you were me?" As he writes, Nolan watches Joseph "nibbling his way into the hearts of his friends." What he finds is that minimally Joseph had "asked for kindness and was given basketfuls of love instead."
Person Healed Of Leprosy: Mercy is a strange thing, is it not? Could it be that we are just waiting to connect -- God with us and we with others?
Asker: The boys quickly learn that Joseph's code for "yes" is moving his eyes to the ceiling. They say, "Lift up your head so we see what you are saying." Joseph wins the respect of his classmates when he renders unique justice to a wheelchair bully. As Nolan follows his peers' sometimes clumsy and sometimes priceless attempts to assist him at school, he makes this observation: "Joseph now nominated God in a new light. Man is God-hesitant and God is man hesitantly trying to help."
Person Healed Of Leprosy: I, too, was God-hesitant. Of course, the ten of us asked Jesus for mercy, but we were hesitant in expectation. Healing can come in the moment of a second. We ten were so wrapped up with ourselves that we failed to see the miracle. We heard only the usual words sending us on to the priest for cleansing.
Have you ever noticed how you can miss a change in yourself until someone else points it out to you? We miss miracles that way. I was so used to limping from the constrictions of my damaged body that I continued to falter after the master healed me. Had I not happened to look down at my hands, who knows how long all ten of us would have gone grouching along the path.
Asker: So your keeping a distance while calling to Jesus spoke not only of fear of contaminating him but also hinted that you were God-hesitant?
Person Healed Of Leprosy: I knew who Jesus was. When I was God-hesitant, I shied from recognizing -- maybe trusting is the better word -- the presence of God for me. I am a Samaritan. Since I have become God-confident, I see signs of God everywhere. I watch for God now. I notice. I invite you. As Nolan observed, God is man hesitantly trying to help. We should not look at the blundering. We should focus on the attempt.
Asker: Is that what compassion is? Allowing the God-present-within-us to speak to the God-hesitant in another person?
Person Healed Of Leprosy: Maybe so, maybe so.
Asker: Then, Jesus, the human being in whom God became present to us, still lives in my day. God is present as any person trying to help -- hesitantly or not. It is our trying to connect with another person at a vital level that matters. This is the love and compassion of God that Jesus made real among us.
Person Healed Of Leprosy: Careful now, you are starting to wax theological. More simply put, those of us with bodies that are calamities must be careful about our need to receive comfort. We seem either to slip easily into an unproductive trap of self-pity or to push away others' attempts to reach us lest their efforts gush pseudo-pity. Nevertheless, those who suffer live in constantly troublesome situations. We still need to be comforted (and to gulp pride long enough to allow ourselves to receive comfort). This is why we feel so moved when another person recognizes this impoverishment and tenderly comforts us without a hint of pity.
Whenever another person, however awkwardly or hesitantly, tries to help -- whether it is Jesus working a miracle or God/Jesus being with us through another person -- there God is also. Does that make sense?
Asker: It clarifies some words Nolan speaks through Joseph. He says Joseph had only cried once. Joseph was then three years old. He cried "the tears of a sad man." Nolan says that Joseph "folded up his feelings" and that "he woke in the morning crucified to his bed." As he writes, Nolan discovers that "[l]ife was never done consoling and surprising Joseph."
Person Healed Of Leprosy: Now do you understand how I could bring myself to cry out to Jesus, "Master, have mercy on us"? Do you see why I had to turn around, return, and express my gratitude for his tenderness of compassion? God is never done consoling and surprising any of us.
Asker: Then, hope speaks of a presence that stays with us inside the suffering. Whenever possible, hope moves us beyond suffering.2
Interviewing Jesus
Asker: While the ten lepers may have been strangers to you, they recognized you and acknowledged your authority. They called you Jesus. They called you Master. They called for mercy.
You are a soft touch, Jesus, a soft touch for compassion. When you heard the ten lepers call to you for mercy, you healed all ten just like that. Well, not just like that. You appeared to play with them by dismissing them to find the priest.
Jesus: Established priestly rituals do have their place. No matter how the ten were healed, they still needed the confirmation of the priest that they were clean of the disease. While it may appear so, I did not play with them or tease them. These were particularly rushed and serious times for me. My time here was running out.
Asker: As with several of your other miracles, Jesus, again here you deflect praise from yourself. You emphasize the faith of the one healed. You must be saying something about the believer's role in healing.
Jesus: Both these people with leprosy and the other leper (Cycle B, Miracle 3) approached me with their illness. They dared to step over the boundaries established for those with leprosy. They had nothing to lose. They asked directly from their faith. Whenever sufferers take the initiative toward their own wellness, whether from an it-cannot-hurt-to-try attitude or an I-believe-this-will-help stance, they deserve credit.
Sufferers will not always find me traversing the deserted road between Galilee and Samaria. However, they will always have the nearness of a caring God who steps over geographical and political boundaries.
Asker: The manner in which you healed the members of this leper colony was inconspicuous.
Jesus: It was so inconspicuous that at first only I knew the healing had taken place. Consider who these people were and where we were. My feet literally straddled Galilee and Samaria. Jews and Samaritans have always been at odds with each other. We share several common faith beliefs but dispute others. The miracle lay in the strength of a Samaritan leper in conceding to ask a Jew for mercy then expressing gratitude rather than huff. Perhaps such humility offers best from one who lives with a debilitating condition or from the position of foreigner.
Asker: I was surprised when you shot back at the one person who returned in gratitude for his healing, "Were not ten made clean? The other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" That is out of character.
Jesus: You misunderstand my intentions if you suppose that I was looking for gratitude for myself. I would expect the non-Samaritans among them, that is, the Jews, to return with gratitude. Ironically, I did not have the chance to acknowledge to the Jews their faith in calling me master.
Consider who is least likely and who is most likely to turn around and express gratitude to you in your life? I would least envision a Samaritan's thanks. That would have been out of character. Nevertheless, God does not look first to see who the person is who needs healing. This gives us the freedom to come to God with our appeals. We know God will honor with faithfulness the gift of the covenant.
Asker: We human beings are not good at mercy. We like to have strings attached. We hold grudges. We hold on to negative memories. We do not give bad memories enough fresh air to dissipate them.
Jesus: God's acts of kindness are not random or capricious. God's mercy is always a loving act. It shows God's faithfulness to God's promises and the covenant of relationship with us, the chosen. God includes the foreigner in God's broad family. In our Creator's family circle, the help, love, and consideration of another's need that comprise mercy extend to the Samaritan. God's chosen ones extend beyond the Jew to include the Samaritan and all other foreigners.
God's mercy takes many forms. God's mercy provides for us within our wildernesses. It pulls us out of the wilderness. The duty of the Hebrew was first to relative. Next in line was the tribe or community. Only then did it extend to the neighbor and friend, and finally the helpless and destitute who were dependent on the community. God's acts of mercy transcend duty. God's acts of mercy are from love. They are outward proof of God's concern for us. God does not check first to see if you are a foreigner or a belonger. Mercy, the inner feeling of sympathy or love, is nothing until we express it outwardly in helping action.
Asker: Jesus, you seldom say much as you work a miracle. A few of your words go a long way. You said, "Go" ["and show yourselves to the priests"]. That little word, go, holds many possibilities. Did you mean to advance, to proceed, to progress? Such movement would have been impossible for one hampered by Jewish law and the societal practices imposed upon one with leprosy.
Jesus: Go, return to the rest of the world. Go, begin your life anew. Go, start over without the jeers and the fingers pointing. Go, touch and be touched. Go, free of pain inflicted by your neighbor.
Asker: Go, you said. Did you intend for the ten persons with leprosy to move, to travel, to walk, to function, to work? Leprosy constricts mobility. Any of these actions would be difficult for one with leprosy.
Jesus: Go, stay no longer with the feet of your spirit hobbled by open sores, by hands and arms rendered useless, by scabbed, distorted faces, by demeaning attitudes. Go, try out the spring in your step.
Asker: Perhaps you meant the command as a dismissal. Go, leave me. Go to the priest who can help you with the rituals of our faith. That is probably what the ten thought -- until they moved down the road and saw what had happened to them. Did you dismiss them from their disease as a teacher dismisses students from a class?
Jesus: Go now, and depart in peace. Depart from this horrible place in your lives. I dismiss you sufferers from the boundaries of your disease. I dismiss you so you might enter wellness. Go and be well. Yes, I am a soft touch for compassion. With all your sins and shortcomings, I want for you to be whole.
4. Words
For a discussion of leprosy, clean and unclean, and the role of medicine and the priest, see the section on words in the second volume, Cycle B, Miracle 3, "The Leper Healed."
Foreigner
Sojourners would have made Israel their home. Foreigners were temporarily in the country as traders, travelers, or soldiers. Foreigners would have no intention of cutting bonds with their own home. In the New Testament, foreigners referred to non-Jews such as Egyptians, Canaanites, and Samaritans. As the word spread, ideas changed toward including as God's people foreigners who were strangers. See Matthew 25:35 for Jesus' words about "I was a stranger and you fed me...."
Master
Literally, master means "manager" or "chief." Among the Gospel writers, only Luke uses the term to refer to Jesus. It is analogous to "teacher." Master is a title of respect often coupled with lord or king. Teacher is the natural counterpart of disciple. This suggests no official position besides Jesus' status as a group leader and the possible recognition of the authority of his teaching.
Mercy
Repeatedly, Jesus felt compassion for the crowds. His actions of teaching and healing were in response to that compassion. See Matthew 9:36, 14:14, 15:32. Matthew 20:34, Mark 1:41, and Luke 10:33 record that Jesus felt pity. Other writings note that Jesus said he had compassion (see Matthew 9:36, 14:14, and 15:32; Mark 6:34 and 8:2; and Luke 7:13). Matthew 20:34 indicates that Jesus was moved with compassion. Luke 15:20 says that he was filled with compassion.
Samaria
Samaria was in southern or lower Galilee. The territory extended to the south foot of the Nazareth Hills. It spanned about forty miles from north to south and 35 miles from east to west. The territory of Samaria was a region in the hill country of Palestine named after the capital city of Israel. The Jordan River surrounds Samaria on the east. To the west are the coastal plains of the Mediterranean. To the north is the south edge of the Valley of Jezreel. To the south are Jericho and the Valley of Ajalon.
Samaria was an exceptionally fertile part of Palestine. High quality soil and sufficient rainfall made the land productive. Olive trees and fig trees covered its gentle slopes. The bulk of the Israelites lived among its mountains and wide fertile valleys. The southern portion of this region was relatively high. On the east and west sides were dangerous valleys leading down to the Jordan Valley and the coastal plain. This made access dangerous by means of these valleys and isolated the region somewhat from the outside world.
The northern portion of Samaria is a central basin enclosed by a series of hills but still with easy access from the western coastal plain and the eastern Jordan Valley. Many broad passes between the hills eased the movement of trade and brought the area both prosperity and exposure to many different cultures. In the center of the basin are two mountains, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Agriculture is very productive here.
The city of Samaria itself was the capital city of the northern kingdom, Israel. It occupies a hill in the central range of Palestine about 42 miles north of Jerusalem and 25 miles east of the Mediterranean Sea. Fertile valleys and slopes surround it on three sides. The city overlooks the main north-south road connecting Jerusalem with the Plain of Esdraelon and the north. The hill on which Samaria is located was easily defended.
Samaritan
Traditional hostility existed between Jews and Samaritans. The Jewish community regarded the Samaritans as offspring of Assyrian colonists. Writers of The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible3 conclude that the Jews considered the Samaritans to be deep-seated heathens. While Samaritans were one degree nearer than Gentiles, they still were not full-fledged members of the house of Israel. The Samaritans, however, saw themselves in a different light, as repatriated exiles of Israel.
The Samaritans were essentially a religious community governed by a high priest. They celebrated Passover, Pentecost, and Booths but made their pilgrimages to Mount Gerizim. They were rigid observers of the sabbath. Their most holy day was the Day of Atonement. Some of their beliefs paralleled those of Islam. They may have borrowed others from the Muslim faith. For more, see "Samaritans, Affinities With Islam" and "Karaite Affinities" in The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible.4
Five dimensions of Samaritan faith included belief in God; acknowledgment of Moses as the supreme apostle of God and as a unique human being; acceptance of the Torah (Pentateuch) as the only authentic law of God (they recognized no other part of the Bible); recognition of Mount Gerizim as the chosen place of God; and the expectation of a final day of rewards and punishments.
They also believed in the Taheb, that is, one, not a messiah or anointed prince, who will appear on earth to usher in the new circumstances. He would be a guide and monitor. The Samaritans divided their history into two eras, the first when God turned away from them, and the second when God favored them.
5. Gospel Parallels
While another healing of one leper exists in the Synoptic Gospels, this is the sole recording of the healing of ten lepers. Cross-references given below may be of value.5
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee (Luke 17:11).
Jesus' destination was Jerusalem. Knowing he would not return, he wanted to make as many stops as possible along the way. The Lukan cross-reference, 9:51-9:56, emphasizes his "setting his face" determination: "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem." His messengers, sent to prepare for him, reported he was unwelcome at a Samaritan village because he was on his way to Jerusalem. Jesus did not waste his energy being mad. Instead, they went on to another village.
"Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem" (Luke 13:22).
"As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately" (Luke 19:11).
As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" (Luke 17:12-13).
Those with the leprous disease were to live alone outside the villages. They were to cry out a warning to anyone who came near. "The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, 'Unclean, unclean.' He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp" (Leviticus 13:45-46). These lepers may have cried out the necessary, "Unclean, unclean." However, they also called out to Jesus to have mercy on them.
Most of the 24 references to "master" in the Synoptic Gospels refer to the slave/master relationship with the master being the head of the household. Jesus frequently used the term in his storytelling. See Matthew 10:24, 10:25, 13:27, 13:52, 24:45-50, and 25:19-26; Mark 13:35; and Luke 2:29, 12:36-47, 14:21-23, and 16:3-8.
Only in five passages, all from Luke, did his disciples address Jesus as Master, that is, as one they respect as having authority. Compared with 24 Synoptic Gospel references as "Master," the title of choice for Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels was "Teacher" with 39 references. Scribes and Pharisees used the term (Matthew 8:19, Matthew 12:38). His disciples called him teacher (Mark 4:38, Mark 9:38) as did persons from the crowds (Mark 9:17, Luke 9:38).
For the address as Master, see "The Catch of Fish" (Cycle C, Miracle 4): "Simon answered, 'Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets' " (Luke 5:5).
See "Stilling The Storm" (Cycle B, Miracle 6, Mark 4:35ff parallel): "They went to him and woke him up, shouting, 'Master, Master, we are perishing!' And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm" (Luke 8:24).
See "Two Healings: The Daughter Of Jairus and The Hemorrhaging Woman" (Cycle B, Miracle 7, Mark 5:21ff parallel): "Then Jesus asked, 'Who touched me?' When all denied it, Peter said, 'Master, the crowds surround you and press in on you' " (Luke 8:45).
See "The Voice From Heaven" (Cycle C, Miracle 2): "Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, 'Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah' -- not knowing what he said" (Luke 9:33).
John called Jesus, "Master": "John answered, 'Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us' " (Luke 9:49).
Only in the present miracle does someone other than an original disciple address Jesus as Master. The lepers are precise and clear about whom they address. First, they call Jesus by name. Then they say, "Master."
When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean (Luke 17:14).
In all three versions of the Mark 1:40-45 healing of the leper (Cycle C, Miracle 3), Jesus also instructed that leper to "Go, show yourself to the priest" (Matthew 8:4. Mark 1:44, Luke 5:14). However, in those versions, he also told the leprous one to "offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
See Leviticus 14:2-32 for the ritual required for the leprous person at the time of cleansing. In summary, first he shall be brought to the priest (v. 2). Going out of the camp, the priest examines the person (v. 3). If the disease is healed, the priest prepares an elaborate offering ritual of two living clean birds, cedarwood, crimson yarn and hyssop (vv. 4-7). The one to be cleansed engaged in further washings and hair shavings over the course of a week (v. 8). Another ritual, a guilt offering, follows with two male lambs, a ewe, a grain offering, and a log of oil (vv. 10-16). Again, the priest performs a cleansing ritual (vv. 17, 18). The priest makes atonement for the one to be cleansed (vv. 19, 20). Adjustments for the sin and burnt offerings are allowed if the leprous person is poor (vv. 21-32).
Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice (Luke 17:15).
"When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings" (Matthew 9:8).
He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan (Luke 17:16).
"These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: 'Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans' " (Matthew 10:5).
Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" (Luke 17:17-18).
No cross-reference.
Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well" (Luke 17:19).
In all three versions of the healing of the hemorrhaging woman (Cycle C, Miracle 7), Jesus used the formulaic words, "Your faith has made you well" (Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:34, Luke 8:48). To the blind person, Jesus said, "[Y]our faith has saved you" (Luke 18:42).
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1. Christopher Nolan, Under The Eye Of The Clock: The Life Story Of Christopher (New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1987).
2. From a meditation by the author in Mary L. Mild, Editor, Health, Healing, And Wholeness (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1997).
3. See Volume 4.
4. See Volume 4.
5. Cross-references are from the self-pronouncing reference RSV edition of The Holy Bible (Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company, 1962). Texts are from the NRSV.
