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Leprosy is a horrendous skin condition, a mycobacterial disease. It is caused by a parasite, and in the twenty--first century, more than twelve million people carry the parasite. Leprosy today is known as Hansen's disease, after the man who discovered the parasite. The parasite is transmitted by intimate contact, usually with a household member. The incubation period can be from one to two years to forty years. Its origin is very difficult, if not impossible at times, to determine.
Complications from leprosy are usually due to peripheral nerve involvement resulting from either infection or neuritis. A person with leprosy does not register pain and secondary infections are also common. Eye problems can lead to glaucoma and blindness. Today, treatments such as chemotherapy, physiotherapy, and reconstructive surgery may correct many of the disabilities.

In Jesus' day, chemotherapy, physiotherapy, and reconstructive surgery were not used to treat leprosy. The lepers were simply shunned - banned from society. If a person with leprosy was well enough to go out, he or she had to yell, "Unclean!" so that people could distance themselves from the leper. Their clothes had to be torn so that they could be readily identified. They were outcasts in every sense of the word.

In Jesus' time a cure included boiling or burning clothes. The book of Leviticus gives clear instructions of the cleansing of a leper and certifying his or her recovery of health. Bathing, shaving, and animal sacrifice were part of the "cure." Oil had to be administered once healed, as well as a burnt sin offering brought to the temple. But the most important ingredient was the declaration from a priest.

Leprosy was a dreaded plague then, bringing horror and despair to the sufferer, with little hope for reentry into society. But we read in this passage that Jesus, when approached by a group of lepers, spoke to them. Jesus was greeted with the word "Master." And instead of crying out, "Unclean!" the lepers cry out for mercy. Jesus does not touch them, and he does not give them instructions other than to tell them to go before the priests. In this passage, the lepers go and on their way they realize they are healed - completely healed of this horrendous condition. They are elated! It is truly a miracle.

Did the nine who didn't thank Jesus think that he had nothing to do with their cure? The priests were the only ones who were able to declare the lepers clean. The priests had to examine them and give them permission to be regular members of the society at large. Priests were the only ones who could establish the lepers as well and allow them back into the religious community and community at large.

I bet they didn't even think that Jesus had anything to do with it.

Only one of the ten turns back to Jesus. The man is a Samaritan, someone who is not supposed to be speaking to a Jew. But he turns to Jesus and calls out in a loud voice, praising God. He falls down before Jesus and thanks him. Only the stranger, the foreigner, gives thanks to Jesus for curing him. He recognizes Jesus' power; the man had received not only healing but divine grace.

If we have no faith, then God can't work in our lives. The Samaritan had faith. He allowed God to work in his life. He was cured. And he was thankful.