Luke 17:11-19
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 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?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."
Brielle and Kyrie Jackson were born in 1995 weighing only 4 pounds. Fearful for their survival, the nurses placed the twins in two incubators. Kyrie was the stronger twin and she began to thrive gaining 2 pounds while Brielle struggled. Brielle’s breathing became shallow and her heart rate dropped. Nothing the doctors did worked for Brielle.
One of the nurses suggested putting the twins together in the same incubator and something miraculous happened. As soon as Kyrie was placed next to her failing sister, she reached out and hugged her. Suddenly, Brielle’s heart rate stabilized and she began to recover. A dying baby was saved by the power of touch.
Touch makes us into persons. Whenever a newborn comes into our families, we want to touch the baby. The baby wants to be touched, needs to be touched. Without touch, a child lacks connection.
At the time of Jesus, lepers lived in segregated communities and were deprived of human touch. Not only were people prohibited from touching lepers, lepers lived apart and whenever they approached a person who was not a leper they had to alert others by crying out, “Unclean! Unclean!” Lepers were required to wear torn clothing and had to dishevel their hair to show to others how contaminated they were. These lepers lived on the margins of society, outside the city, perhaps in the hills and finding a home in the caves that dot the landscape. As lepers they lost their identities.
No longer were they someone’s daughter, someone’s husband, someone’s wife, someone’s friend.
Perhaps they heard people in the towns talking about Jesus and heard of his reputation as a healer. Perhaps they imagined that when their every hope was lost they had nothing to lose by approaching Jesus. They sought something more than healing for their bodies. They craved the restoration of their identities, the rediscovery of their place in a community, the renewal of their relationships. They knew that they were persons through their relationships.
Notice how they keep their distance but make themselves known to Jesus by their shouting at him: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Jesus tells them to go and show themselves to a priest which they obediently do. As they going to the local rectory, they are cured.
Did they look down and see their skin return to its smooth texture?
Did they feel the transformation of their bodies as their souls were touched by the Holy Spirit? However they discovered their cure, do they continue their journey to the priest? They needed a priest to give them permission to return to society. They discover they are cured and one returns to Jesus.
We know that Samaritans were looked down upon by other Jews. Samaritans obeyed the Law of Moses, they prayed to the Lord God, they read the same holy books and offered sacrifice. But they worshiped on a different mountain, not in Jerusalem. They were excluded from the same level of social acceptance as the rest of the Jews in Israel.
Did this Samaritan experience the same level of exclusion even among the lepers? The nine restored lepers knew where to go to get from their priest their certificate of restoration. Did this Samaritan leper not know where to go to get his All Pure Decree? Could he only return to Jesus, the source of his healing?
Notice how, before their cure, the lepers kept their distance from Jesus. But after his cure, the Samaritan leper draws close to Jesus, draws close to Jesus and prostrates himself in worship at the feet of Jesus. In so many ways, we are just like those lepers who first approached Jesus. We hear of Jesus, we regularly worship, we might read the bible and we receive his body and blood. But even with this contact with Jesus, do you keep him at a distance.
If you do not draw near to Jesus, what keeps you from him?
What if you were to discover that you are just like those lepers, desperately in need of Jesus’ healing? Jesus comes to you, heals you, restores you. How do you respond? You go to our healing Christ to rediscover for yourselves that identity you receive from the healing of Christ. Christ’s healing touches your heart, the broken places in your life, the disconnected parts of your soul.
In restoring your relationships, Christ brings you not only into relationship with him but also into relationship with one another. Like the outcast Samaritan leper, the leper who discovered not only a healed body but more importantly a healed heart, you too come to Jesus with a grateful heart.
May all of us set as our primary goal a deeper relationship with Jesus, a recognition of our need for healing and our turning to Christ for that inner change. Perhaps you too can return to Christ with a healed heart, a grateful heart, a generous heart. In returning to Christ you will discover Christ turning to you, healing you and drawing you not as a powerful Lord but as a dear friend. A friend extending his hand in healing. A friend touching us with love. A dear friend leading you from brokenness to wholeness.