In our Gospel today (Luke 17:11-19), Jesus asks: ‘Ten [lepers] were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?’ These words can be the first steps toward a meditation on gratitude. But gratefulness isn’t the only path we can take to go deeper into our Gospel.
Last week, we began a journey of reflection on faith. The request of the disciples, ‘Increase our faith,’ set us on this road. The story of the ten lepers is a new stretch of that journey, a slight turn that helps us explore more about how faith moves. But we are still headed in the same direction. The last line of today’s Gospel is a signpost that keeps us oriented: ‘Your faith has saved you.’ Next week, another marker will guide us forward and continue the same journey. Abangan ang susunod na kabanata.
But let’s not rush ahead. How does this Sunday take us further into faith? What is faith?
Aside from Jesus, who is the protagonist in our Gospel today? Sino ang bida? A quick answer is the Samaritan leper who goes back to Jesus and thanks him. But what if the Samaritan isn’t the model we should automatically follow?
There are times in the Gospels when we are told how Jesus says certain lines. There are moments when Jesus is clearly grieved, moved with compassion, or even angered. But today, we are not given any clues about his tone toward the Samaritan. What if, instead of pure praise, Jesus was gently chiding him? And what if the other nine lepers weren’t the neglectful ingrates they are often made out to be?
Let me make a case for this alternative reading.
Jesus told the ten lepers to go and show themselves to the priests. ‘As they were going, they were cleansed.’ But what if their cleansing didn’t happen with a sudden swell of dramatic music and spotlights on their sores? What if it happened silently, almost imperceptibly?
What is faith? Faith is noticing what others do not perceive right away or what they may overlook. This comes from an attentiveness to grace always already at work. That attentiveness is also faith.
Now what if the cleansing wasn’t yet complete when the Samaritan noticed it? What if all he saw were the first signs, the faint glimmers of restoration?
What is faith? Faith is bold hope and trust even while grace is still slowly unfolding and the evidence is far from clear. Before the miracle feels finished, faith is courageously responding because something has already begun.
The Samaritan, realizing this, ‘returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.’ But what if the other nine lepers didn’t return because they hadn’t yet noticed that they were healed or that the healing had begun?
Jesus, looking at the Samaritan, asked, ‘Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?’ What if the subtext was: ‘You noticed your healing while the others were still oblivious to it. Why didn’t you bring this to their attention? Why didn’t you tell them and bring them back with you?’
What is faith? It cannot just be noticing grace, nor hoping, nor trusting. Faith is not complete until you share it with others and help them see what you have seen.
Is your faith only for you? Does it end with you?
Jesus tells the Samaritan, ‘Stand up and go.’ But go where? Maybe ‘go and tell the others’? Jesus continues, ‘Your faith has saved you.’ But maybe we can add: ‘But it should save others as well.’
P.S.: We have a lot of ‘what-ifs’ in our reflection on the Gospel today. And Scripture is open enough to allow this. Here is another ‘what-if’ that is a product of my playful imagination:
What if the Samaritan, challenged by Jesus, tried to run after the other lepers but was not able to find them anymore? The Samaritan then returns to his old life as a merchant of wine and oil, but always with a tinge of regret for what he missed out on doing. One day, on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, he comes across a man beaten up and left half-dead by robbers. The Samaritan, desiring to pay it forward, goes above and beyond in caring for the wounded victim. The Samaritan takes him to an inn, cares for him, and gives the innkeeper two silver coins to help the man recover. The Samaritan then promises to return and repay whatever else the innkeeper spends. Jesus later hears about this and turns it into a parable known as..
What if?
Yes, that is admittedly quite a stretch. But I think it is still in line with what faith is and what faith should help us do.
Your prayer assignment this week:
Look up Jimmy Cliff’s cover of ‘I Can See Clearly Now.’ (Here’s a version that ties it together with Cool Runnings, which itself is a great story of faith:
But change the words from: ‘I can see clearly now the rain is gone… I can make it now the pain is gone…’ to: ‘Though things are not so clear, and the rain’s not gone. I haven’t made it yet, and the pain’s not gone. Still, it’s gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day.’
You may or may not be able to carry a tune, but with your actions, sing that song to someone who needs to hear it this week.