Believing is Seeing

 

 Ten lepers approached Jesus. They kept their distance. That was the rule for lepers. They were unclean, and therefore considered separated from God and society. In our gospel (Luke 17:11-19), the lepers were all cleansed by Jesus. However, only one of the lepers returns and in thanksgiving and prostrates himself at Jesus' feet. Andre Prior writes that ten is a number of completeness and true completeness or wholeness comes from recognizing God's presence in Jesus. The Samaritan returned and praised God, but also recognized God’s working through Jesus, as the reason for Jesus declaring the man’s “wholeness.”  Why is it that we can talk about Jesus' ministry and lose sight of the fact that he is the earthly, human manifestation of God? I suppose it's because Jesus did such a good job in the manifestation his humanity. The Samaritan saw through the act of cleansing and healing and recognized the Almighty at work. 

In a very real sense, true worship comes about when we recognize the active presence of God in our midst. In keeping with Jesus’ “radical” penchant for keeping us off balance and not following expected patterns, this story is deliberately subversive. Lepers were not very respectable, and Samaritans were despised by many if not all Jews of the day. Lepers were unclean, feared and anyone having anything to do with them would be considered as cut off from God in Jewish law. 

We see a continuum in Luke’s theme as this story is reminiscent of past gospels and our recent discussions of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son (in Luke 15)? In a sense, the Samaritan leper is like the lost sheep and is incomplete and lost without the other ten. And in some way the Samaritan leper in Jesus’ time may be considered a metaphor for Muslims of our time. Not all Muslims are radical.  

Worship is not simply about hearing God's story or even praising God in response; rather, hearing and discussing the story helps us see God at work in our lives and the world. This is the key to the Christian life as we are called simply to see...and to help others do the same. 

At the outset of this story, ten men live in a "no-man's" land of exile... socially, religiously, and physically unclean. By the end of the story, all ten are made well. But one has seen God through Jesus, recognized his blessing and rejoiced in it. And because he sees with his heart what has happened, the leper is not just healed, but is made whole, restored, drawn back into relationship with God and humanity. What is true stewardship, worship, and Christian living? It is the tenth leper turning back in recognition, thanksgiving and praise who has been made whole. For now as then, seeing makes all the difference. In the Samaritan leper's case believing is seeing the presence of God in Jesus. How does that work for us?

Adapted from Andrew Prior and David Lose, The Text This Week, Luke 17:11-19, 2013