” Your Faith Has Saved You” 

 Awhile back, the angels asked me to dedicate Sundays to the Gospels. With love and peace, here is the Gospel of Luke 17:11-19.

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
“Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”
And when he saw them, he said,
“Go show yourselves to the priests.”
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
“Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”
Then he said to him, “Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you.”

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Jesus is headed toward Jerusalem and the destiny that awaits him there, yet he never fails to respond to the needs of others. Often Jesus touches those He heals, but his time he simply orders that the Samaritans show themselves to the priests. The ten follow Jesus’ command and suddenly discover they were healed “as they were going.” 

The ten had demonstrated faith by calling out to Jesus and addressing him as “master.” But when only one returns, it genuinely disappoints Jesus (that the other nine had not returned) and Jesus has an admiration of the (one) foreigner’s faith that had returned. Jesus expected the ten to return because he wasn’t finished with them. Their return would have bolstered the faith of the crowds that followed him. The nine settled for too little, for if they had returned, they too would have received the far greater gift he gives the Samaritan; the promise of Salvation. [see reference below]

Reference: Workbook for Lectors, Gospel Readers and Proclaimers of the Word.