A Grateful Heart

Here Jesus is operating on the borders. There is the physical border between Galilee, with its mixed population, and Samaria, with its outcasts and heretics (11). There is also the human border of people afflicted with leprosy—a term used to cover several kinds of skin disease. Most people kept their distance (12), since lepers were feared as unclean and contagious and so were excluded from the community (Lev. 13,14, especially 13:45,46), not least from Temple worship. Diagnosing skin diseases was therefore a serious task undertaken by the priests. That Jesus was prepared to identify with borderline people of many kinds is well-established in the gospels. The lepers appeal to Jesus to have mercy on them by healing them. Desperate appeals for mercy are always hard to refuse and Jesus responds abundantly and with compassion. In obeying Jesus’ command they find themselves healed, a fact that the priest is bound to confirm (14).

In his compassionate act, Jesus was doing more than healing these men from a distressing condition. By cleansing them he was ensuring that once more they could take their place within the fellowship of Israel and even within the worshiping community. Such actions give the healing works of Jesus a significance beyond that of compassionately curing disease—he was restoring relationships with God and with God’s people. He was bringing God’s kingdom. This was at the heart of why he came and is evident in so much of what he did. The irony is that the one man who came back “praising God in a loud voice” and thanking Jesus without inhibition (15,16) could not fully belong to Israel or its worship anyway, because of the prejudices of the time and because he was a “foreigner” (18). Yet he had Jesus’ commendation and his blessing (19)—and this is what matters most.

When the blessings of life are seen as a result of God’s grace, it makes us into gentler, more grateful people. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?