Gospel of 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time (LK 17:11-17)

As I stood at Mass last Sunday I was struck by the Gospel, it was the story of the healing of the 10 leapers. The celebrant of the Mass gave a lovely homily about gratitude. Today is the first chance i have had to reflect on the gospel for myself.

In this Gospel we hear of how out of the 10 leapers healed only one returned to thank Jesus. The priest in his homily very rightly pointed out that we are not actually told in the Gospel what happened to the other nine or why they did not return. I have never thought of that but when he said it it was so obvious. I suppose it is up to our own minds to come up with a conclusion of why the others did not come back. in my opinion we are not told why the others did not return to thank Jesus because it does not matter. What matters is that one did return to say thank you. thank Gospel points out that the man was a Samaritan.This is significant because as a Samaritan the man was an 'outsider' yet he saw what Jesus had done and he took the time to thank him. As an outsider he did not fear approaching this Jew who had took the time to heal him. Saying thank you was more important for this man. When the men approached Jesus they kept there distance. For me this implies that they were all Samaritans. I have heard this gospel before and always assumed that of the 10 there was only one Samaritan. It is amazing what you notice when you hear something at a different time or reflect on it from a different place. Jesus does refer to the man who returned to say thank you as an 'alien' so maybe my original thinking was right. the fact of the matter is that we are not told so cannot know for sure. Irrespective of if the others were Samaritans or not the message of this Gospel for me is that one 'outsider' had the courage to return to say thank you. He returned to 'give praise to God'. have courage to say thank you, to step out, even when it seems difficult. Appreciate those around you who do good for you. appreciate the good you do yourself in life. 

The healing of the 10...... in order to do this Jesus did not physically touch them, nor did they touch Him. He simply sent them on their way. It was there faith that healed them. In the Gospels this is a very strong theme, it is often faith that brings healing to those who are unwell. these people truly believed in Jesus. They may not have all known who He really was but they believed in His power. Through faith we too can have healing in our lives, we just got to believe with all our hearts.