Recognizing Jesus – Luke 17:11-19

A text – Luke 17:11-19

¹¹ On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he entered a village, ten men with a skin disease approached him. Keeping their distance, ¹³ they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴ When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. ¹⁶ He prostrated himself at Jesus’s feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? So where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

A reflection:

It seems that every single time Jesus can look kindly on those ignored or despised by the religiously careful in Israel, Jesus does it. He begins his ministry as the Son of God in Samaria and Syria, not Israel (except for the wedding at Cana, which was his mother Mary’s idea). He tells the Samaritan woman at the well who he is and she turns her whole town into believers. He tells a parable about a victim of assault and robbery on a main road in Israel where the good guy, the generous helper, is a Samaritan.

In this story, traveling between Galilee and Samaria, in a boundary region, he meets ten lepers on the road, banned from healthy human society, lonely outcasts. They call him by name and by respectful title, ask for mercy, and are healed from their disease as they walk away from Jesus. One of them sees that he is no longer a leper. He sees, he praises God loudly, and then he goes back and prostrates himself at Jesus’s feet, thanking him. First, Jesus gives him credit for doing this by complaining to the followers around him that the other nine did not do this, and second, Jesus singles him out as a foreigner, a Samaritan. Once again, if Jesus were keeping score, the dreaded Samaritans are doing what ought to be done every time. They are seen by Jesus in a deeper way, they are healed by Jesus, and then they see Jesus in a deeper way, recognizing him as the Son of God, and finally they praise God for sending him. Jesus responds to their praise of God by saying “Your faith has told you this – your faith has saved you.”

Paul and Luther both insist that faith in Jesus is a gift from God – it’s nothing that we can do for ourselves. It is as if there is an encounter between us and the Holy, we notice it, and God says to us, “Yes. That’s it. Notice it. You got it right. I love you and I did that for you. Remain aware that you are my beloved child forevermore!” God wants us to be in this kind of right relationship with Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit and never fall out of it. We humans may recognize a moment, and if we listen right then, we can hear God claiming it in us and causing it to grow. And if we practice noticing what God is up to around us, God will practice saying to us, “You are right. You are mine. We have a right relationship. Your faith is saving you. You are my beloved child.”

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for Jesus’s never-failing attention to the despised and lonely and persecuted. Thank you for encouraging us when we notice your works around us. Help us to pay attention much better than we do. Help us to thank you and listen so that we make it easier to stay in right relationship with you.  Amen.