City Life Starter

Written by Megan Meier

The Word

“11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, 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 cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’19 And he said to him, ‘Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.’”

-Luke 17:11-19 ESV

Reflection

In 587 B.C., the Assyrians invaded Judah and forced many Jews into slavery, known as the Babylonian exile (2 Kings 24, 2 Chronicles 36:15-23). Those who remained in Judah intermarried with those who practiced idol worship, these were later known as the Samaritans. When the Jews were allowed to return to Judah (Ezra 1), they rejected the Samaritans offer to help rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, calling them half-breeds and religious traitors as they only accepted the Torah and not the Prophets. At the time of today’s passage, the animosity between Jews and Samaritans was so deep, Jews deliberately took the long way when journeying to avoid Samaria. When they were traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem and vice versa, avoiding Samaria added 2-4 more days of walking. Going straight through Samaria would only make the trip three days.

Jesus took His disciples in the middle route, right through Samaria, where interaction with Samaritans was inevitable. Soon, the disciples realized the extreme racial tension was the least of their worries as they had encountered not one, but ten people with leprosy on the outskirts of the village. Today leprosy is called Hansen’s disease and is curable with antibiotics, before antibiotics and science-based medicine, Jews had a great fear of the disease and the accompanying social exclusion. Leprosy was seen as a sin against God (Numbers 12:1-15, 2 Kings 5:19-27, 2 Chronicles 26:16-23) and required the victim to live isolated away from their families, friends, and society in general (Leviticus 13:46). The only good thing about the disease was it had eliminated the previous racial tension between Jews and Samaritans (v. 16).

How did they know about Jesus and what He looked like when they were isolated from society? Did one of them hear about Jesus before he became sick? Did they hear shouting about Jesus coming from those working in the fields and the kids playing around the village? They referred to Jesus as Master or Adonai, one of the Hebrew names for God, one of respect and reverence, it was often used as a substitute for Yahweh (or YHWH) as the Name was deemed too sacred to use, they knew who He was and what He could do.

Jesus doesn’t cure them immediately but tells them to go show themselves to the priests instead of waiting for the priest to come to them. When a person was healed from leprosy, a priest had to examine them to be sure the defiling disease was gone and allow them back into society (Leviticus 13:1-17) but the priest had to go to them (Leviticus 14:3), not they to see the priest. The fact they were going to show themselves to the priests before seeing physical healing indicates they had faith in Jesus and His Words.  

On their way to the town, they miraculously were healed. Nine of them were focused on getting back into society and their own lives. Only one of those voices out of ten was praise to God. Luke mentions the thankful one was a Samaritan. Luke was a Gentile, but he knew of the sociopolitical tension between Jews and Samaritans, and the significance of the only one who went back to thank Jesus was also willing to forgive all the deep hurts and animosity. In verse 17, Jesus isn’t questioning His math, He knows the other nine were healed, He’s asking a rhetorical question. He commends the Samaritan, a “reject” according to Jewish tradition at the time, for his faith and gratitude. The Samaritan is not just physically healed; he is emotionally and spiritually healed and refuses to let the past get in the way of the present.  

Application

Hurt, particularly bigotry, can run very deep. In Galatians 3:28-29, the Apostle Paul says we are all one in Jesus Christ, no matter our race or gender or social status, and are all equal heirs according to His promise.

Prayer

Holy Spirit, please help me do the hard work of healing my hurts, correcting myself before hurting others, and to have the courage to apologize to those whom I have hurt. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.