JESUS, TAKE PITY ON US

XXVIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 17:11-19

In this Sunday’s liturgy, we are presented two cases of leprosy who look for and find healing. In 2 Kings 5, we have the healing of Naaman, a Syrian general who came to the prophet Elisha for help. In the gospel, a group of ten lepers is healed by Jesus.

Sickness, even the most hideous, can affect everybody rich and poor alike. However, Naaman kept his status, despite his sickness. In the past, leprosy was a terrible sickness. Being contagious and incurable, it led to exclusion. The leper was thrown out of the community and had to live as an outcast. It was as if he was already living in hell, being punished by the wrath of God because of sin. The leper was excluded in order to protect the other members of the community. 

In both stories, there is a ray of hope, pointing to the possibility of healing. For Naaman, the hope was rekindled by a servant girl who had been taken prisoner during an incursion into Israel. The slave gave a light of hope to the free and mighty. For the ten lepers, the encounter with Jesus filled them with hope and they cried out: “Jesus! Master! Take pity on us.”

With them, we have learnt to call on the name of Jesus. His name is the most powerful name. It is only through him that we may receive salvation: 

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Act 4:12).

The leprosy of the body is a sign of a more dangerous leprosy, the one of the soul. By our choice, we live like outcasts, far away from the Lord. And we need to meet Jesus and plead with him: “Take pity on us”. The leprosy of sin affect us as a community, and we need salvation as a community. There were ten lepers who came to Jesus. Ten is the minimum required to establish a jewish community and set up a synagogue. Thus, the number ten symbolises the community or the people of God. We are saved in community. We are called to become one body in Christ.

Salvation comes always as a gift. We may prepare ourselves for it and entreat the Lord to take pity on us, but we cannot force it upon God. The healing of Naaman makes it clear that he was made whole by the grace of God. And that grace must be recognised with thanksgiving. Naaman gave thanks and believed that Yahweh is the only God who must be worshipped. In the story of the ten lepers, we discover that only one out of ten came back to give thanks to Jesus. In Bemba (a Zambian language) there is a proverb which speaks about the callousness of those who do not give thanks: Uushitasha, mwana wa ndoshi (the one who doesn’t give thanks is a child of a witch).

The one who recognised God’s favour in his life is the one who has faith, the faith which makes possible salvation. The others were healed of a sickness of the body, but remained contaminated by sin, as outcasts from God’s presence and love.

The two episodes of healing leave us surprised because they stress the healing of foreigners who were even considered as enemies of the people of God. However, being able to accept God’s presence in their lives, they received mercy. 

Let us ask the Lord: Jesus, take pity on us.