...a time to change...

“11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten lepers 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’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ 19 Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well’” Luke 17:11-19.

Jews were forbidden by Judaic (Mosaic) Laws to go near lepers and so the lepers were compelled to stand far away from healthy people and eventually to live apart from others.  Leviticus 13: 43 - 47 speaks about the most severe laws concerning Lepers: 43 “If leprosy breaks out again in the house of a leper after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it, 44 the priest shall go and make inspection; if the disease has spread in the house, it is a spreading defiling disease in the house; it is unclean. 45 He shall have the house torn down, its stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and taken outside the city to an unclean place. 46 All who enter the house while it was shut up shall be unclean until the evening, 47 and all who sleep in the house shall wash their clothes, and all who eat in the house shall wash their clothes.”

In Numbers 5:1-4 we read how lepers were treated while the Israelites were traveling across the desert for 40 years in pursuit of the Holy Land: “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the Israelites to throw out of the camp everyone who has leprosy and everyone who is unclean through contact with a dead corpse; 3 you shall put out both male and female, putting them outside our camp; they must not defile our camp, where I dwell among them.” 4 So the Israelites did so, throwing all lepers and all who touched a corpse outside the camp; just as the Lord had spoken to Moses, so the Israelites did.

This story challenges us to look at two things: (1.) How we look at and treat others, and (2.) How important it is to live our lives in gratitude to God. How do we treat others?  How do we treat family and friends?  How do we treat LGBTQ+ people?  How do we treat immigrants?  How do we treat people of color?  How do we treat the poor and people of very different religious affiliations than our own?  How do we treat women?  How do we treat people of different political viewpoints and affiliations than our own? How do we treat people who have hurt us?

In what ways do the Scriptures and these 40 days of Lent challenge us, especially the teachings and behaviors of Jesus, to examine and change our behavior towards others?

This story also challenges us, calls us, to be people of gratitude towards Jesus for all that He has given us.  In what ways do we thank God for our life, for his mercy and forgiveness, for His life, death, and resurrection, for His Word, for prayer, for the people He brings into our lives, and for the church?  So often we are ungrateful to God.  As time passes we forget God, and our lazy habits make it easy even to eat a meal without prayer.   Psalm 103: 2 says it best: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. 

Look, Lent and Good Friday and Easter Sunday must make a difference in our lives. Take today’s story to prayer and ask the Lord to help you change how you think about and treat others.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God,

have mercy on me a sinner.