As he continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met [him]. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
Luke 17:11-19 (NABRE)
Jesus is not afraid of our wounds and illnesses. He braves the presence of leprosy and works yet another healing miracle, which saves the ten lepers from lives of exclusion and prejudice.
It is interesting to note here that Jesus tells the ten lepers to show themselves to the priests after healing them. This was to fulfill what is prescribed in Mosaic law and would serve to ritually purify the now-healed lepers. Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, obeys His own rules. Jesus Christ lived as a pious Jew and perfectly observed all that was taught by the law and the prophets, or put another way, practiced what He Himself commanded through the law and the prophets. Here we see a God who is not distant from the iciness of the human experience. He shows us the path to holiness and leads by perfect, divine example through having never committed a single sin throughout His lifetime. In this we observe the great humility of Jesus, which was expressed in resisting the temptations of Satan in the desert and later put on salvific display while He hung bloodied, suffering, and abused on the Holy Cross.
Jesus teaches us that humility is crucial in discipleship. He acts with humility in obeying the Mosaic law. The cleansed leper does so in returning to Jesus to give Him thanks for His merciful healing of such a pitiable condition. There is something about being humble that makes us better followers of Jesus as Catholics. One such act of humility is intellectual in nature and involves obedience to the teachings of Jesus and His Holy Catholic Church. As Jesus was obedient to the commands of the Jewish faith, so must we be obedient to what is instructed to us through the teachings of Holy Scripture and Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church. Jesus wants such humble obedience from us. With it comes the recognition that we have a God who knows better than us and teaches us for our own eternal benefit, which is everlasting union with Him. When we recognize that God loves us and knows what is best for us, then life becomes more bearable and we live in a manner that is conducive to human flourishing, for virtue holds us together and fortifies us.
Listen to God and obey. This is what Jesus did.
Thank you for reading. Peace.
Eat the Scroll 