1. PREPARE

Prayer

Use your own words to offer this meditation to God.

Bible reading

Read Luke 17 vv. 11 – 19.

Background information/commentary

The word ‘leper’ is used in the East to cover a variety of diseases, from skin conditions of the psoriasis type, to bone tuberculosis, to true leprosy. (1) True leprosy is a chronic infectious disease now known to be caused by the organism Mycobacterium leprae.  According to the World Health Organization, the first known written reference to leprosy is dated 600 BC.  Throughout history, people with leprosy have often been ostracized both by their communities and their families.  Untreated, leprosy can cause progressive and permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. (2)

Lepers were an all too common sight in Jesus’ day as they were to be for long centuries after.  As an isolation measure which was most rigorously enforced, they were obliged to separate themselves from the rest of the population.  The doors of every home and every place of worship were closed to them, so too were the gates of every town and every village.  It was laid down in the 13th chapter of Leviticus that lepers were to wear torn clothes and let the hair of their head be dishevelled.  Their upper lip was to be covered and they had to cry out, “Unclean, unclean”.

So they were the ultimate outcasts of society, their conversation with the rest of the population confined to uttering that mournful and uncanny cry of “Unclean, unclean” and to begging alms from those who passed by on the other side.

Should the signs of leprosy, or of suspected leprosy, disappear the person had to be examined by priests whose diagnosis was based on the detailed medical observations set out in Leviticus.  If the priests were satisfied that all was well, the person was certified as clean.

2. PICTURE

Living with leprosy

Imagine what it would have been like to be one of the ten people living with leprosy.  Try to put yourself in his or her place.  What would be the worst features of your existence?  Write down your thoughts in a notebook.

You probably included separation from family and friends, the physical effects of the disease, inability to work, stigma and feelings of worthlessness and helplessness.

Healed by Jesus

The 10 lepers are camping together near a village on the borders of Galilee and Samaria (3), a well chosen spot because it is on the pilgrims’ road to Jerusalem, and this is Passover time when they can beg alms from the crowds on their way south to the Temple.

And then this poor, wretched and bedraggled group sense a buzz of great excitement in the nearby village and they see Jesus on the road to the village.  They have probably heard of him and his healing powers and perhaps during their long and dreary days they have longed for him to come their way.  And now that hoped for day has come and they know that it is now or never.  The healer has come and may never come again.  But he is surrounded by a happy, excited crowd and could easily pass by without even seeing them.  So in hasty agreement they all call out together at the top of their voices, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (NRSV, Luke 17:13).

Jesus hears them.  He stands still and looks towards them.  He doesn’t go towards them and he doesn’t keep them in suspense.  He calls back with an immediate answer: “Go and show yourselves to the priests” (NRSV, Luke 17:14).

The normal sequence of events would be for the people to be cured first and only then to go to the priests to be pronounced clean.  But Jesus sends them to be certified as cured when they are still covered with their leprous lesions.  Yet, such is their utter faith in him that, without hesitation they limp and hobble off and as they go they find that their skin is suddenly smooth and clear, and their limbs are whole and supple.

Then one of them – a foreigner, a Samaritan – as the staggering miracle bursts upon him thinks of its Author.  When he sees he is healed he turns back, praising God with a loud voice.  He falls down on his face at the feet of Jesus and thanks him.  And Jesus asks, “Were not ten made clean?  But the other nine, where are they?  Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? (NRSV, Luke 17:17,18).

Reactions to being healed

How would you have reacted? Do you think you would have been one of the nine or would you have turned back as the Samaritan did?  Write down your thoughts in your notebook.

Well, this is very individual, isn’t it – and difficult!  Of course we’d all like to think that we’d react as the Samaritan did.  Yet, it’s easy to imagine the nine rushing off, perhaps flinging sticks and crutches aside, laughing and crying and half hysterical with joy.  They couldn’t wait to get to the priests, to be pronounced clean and be able to return to their families and friends and normal living.

3. PONDER

Take some time to think about this miracle.  What light does it shed on your life, what message does it have for you?  Write down your thoughts in your notebook.

It’s all too easy to take God’s wonderful generosity for granted and fail to thank him as we should.  If you feel you’ve become slack about thanksgiving, you could make sure that your daily prayers include thanksgiving for the good things of life.  This thanksgiving may be at the end of each day and in the form of arrow prayers – quick darts of thanksgiving, expressed simply in your own words when you experience a particular gift from God e.g. the kindness of another human being, the scent of a flower or the song of a bird.

4. PRAY

The Prayer of General Thanksgiving in the Book of Common Prayer is very helpful because it reminds us of the big picture.  Below is a version which is slightly amended for readers who prefer and are used to more modern English.  The original version in the Book of Common Prayer can be accessed at the start of the Thanksgiving section in this document.   You may like to say the prayer now.

Almighty God, source of all good gifts, we your unworthy servants offer you most humble and hearty thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and to all people.  We thank you for creating us, for our continued existence and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.  And we ask you to give us a proper awareness of all your gifts, that our hearts may be genuinely thankful, and that we praise you not only with our lips but in our lives; by dedicating ourselves to your service, and by walking with you in holiness and goodness to the end of our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory, now and in all eternity.  Amen.

Adapted from the Prayer of Thanksgiving in the Book of Common Prayer

This prayer reminds us that we are creatures of two worlds, held in harmony. The prayer begins with this world – our creation, continued existence and all the blessings of this life.  It ends with the next – with the hope of glory.

And in between the two there is, as it were, the bridge, by which we are brought from the one to the other, namely, “God’s immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by Our Lord Jesus Christ”, and “the means of grace”, that is, the Sacraments of the Church.

When one recognises the fact that one is a creature of two worlds, the one natural, the other supernatural, the world of human beings and the world of God, then one leads one’s life on both these levels.  The day by day action on the stage of this earthly life is lived out against the background of God, which is the background of the Universe.

It’s no accident, therefore, that the combination and interaction of the natural and the supernatural, the time-bound or time-limited and the timeless, the immediate and the eternal, lies at the very heart of the Eucharist, that unique and central act of thanksgiving which Our Lord himself has given us.  Indeed the word ‘Eucharist’ means ‘thanksgiving’.

In Bethlehem, Jesus became a human being, coming down to our level in order to lift us up to his.  So in the Eucharist he comes into our midst and brings us and presents us with himself to the Father in Heaven.

And as in Bethlehem he became partaker of our humanity in order that we might actually become partakers in his divinity, so in Communion, hidden under the outward forms of bread and wine, he gives to us his very self – God made man, in his now Risen and Glorified Body and Blood.

Thus as we take our part in the Eucharist and, in thanksgiving for our redemption, offer our Redeemer himself as the one eternal Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, so then are we caught up in him and transformed from the imprisoning confines of this natural world to that supernatural world of God, the centre of all life and all reality.

5. PROMISE

Looking ahead

Think about what action you could now take in the light of your reading and reflection.  Decide what to do and write it down in your notebook as a promise to God.

What you’ve put is very personal to you.  The important thing is that we offer our thanks to God “not only with our lips, but in our lives”.  You may wish to end by asking God to help you keep your promise.

References

1. Daniel-Rops, H. (1955) Jesus in his time,  London: Eyre and Spottiswoode Publishers Ltd.

2. World Health Organization (2010) Leprosy: the disease.   Available from:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs101/en/index.html  (Accessed 17 September 2010) (Internet).

3. Goodier, A. (1930) The public life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Volume two, London and Dublin: Burns Oates.