Cleansing And Gratitude — Once, as Jesus was passing through Samaria on His way to Jerusalem, 10 lepers met Him.
They stood far off and cried “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Jesus saw them and said: “Go show yourselves to the priests.”
So in this case, He did not touch them. Instead, He tested their faith to see whether they would obey and go to the priests to get a certificate of healing even before they had been healed.
They obeyed and were healed.
And one of them returned and with a loud voice glorified God and fell at His feet giving Him thanks. He was a Samaritan. And Jesus said: “Were there not 10 cleaned? Where are the nine? Were there not any found to give glory to God except this foreigner?”
And Jesus said to him: “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
The Samaritans accepted Christ as the Messiah and became Christians, while the Jews rejected Him.
The Fathers of the Church see a lesson in this for us. The 10 lepers signify mankind. We are all leprous, but only one in 10 give thanks to God for the salvation He has brought to us. In the same way, only some of the seed sown by God — in the Parable of the Sower — brings forth good fruit.
We can all be cleansed by Him, but if we do not return to Him in gratitude and to glorify Him, we cannot be saved.
Cleansing And Gratitude