Gospel Reflection Oct 12 – Kim VanHuffel
Sunday, October 12
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 17: 11-19
Gospel:
As Jesus 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 voices, 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.”
Gospel Reflection:
As I read this passage carefully, I’m struck by the number of lessons it offers to us today. The first is that we need to remember that God is in charge of our salvation and can offer it to whomever he pleases. Similar to the parable of the Good Samaritan, in this passage it is again the Samaritan who is found to be doing the honorable thing. Samaritans were not part of the chosen people of Israel, and were actually considered religiously and racially impure by the Jews of the time for several historical reasons. Yet, Jesus heals this Samaritan along with the nine others, showing no impartiality.
The second lesson offered is that we need to acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and Master and ask him for what we need. He wants to hear from us. Prayer is how we meet Jesus and ask him to help us. The third and fourth lessons are part of our prayers. We need to praise and glorify God for who he is, and then we need to thank him for all of the blessings in our lives. A good acronym to remember the parts of a good prayer is ACTS. The four parts of a really good prayer include Adoration (praise), Contrition (asking for forgiveness), Thanksgiving and Supplication (asking for what we need). Our Samaritan in this passage does all of these things.
However, the most important lesson from this passage is that we need to have faith. Jesus tells the Samaritan that it is his faith that has saved him. We can recite all of the most perfect prayers that include all of the above parts, but without faith, they mean nothing. In Matthew 21:20-22 Jesus tells us that if we have faith and do not waver, but truly believe, we can move mountains.
So let us pray — Lord God, King of the Universe, have mercy on us and forgive us our sins. Thank you for all of the blessings in our lives and please give us this day our daily bread. Amen
Kim VanHuffel
Pastoral Associate