Year C
Season after Pentecost
Proper 23 (28)
What I Am Learning
On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus is approached by ten lepers who cry out for mercy. Lepers were cut off from family and community, forced to live on the margins. Jesus tells them to go show themselves to the priests—the ones who had the authority to declare them clean and restore them to society. As they go, they are healed. Only one, a Samaritan, turns back to thank Jesus, falling at his feet in gratitude.
Within Jewish Tradition
This story unfolds within the Jewish laws of purity, which were designed to protect community health and togetherness. Purity codes are about group cohesion and ingroup/outgoup boundaries. The priests’ role was not just religious but social—they were the gatekeepers of belonging. Jesus does not dismiss the law; he honors it by sending the men to the priests. But the surprising turn is that the one who returns is a Samaritan—someone Jews considered outside the covenant. Jesus honors him as a model of trust and gratitude.
The Challenge Then
The miracle here is not only healing, but restoration to community. Lepers were considered lost, excluded. Jesus demonstrates that God’s mercy reaches across every boundary—of illness, purity, even ethnicity. The Samaritan shows that faith is not just obedience to ritual, but trust that leads to gratitude and relationship.
The Challenge Now
Our world still builds boundaries of who is in and who is out. Christian Nationalism enforces them by claiming divine favor for some and exclusion for others. But progressive Christians can also fall into contempt, congratulating ourselves for tolerance while quietly scorning those we see as backwards. Jesus calls us all to gratitude, humility, and the trust to risk connection across every divide.
Implications for Leaders & Communities
Reintegration into society in Jesus’ day depended on leaders who could declare the unclean clean again. This story critiques communities that guard boundaries more fiercely than they celebrate restoration. Today, it challenges leaders and congregations to ask: are we gatekeepers of exclusion, or stewards of welcome? Communities of faith demonstrate trust in God when they risk inclusion, especially of those considered outsiders.
What I Am Learning is that faith is less about certainty and more about trust. It is trusting that God is at work even when the world is not as it should be. It is risking myself in relationship with those others might avoid. It is choosing gratitude rather than entitlement.
The question I’m sitting with:
Where am I being called to trust God enough to cross a boundary, risk connection, and discover gratitude in the process?
