Today's Lectionary TextLuke 17:11-19On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men with skin diseases approached him. Keeping their distance from him, they raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, show us mercy!” When Jesus saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” As they left, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw that he had been healed, returned and praised God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus replied, “Weren’t ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? No one returned to praise God except this foreigner?” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up and go. Your faith has healed you.”  Today's Devotional
My imagination pictures this passage like this: These ten are running full speed ahead towards Jesus. I don’t even think they slowed down, just kept running and yelling at the same time, “show us mercy (heal us).” Picture Jesus stopping, turning towards the ten, and telling them go show yourselves to the priests (v.14). Imagine the ten continuing to run, not slowing down, just passing Jesus like the dust in the wind.
There’s the one – the lonely figure. Maybe the dust got into his eyes and he had to slow down, at which point he noticed he was healed. In any account, he came back to Jesus, fell on his face at the feet of Jesus and thanked Him for healing. Get up and go. Your faith has healed you. (v.19b) We may or may not be faced with a physical illness in which healing is needed. Our “disease” may be in the form of addiction, depression, loss of income – just name whatever your situation is. Have we gotten so busy with life, that as we run by Jesus, we just yell out what we want or need? Lord, help us to be more grateful and attentive! The challenge question for today is: are you like the one who turned and came back? Are you like the nine who kept running and not even stopping to thank Jesus for healing? Prayer for ReflectionHealing God, we need Your touch and grace, yet at times we admit we just don’t want to slow down long enough to receive it. Remind us to stop. Remind us to be open to You and receiving of Your touch on our lives. Amen.
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