Twenty-eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Octoechos Tone 3; The Holy Martyrs Menas, Hermogenes and Eugraphus.
Nativity Fast. The Gospel of the 29th Sunday after Pentecost is prescribed for today this year.
Colossians 1:12-18; Luke 17:12-19.
Read Luke 17:12-19
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
It seems that the Gospels are full of stories of the “wrong” people doing the right things – the Good Samaritan, Mary anointing Jesus’ feet for burial, the Centurion having great faith. By their actions, these people clarify for us what the right things are. We need that because sometimes, thinking ourselves to be the “right” people, we can be wrong.
In today’s gospel, everyone starts out doing all the right things. The ten lepers “stood at a distance”. That was the right thing to do. Leviticus 13:45-46 says, “The leper…shall dwell alone in a habitation outside the camp.” Jesus told the lepers to, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” That is also the right thing to do. Leviticus 14:2 says, “This shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest,” and, going in obedience to Jesus, “as they went, they were cleansed.”
But then the “wrong” person did something not in the Levitical Law that turned out to be even more right than that. He, “turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.” Jesus said the others should have done the same. Why? In Luke 7:19, John the Baptist sends disciples to Jesus with the question, “Are you he who is to come?” To assure John that he is the Messiah, Jesus says, “lepers are cleansed”.
What happened to the other nine lepers? In commending the Samaritan leper, Jesus made clear that there is a big difference between simply being the recipient of blessings flowing from his lordship and personally responding to him in gratitude.
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” – G.K. Chesterton
Bible References