Go show yourselves to the priests

13 OCTOBER (Lk 17,11-19)

This miracle is in all similar to that performed by Jesus in Cana of Galilee. The transformation of water into wine is accomplished during the journey.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” (And) Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him (Jn 2,1-11).

Even in this miracle, healing takes place during the journey, while the lepers go to the priest so that he certifies the occurred disease. However, they start as lepers. They do not start as healthy persons. A great faith is necessary to go as lepers to the priest and ask him to attest to their healing, reinserting them into the community.

As he 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 voice, 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.”

It is the same faith that Elisha asks Naaman the Syrian. He is a leper. He will be healed if he washes himself seven times in the Jordan River. Without faith there is no healing.

When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, he sent word to the king: “Why have you torn your garments? Let him come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel.” Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. The prophet sent him the message: “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.” But Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come out and stand there to invoke the LORD his God, and would move his hand over the spot, and thus cure the leprosy. Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?” With this, he turned about in anger and left. But his servants came up and reasoned with him. “My father,” they said, “if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.” So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean (2Kings 5,8-14).

However, the faith of nine of them is imperfect. It is a faith of request through a Mediator. But it is not yet the faith of thanksgiving through the Mediator. Request and thanksgiving must always go up to God through the Mediator. There is no relationship between God and man, if not in the Mediator, Jesus the Lord. He is the universal Mediator: in knowledge, wisdom, word, in the request for grace, thanksgiving, praise, in the blessing, grace and forgiveness, justice and truth. Never might there be true relationship between us and God if not in Him, with Him, through Him. Who is of a right and true faith is the Samaritan that comes back and asks Jesus to thank the Father for the grace obtained by his intercession. This, yes, is a perfect faith.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us with a perfect faith.