Unclean!

As he entered a village, ten lepers* approached him. Luke 17. 11 - 19

As I reflect on this story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers, I realize that reading it without a true image of what a leper looks like is too sanitary an approach. I googled images of leprosy and forced myself to look at the physical deformities and pock marks that leprosy causes. Leprosy also causes strong odors as a result of the ulcers caused by the infection. During Biblical times, when lepers approached other people, they were expected to cry out, "Unclean, unclean" to warn of their contagion.

This healing could not have been a pretty picture. Though today leprosy is curable and we know it is not highly contagious, when Jesus was approached by 10 lepers none of that was known. And so if we read this passage using the Christian practice of Lectio Divina, we must use our imagination to enter the scene described here including the sights, the smells, the sounds and the chaos. How would you respond to this text after immersing yourself in the scene? What mystery, what reality do you see or experience in the reading of this text?

If we go further in the passage, we see one leper, a Samaritan at that, come back to say thank you. Reflect on that scene. Is he healed? What does he say? Does he touch Jesus? What would you have said? Jesus inquires of the other nine and says to the one, 'Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’

Finishing up a Lectio Divina contemplation of this passage, how would you respond to this story?

Rest in the story and let God do God's work in you as you do.