277/365 The 10 Lepers

Thoughts on the story of the one thankful leper/story of the 10 lepers. You know the story: Jesus heals ten lepers. Tells them to go see the priests (go to the Temple) and show themselves to prove their cleanliness. They run off, but one, upon realizing he's been healed, returns to Jesus and thanks him. Jesus asks him, a Samaritan, why only one returned? But, having no answer, Jesus simply tells him his faith has saved him.

It's paired with the almost identical story of a healing of a Syrian named Naaman by Elisha. Naaman begs to give Elisha a sign of his thankfulness--but Elisha says no. He won't grow rich from the work of God. So, thwarted, Naaman instead asks Elisha for two mule-loads of earth so he can take it back home and worship God, the one true God, he realizes now.

Huh. He takes home dirt.

In the ancient world, gods were still tied to place (in fact, it's sometimes still true, with centers of religion in different parts of the world). Naaman felt that if he was to worship God the right way, he would need to do it in that place--and if he can't be in that place, he will take that place home with him. Which I guess is kind of like water from Lourdes or pieces of the "true cross." Pilgrimages. Those sorts of activities and desires to be in a certain place to be closer to God. So Naaman goes home with some of the place that belongs to God, and I don't know anything else about Naaman.

So then in the Gospel, there are some more lepers. Jesus sends them, again, to a specific place to be readmitted into the community. One, however, returns, and gives thanks to God at Jesus' feet. The word in Greek is the same as the word for Eucharist. Thanks reserved only for God. Jesus does not correct him as Elisha did for Naaman. And the Samaritan has come to realize that place doesn't matter: the person of Christ does.