Q. The ten lepers (17:11–19)
Q. The ten lepers (17:11–19)
The impossibility of our having a claim on God leads naturally into the story of a man who had gratitude for what God did for him.
11. It is not easy to see why Jesus should have been passing along between Samaria and Galilee at this stage of the narrative (see on 9:51). The words describe a journey in the border area between the two provinces. AV has ‘through the midst of Samaria and Galilee’, but this order points to a journey in a northerly direction, whereas Jesus appears to be going the other way. The problem is posed by the fact that he seems to have reached Perea before this time. It may be that Luke is not placing everything in chronological sequence and that the story is that of an incident that took place earlier. Alternatively after a journey through Perea Jesus went back to this area again. Arndt points out that Jesus went to a town called Ephraim after the raising of Lazarus (John 11:54), this being about twenty miles north of Jerusalem. He suggests that when the Passover approached Jesus continued in a northerly direction to join the Galilean pilgrims going up to Jerusalem and that this is where and when our incident is to be located. This is supported by the fact that on his last trip to Jerusalem Jesus went by way of Perea (Matt. 19:1; Mark 10:1), which would be the natural continuation of the journey Luke describes here. The suggestion cannot be proved, but there is nothing improbable about it.
12–13. Luke does not tell us where this miracle took place, other than that it was at the entrance to a village. Lepers were compelled by law to keep their distance (see on 5:12) and these did. But they came as near as they dared and shouted an appeal for help. They did not ask specifically for healing, but simply for mercy. However, in the circumstances, there could be little doubt as to what they hoped mercy would bring about.
14. Apparently Jesus did not see them at first, but when he did he responded. He did not come to them or touch them. He did not even say, ‘You are cured!’ He told them, leprous as they were, to go and show themselves to the priests, the normal procedure when a leper was cured. The priest acted as a kind of health inspector to certify that the cure had in fact taken place (Lev. 14:2ff.). Jesus was putting their faith to the test by asking these men to act as though they had been cured. And as they obeyed so it happened: as they went they were cleansed (Fitzmyer has ‘they happened to be made clean’ but this is misleading; there was purpose not chance in what Jesus did).
15–16. The cure immediately awoke a chord of gratitude in one of the ten. He did not wait to be certified fit to rejoin the community, but returned to Jesus when he saw that he was cured. His praising of God shows that he saw the hand of God in the cure and that he was ready to let everybody know about it. When he came to Jesus he acted with humility, prostrating himself as he thanked the Master. Luke now adds the information that he was a Samaritan. Normally Jews and Samaritans had little to do with one another and it is a mark of the horror of leprosy that those suffering from this disease had lived together, ignoring distinctions they would otherwise have seen as compelling. It might have been expected that this Samaritan would have been the last to give thanks to a Jewish healer, but he was the first, and evidently the only one. If people do not give thanks quickly, they usually do not do so at all.
17–18. In a series of questions Jesus expresses disappointment in the nine. All were cleansed and had an equal motive for gratitude. It might have been expected that all would give praise to God. But apparently the nine were so absorbed in their new happiness that they could not spare a thought for its source. The one exception was this foreigner, a man who did not even belong to the chosen people. His behaviour shows up that of the healed Jews.
19. Jesus encouraged the man who came back; he told him to get up and go on his way and he assured him that his faith had made him well. Presumably the other nine had faith also, for this was the common (though not invariable) prerequisite of Jesus’ miracles. But certainly this Samaritan had faith and he had gratitude. It is possible that we should take the verb to mean more than cure: it is literally ‘has saved you’. It may be that Jesus recognized in this man the faith that issues in salvation and so he sent him off with the assurance that it was well with his soul as it was with his body. Full restoration means a saved soul as well as a sound body.