“Walking towards Jerusalem, he passed between Samaria and Galilee. And when he entered a town, ten lepers met him, who stopped in the distance and said aloud: Jesus, the mentor! Have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said to them: Go, show yourself to the priests. And when they walked, they were cleaned. One of them, seeing that he was healed, returned, glorifying God out loud, and fell at his feet, thanks to Him; and he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus said: Have not ten been cleaned? Where are the nine? How could they not glorify God again, in addition to this stranger? And he said to him: Get up, go away; Your faith has saved you. " Luke (17-11: 19):
The gospel tells us about ten lepers, and for some reason it is emphasized that nine of them were Jews (faithful, in our language), and one was a Samaritan (who has no true faith). In general, the Jews did not communicate with the Samaritans, they despised them, but then a common misfortune united them, as happens in life. Together they met the Lord and together they said: Jesus, mentor, have mercy on us!
Jesus does not give a direct answer, as in other cases of healing, he does not ask if they believe and how they believe, but he sends the priests to appear.
Again, everyone goes together and understands that they are cured. A miracle happened. And here is a division: nine Jews go further, and only the Samaritan suddenly returns and praises God. Why did you come back? Why did Christ himself send him to appear before the priests? What happened to him? And what happened to the nine Jewish faithful?
The Jews, even the lepers, considered themselves "correct" people. After hearing from the Lord the order to appear before the priests, they obediently went. Perhaps they are no less than the Samaritan rejoicing in healing.
But, fulfilling what the Lord said, they sincerely decided that they had done everything necessary. Raised in the tradition of the law, they were sure that only its exact fulfillment was sufficient for salvation.
Consequently, in carrying out the works of the law, the good works, the creation of fasts and prayers, you have the right to expect that God, in response to this, can not only save you, He must save you! Nine lepers suffered, suffered illnesses, exile, a hard life, they prayed, maybe they even promised God something for their healing, and now God came and healed them. The law is followed; They are even with God. They don't owe God anything else.
Today's Gospel shows how such an Old Testament calculation is terrible for any believing person: it is impossible to love from these relationships, and without the love of God, without accepting His love, we cannot be saved. Christ came into the world as Love, which is above the law, but it was a merciful love that the Jewish world did not accept. There is no place in it for gratitude, through which love manifests itself.
When calculating relationships, we put ourselves on the same level as the Lord, we believe that we have the right to "negotiate" with Him and we hope to "pay" with "facts". But we are not saved by works, but by the love and grace of God.
Our "good works", good movements in the heart do not happen without His grace, the grace that softens our hearts. But in a computational relationship, it is impossible to accept God's grace, because it is possible to respond to grace only with love.
Gratitude as a manifestation of love is the only thing that we ourselves can give to the Almighty Lord. Faith and gratitude is also the only "job" that can save us, because faith along with gratitude is love.
And it turned out that only the Samaritan understood this. He was not an "enforcer of rules", he did not consider that he had facts and merits, because sometimes illness and suffering can be considered "merits" for God; His suffering, and then the joy of healing, did not take him away from God, as is often the case in life, when God is no longer "necessary," since all is well.
And, therefore, his heart could perceive healing as a gift, as the mercy of God, not to be ashamed, but to rejoice, to run, not to reach the priests, to fall before God with the joy of meeting Him.
And this encounter with God is another important point in the conversation about gratitude. It seems that they had already met when the Samaritan was still a leper.
How the nine Jews met the Lord. They all believed that the Lord would help them. And they all received healing. But only to the Samaritan who returned and thanked him, the Lord said: *** "Your faith has saved you" ***.
Saved from leprosy? But nine others were healed. The Lord speaks of salvation for eternal life, that is, the healing of spiritual leprosy, which disappears like scales, and a man who sees clearly becomes capable of perceiving the upper world.
The miracle of healing, in which the Samaritan participates in his faith and thanksgiving, reveals his spiritual life and, therefore, really meets the Lord, his Savior. And if faith does not give rise to gratitude, is it weak? or wrong, like the faith of nine lepers. Such faith does not lead to God.
