Daily Reading
First Reading
Titus 3:1-7
Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Psalm
Psalm 23:1b-3a, 3bc-4, 5, 6
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
Gospel Reading
Luke 17:11-19
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”
Reflection
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus heals ten lepers, saying, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” The lepers who begged for a cure were not simply concerned about their medical condition; they were Israelites in exile from the temple—and hence they were a very apt symbol of the general condition of scattered, exiled, wandering Israel. In curing them, Jesus was, symbolically speaking, gathering the tribes and bringing them back to the worship of the true God.
That’s why he tells the lepers, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” In other words, go back to the temple from which you’ve been away for so long. I propose that the lepers here stand not so much for the socially ostracized but for the ones who have wandered away from right worship, the ones who are no longer able or willing to worship the true God.
What is so important about worship? The Protestant theologian Paul Tillich said that the key to understanding a person was to uncover his “ultimate concern,” another way of saying, “what he worships.” What do you worship? If it’s not the living God, you’ve wandered into the land of exile. You have become, in fact, unclean.