Foreigners...!

¹¹ Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance ¹³ and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

¹⁴ When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

¹⁵ One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶ He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

¹⁷ Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:11-19

Who was the Good Samaritan?

Oh, that’s easy! He was the man Jesus told a story about, the one who showed sacrificial kindness and generosity to a victim of an attack who had been left half dead on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. It’s in Luke 10:25-37.

Quite right. It’s a beautiful story; but it has a very sharp point too, because Jesus told it in order to answer an “expert in the law” who challenged him to define the word “neighbour”. In the story two Jewish religious leaders had already seen the man lying in the road – and had chosen to “pass by on the other side”, in effect to ignore him. But this Samaritan came along and did – with interest – what they had failed to do. The expert in the law got the point: in effect, “we Israelites should treat our enemies – yes, even the Samaritans - as neighbours”. But he couldn’t bring himself even to use the word “Samaritan”.

Very good. That’s the story everyone knows.  But wait a minute: in Luke 17:11-19, the passage above, we read of another man who could also be described as a “good Samaritan”, though in a very different way. This time the story is an account of something that actually happened, with Jesus the main actor in the drama.

Leprosy was a terrible affliction. It not only ate away at the flesh, but also cut people off from their communities, for they were forced to live apart to avoid the spread of the disease.

On this occasion Jesus was in territory close to Samaria when a pathetic group of ten men with leprosy, correctly keeping their distance (can you see them?), shouted to him: “Jesus, master, have pity on us!” And that’s exactly what he did: without any ado he told them to “Go and show yourselves to the priests” (only the priests were authorised to declare a leper “clean” from the disease). To obey that command took real faith - but the miracle happened: “as they went, they were cleansed”.

But now comes the point: of the ten men, just one thought to turn to Jesus to give thanks, “praising God in a loud voice” and “throwing himself at Jesus’ feet”; the other nine presumably went straight to the priests and so disappear from the story.

And Jesus is disappointed: “Where are the other nine? Has no-one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”

Ah! A foreigner. I don’t know if Israelites and Samaritans were likely to have a markedly different appearance, but Jesus obviously saw that there was something different about this man, and Luke the writer spells it out for us in plain words.

All right, this is a very different kind of goodness from that of the hero of Jesus’ story in chapter ten. But Jesus was obviously glad to praise this man and to commend his faith, foreigner or not, and Luke was moved by the Spirit to include the story in his Gospel. So there are clearly things for us to learn…

First, and right up to date in our modern world, we must rid ourselves of any hint of racial prejudice or discrimination.

In John 4 we read about Jesus’ conversation with “the woman at the well”. In talking with her he broke at least three taboos. First, the very fact that she was a woman; it would be frowned on for a man and woman to be seen talking together in public. Second, she was a Samaritan and “Jews do not associate with Samaritans” (verse 9). By all accounts that’s putting it mildly, for Jews and Samaritans were long-standing enemies; “hatred” might be a more appropriate term to describe their relations. And third, she was a particular type of woman, for it emerges later that she has had five husbands “and the man you now have is not your husband” (verse 18). In the culture of the time this would be very shocking.

But Jesus obviously didn’t care. He needed water, and she was the only person around who could provide it. He obviously felt no shame or embarrassment in talking with her, and as far as he was concerned, if anyone else did – well, tough.

Our world is awash with various hatreds and prejudices. Hasn’t it always been that way? Well, yes indeed. But today it seems to be particularly prevalent. There’s racial prejudice, religious prejudice, colour prejudice, gender prejudice, class prejudice, to name only a few. And in many cases the word “hatred” is no exaggeration.

Sadly, the church has been guilty of this sin in various periods of history, and we should be ashamed, even when our prejudices are unconscious. Jesus didn’t touch the men in the story of the ten lepers – they didn’t come close enough - but we know from Matthew 8:2-4 that he would have been quite willing to do so.

Do you and I have some nasty prejudice(s?) to repent of, even if it’s just (just!?) a matter of looking down our noses at someone we consider to be beneath us? In whatever ways, do we in effect take after James and John who helpfully (?) tried to sort out some unco-operative Samaritans in Luke 9:51-54: “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?”. A handy solution, no doubt, but Jesus leaves them in no doubt about his answer to that question.

The curse of prejudice is perhaps the main lesson of this story. But there are certainly others, so I’ll have to return to it next time. Please join me again…

Father, thank you for the compassion that dwelt in the heart of Jesus for all people – and which overflowed from it. Please give me just such a heart! Amen.