Did the others even realize they were healed?

The nine other lepers who failed to return and give thanks to Jesus…Did they even realize what had happened to them? Did they even bother to notice the great gift that had been given to them?

Why ask this question? Well, as the gospel passage from Luke goes, ten lepers cry out to the Lord: “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And Jesus responds telling them to go show themselves to the priests. And as they were going, the text says, “they were cleansed.” 

They’re changed. They’re healed!

Then comes a fascinating verse:

“And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.”

The gospel text says nothing about the other nine even realizing they were healed!

This actually makes a lot of sense given the context of Luke’s gospel. Immediately following this story about the ten lepers, Jesus speaks of the coming of the Kingdom of God, and He says point blank that it will be very easy to overlook:

“The kingdom of God,” Jesus says “is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Behold, here it is!’ or ‘There! … for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

Maybe the nine lepers who did not come back to thank Jesus missed the “coming of the kingdom” in their life — Perhaps they were totally oblivious that their lives had been changed forever by Christ?

Even miracles can somehow be overlooked! …Explained away! Forgotten…

This is quite applicable to our lives today. 

I can certainly speak for myself — My ingratitude… my failure to come back to Jesus over and over again and thank Him for everything He’s done for me usually boils down to a very subtle, selfish lack of awareness. 

It’s not a direct refusal to thank God. 

It’s not like I look the Lord in the face and say: Lord, look at all this stuff you’ve given me! Look at all these things that you’ve blessed me with… I AM NOT GRATEFUL TO YOU, GOD.”

No. That’s just not how it happens.

Rather, my ingratitude is much more subtle. It usually consists in simply not noticing God… simply not realizing… not even being aware of my blessings as they are happening to me.

And like the nine ungrateful lepers, I just go blindly on to the next thing, the next task… I move on with my life, carelessly leaving Jesus in the dust.

So, before going any further on in this homily, I want to say:

I’m grateful for this parish. I’m grateful for you all. I’m grateful to be your priest. And I’m grateful for the love, forgiveness, patience, and support that so many of you have shown me. I’m grateful for what the Lord is doing here.

That’s something I can very easily not notice… 

And I doubt I’m alone in this.

What about you? How has God healed you, and loved you, and blessed you, and supported you… but you haven’t returned to thank Him specifically for those gifts?

Because the fact of the matter is: 

We are ALL ‘Healed Lepers.’

That is the bold claim of our Catholic faith.

Jesus Christ was sent by God the Father, not to call the righteous, the perfect, the hyper-religious. No, he came to call spiritual lepers. He came to heal deformed and broken hearts. Proud hearts. Lustful hearts. Anxious hearts. Angry, hardened, disobedient and despairing hearts.

He came to cleanse us of ALL of this spiritual leprosy we call SIN!

My brothers and sisters, realize what God has accomplished for you!

The night before Jesus died on a cross, as he finished washing the feet of his disciples, he turned to them, and he looked them each in the eye, and he said, “Do you realize what I have done for you?”

At every single Mass, we have a chance to come here and reply, “Yes, Lord, we realize and appreciate what you’ve done for us.”

We know that you cleansed us. We know that you healed us. We know we don’t have to pretend to be perfect church people who somehow deserve something from you…

No, we humbly admit that we are healed lepers who, by Your grace, free of charge, can come here and appreciate what has happened to us. We come back over and over to this altar and We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory!!!!

This is what the Mass is all about! We’re worshipping the Lord for healing us!!!!

But, this leads me to my final point, which is this:

When look around at Church, and we see empty pews… When friends and family stop coming to mass, Jesus’ question from the end of our gospel passage should come back to mind:

Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Where are all the others? Why aren’t they praising and glorifying God with you?

My brothers and sisters: I believe this question is an invitation! An invitation to go out and be evangelists, to help wake people up to the fact that we’ve all been healed!

Last week I preached about the importance of sharing our TESTIMONY… our story of how Jesus has changed our life! Well — what do you think that’s for?

It’s to invite the other 9 back…

This is so important!

Our tendency is to think: “Well, my religion…my faith… is just my thing… it works for me, but it might not work for others. To each his own…” 

I’m sorry, but this is NOT the Gospel!

God LOVES EVERYONE and He wants EVERYONE to receive and believe the Truth. The life Jesus died and rose from the dead to give us is being offered to each and every soul we meet. Absolutely nobody is excluded. Nobody is left out.

Imagine for just a moment: The Samaritan leper who came back to thank Jesus, instead of coming back alone — what if he had turned to his friends and said… 

“Guys…guys…hold on a second: I’M HEALED! AND WOAH YOU’RE HEALED TOO! CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? LET’S GO BACK…. LET’S THANK JESUS TOGETHER.” 

They might have ignored him. They might have thought he was crazy… sure… but what if they didn’t?

Just think of how much joy this would have brought Christ if he saw all ten healed lepers coming back to him — the Samaritan leading the charge!

I think this is what evangelization is supposed to look like! 

It’s not about jamming God down people’s throats or arguing people into conversion. 

No…. Sharing the Gospel is as easy as taking the time to appreciate the unbelievable fact that WE HAVE BEEN HEALED, WE HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, WE HAVE BEEN CLAIMED AND LOVED AND CALLED by God — and in our JOY, we then tell everyone around us that they’ve been HEALED, FORGIVEN, CLAIMED, LOVED, and CALLED as well!

If that’s all evangelization really is, then it should be super easy, right? 

If we look at our neighbors, our family, our friends… and see them not as hopeless sinners or lost causes, but rather FELLOW HEALED LEPERS INVITED TO JOIN YOU IN THANKING GOD, well then… how can we NOT share the good news with them, even if they do ignore us?

So as we turn once again to the Holy Eucharist — the perfect Thanksgiving that we offer to God the Father through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit — let’s call specifically to mind all the amazing ways we have already been healed and are still being healed by the Lord. Let’s REALIZE what He has done for us. 

Let’s pray also for the “other 9” who are not yet with us in this church…  

We pray boldly that one day, they will come back as well — and we will all stand here together, giving praise and thanksgiving to the Lord who has cleansed us.