28th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C
BE YOUR OWN PERSON
LK 17: 11-19
MESSAGE
There are many angles in this beautiful gospel. It is at once an account of healing, mercy, gratitude, acceptance, and God’s power in Jesus. However, we can extract another facet of the story, the courage and independence of the Samaritan leper.
While all the ten lepers were healed, the Samaritan was the only one who returned to give thanks to the Lord. While all received the same tremendous blessing, he alone decided to re-connect with the Great Healer. While the rest went about rejoicing and returning to their families, he took the opposite path towards the place of his liberation from pain and shame. Healed of physical illness, he was more healed of the stigma, the taboo, the fear of living as an outcast. Now he has a face, a voice and a stand to take… even though alone.
Isn’t this an excellent lesson for us Christians today? Nowadays people rely on the actions and words of others, limiting their own independent thinking and choice. What we see on social media we readily believe; what we hear in the news we merely absorb; what loud and convincing voices suggest we are willing to just follow.
Being a Christian can be lonely because it demands returning to Jesus and not to the multitude, having one’s own personal principles and not swayed by crowd mentality, and making a stand instead of just subservience to prevailing attitudes. The healed leper made a stand to become his own person. He has become a person of gratitude, faith, and discernment of God’s presence.
REFLECT
Are you easily influenced by others in your thoughts, opinions, and actions? As a Christian, are you growing in maturity as you claim your own place in the family, church and society? Pray to Jesus to be your own person and to have your own set of strong Christian principles.
