Homily for 15 Nov 2017

15 Nov 2017

“One of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, and gave glory to God.”  We know that Jesus healed all ten lepers.  But could it really be that only one “realized” it?  You’d think if you’d been cleansed of such a horrible disease, you’d know it. 

But, then again, we might consider, say, our sins and failings, and how we sometimes let them define us.  Or we might think of all those (negative) things that others have told us about ourselves, and how we’ve come to believe them.  Maybe after a lifetime of having a false image of ourselves, it’s hard to “realize” that really Jesus loves us.

So, it’s conceivable that after a lifetime of have leprosy, one could find it unbelievable that the disease is gone.  But what seems to make the difference is our faith.  When Jesus says in so many ways that he loves us—unconditionally, it takes simple faith to believe that.  Or when we sin, and Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven,” it takes simple faith to accept that forgiveness, and to move on without guilt.

That one leper had just enough faith to realize he’d been healed.  And that simple faith changed his world.  If we don’t already have it, may God give us such simple faith in the goodness and love of our God.