Lk 17:11-19
11As [Jesus] continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was entering a village, ten lepers met [him]. They stood at a distance from him 13and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” 14And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. 15And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; 16and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. 17Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? 18Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” 19Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
JESUS CROSSES BOUNDARIES: True leprosy or Hansen’s disease almost certainly did not exist in Palestine in Jesus’ time; there is not a trace of it in the bones excavated in Israel. What the Bible calls “leprosy” (Hebrew zaraat) is any skin ailment characterized by an eruptive skin disease. It was feared not because it was contagious but because it was polluting, making individuals or community “impure” or “unclean.”
The purity laws of Leviticus 11-15 deal with boundaries. Anything that crosses the “body boundary” or opening renders a person unclean: e.g., male or female bodily discharges (even involuntary). The scaly, eruptive condition like leprosy breaks the skin boundary so it is considered unclean.
Lepers were considered unclean and were excluded from the community; they were to remain outside the societal, geographical, and religious boundaries.
The Samaritans were also outside the religious boundary of the Jews; they were considered “unclean” because they were seen as not possessing pure religion and blood. The Jews had nothing to do with the Samaritans, but in the case of the ten lepers in the Gospel, leprosy which drove them out of the “holy” community bound them together.
Jesus was constantly challenging existing boundaries and pushing them outward. He welcomed sinners, the blind, and tax collectors in his “holy community.” He let himself be touched by the impure, like the woman with the flow of blood, and he healed lepers. He showed himself as a powerful intermediary or broker of God who alone could heal. Nine of those healed went to Jerusalem to “praise” God in the presence of the priests. Only one came back “to praise God” in the presence of Jesus. Only one gave praise to God and his agent or broker, Jesus.