(Lk 17:11-19)

Luke 17:11 On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus passed through Samaria and Galilee.

Luke 17:12 As he entered a village, ten lepers came to meet him. They stood at a distance

Luke 17:13 and raised their voices, saying, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!

Luke 17:14 When Jesus saw them, he said, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.

Luke 17:15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.

Luke 17:16 and he threw himself at Jesus' feet to thank him. He was a Samaritan.

Luke 17:17 But Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?

Luke 17:18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" And he said to him,

Luke 17:19 'Get up and go; your faith has saved you.

The coming of Jesus, his life, his preaching, his movement among men have as their primary and sole purpose their salvation, which is accomplished in Jerusalem, where he is going.

The scene described in this passage involves a group of people afflicted with leprosy. Whether this is leprosy as we understand it today, as an infection caused by Hansen's bacillus, we cannot know. The term that recurs in the biblical texts is sāra'at, which the LXX translates as 'leprosy'. Both terms are very imprecise generics used to indicate spots and rough patches that could appear on the skin, but also on clothing and even on the walls of houses. The Law required that the diagnosis be made by a priest.

Once the priest declared the person undergoing his assessment to be unclean, the afflicted man had to live outside the city or village and live in segregation or together with other unfortunate people, crying out to everyone that he was unclean in order to prevent others from approaching him. But the cry of "unclean" is here replaced by a cry for help: "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"This substitution recorded by Luke should not be overlooked, as it is an indication of how the new faith based on Jesus has in fact replaced the very prescriptions of the Mosaic Law, which allowed the afflicted man only a cry that revealed his state of condemnation and gave him no escape. It is as if to say that the Law condemns, but Jesus saves.

What appears here is a group of ten lepers. The number ten symbolises totality, fullness, completeness, and represents the Jewish world as a whole, evaluated in its relationship with Jesus. They are lepers who invoke the name of Jesus, they go to meet him, but they remain distant from him, they are still bound to the Mosaic Law, believing that true salvation can only be obtained through it. In fact, in going to the priests, that is, in continuing to submit to the Mosaic Law, the ten are not truly healed, but only purified. There was no contact with Jesus, there were no words of healing from Jesus, but only a command to continue under the Mosaic Law, which can guarantee purification but does not produce true salvation. Jesus, moreover, does not disown the Mosaic Law, but he does not attribute to it an intrinsic saving power, which only he can give. A Law, therefore, that saves only halfway, that is, it is capable of showing man the right way; of showing what is good and what is evil, but the true capacity for salvation, which transcends human capabilities, depends solely on faith in Jesus, on opening oneself existentially to him, welcoming him into one's life. And this is what the Samaritan will do.

The passage highlights a fundamental distinction between healing and salvation: the former concerns only the physical aspect, but says nothing more; while the latter gives new meaning to healing, it becomes a sign of inner regeneration. Healing only tells what the healed person can see, but for him it does not become a sign, it is only a stroke of luck for having found a cheap healer. Therefore, the healed person is only healed, but not saved. But this is not what happens to the Samaritan, who, returning on his steps, recognises in his healing the work of God's power, manifested in Jesus. For this reason, he is not only healed, but also saved (v. 19).

Significant for understanding the dynamics of salvation are verses 15-16, divided into three parts: a) the awareness on the part of the healed man: 'seeing that he was healed'. The verb here is in the theological or divine passive ("iathē" = he was healed), which in the language of the Gospels refers to God as the agent of healing. The healed man, therefore, recognises that what has happened to him is not the work of a simple healer, but the work of God himself. b) His praising God aloud, giving public testimony to what has happened to him. c) This praise is preceded and accompanied by two actions that reveal what has happened to this man: "he turned back" and "fell at Jesus' feet to thank him" (v. 16). That "turning back" describes the very act of conversion and rapprochement with Jesus. This man, like the others, stopped far from Jesus and, together with the others, had left him to submit to Mosaic ritualism. But the reading of faith that he developed about his healing ("since he was healed") prompts him to return to himself and retrace his steps: from Judaism to Christianity. A return that ends with him prostrating himself before Jesus, thanking him for the salvation he had given him.

Verse 16 ends with a polemical note, contrasting the pagan world with the Jewish world: "He was a Samaritan," considered by the Jews to be a heretic, a traitor to the faith of the Fathers and equated with the pagans. This polemic continues in verses 17-18, which aim to highlight the figure of the Samaritan, deliberately placed in a harsh and victorious confrontation with Judaism, and which sound like a condemnation of Judaism itself.

Verse 19 provides the key to understanding the healing, which for this Samaritan is transformed into true salvation, the nature of which is signified entirely in that "arise" (Anastàs), a technical term that in the language of the early church alluded to the resurrection of Jesus. The healing of this Samaritan, therefore, is in some way equated with the resurrection of Jesus and is linked to it - and flows from it into him. This healing, therefore, takes on the characteristics of a true regeneration to new life, which makes the Samaritan a new creature in Christ, while his physical healing becomes a sign of it. And what produces this salvation is the faith of this Samaritan: "your faith has saved you". Jesus is the source of salvation for all, but his salvation works effectively only in faith, that is, in those who open themselves existentially to him, recognising their need for healing ("have mercy on us") and seeing in Jesus their guide and their sure foundation ("Jesus, master").

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)