THIS case is reported in the Gospel of Luke, 17: 11-19 says: “ On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus passed through Samaria and Galilee, and as he entered a village, ten lepers came to meet him. Keeping their distance, they called to him, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” Jesus said to them, “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” Then, as they went on their way, they found they were cured. One of them, as soon as he saw that he was cleansed, turned back, praising God in a loud voice: and throwing himself on his face before Jesus, he gave him thanks. This man was a Samaritan.
Then Jesus asked him, “Were not all ten healed? Where are the other nine? Did none of them decide to return and give praise to God, but this foreigner? And Jesus said to him, “Stand up and go your way; your faith has saved you.”
The ten lepers were cured but only one of them was told: Your faith has saved you. He was the one who responded straight from the heart. While the others were concerned about fulfilling the legal requirements, he only thought about giving thanks to God right where the grace of God found him: such is the faith which saves and transforms us.
In my opinion, among the many people asking God for healing and favors, how many of us will really come to love God?
When will the Kingdom of God come? It does not come as a revolution or the change of the seasons each year: it is at work in people who have received the Good News. Those who believe already enjoy the Kingdom.
Then come the words of Jesus concerning the end of Jerusalem and his second coming (Mk. 23:14). We should not speak about the end of the world in every time of anxiety. Jesus gives us two comparisons: the lightning (v. 24) which is seen everywhere and the vultures (v. 37) which gather without fail wherever there is a corpse. In the same way, everyone, without fail, will be aware of Christ’s return.
Yet his return will catch off guard those who are not expecting it (just as in the days of Noah). Judgment will separate the elect from the condemned – nothing separated them in daily life – from two people working side by side, one will be taken, the other left behind.
In Matthew 24:17 the reference to someone outside his house is connected with the end of Jerusalem, and here it means it will be necessary to escape quickly. In the present text this has another meaning: when the end of the world comes it will be too late to worry about saving one’s life possessions.
Where will this take place? (v. 37: this is a foolish question as in Luke 17:20, because the Lord will not come to take his people to a geographic location. On that day, the good will be taken into the presence of God as infallibly as vultures gather around a corpse.
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