We live in world consumed by prejudice. Our children are
sometimes treated as outsiders by other students in school. Our friends are
sometimes viewed as strangers at work by their coworkers. Our family is
sometimes feels unwelcomed in the very neighborhoods in which we have lived for
years. Feeling unwelcomed can be a crippling reality that forces many families
to remain isolated and separate from even the closest human being. Eventually,
the constant feeling of being unwelcomed can fool us into believing that even
God won’t welcome us in His Church. But still we come because in our heart we
know that God can help us, if only He could see past our faults.
I imagine these were the exact emotions share by ten men who
approached Jesus Christ to be healed. In the story of the Ten Lepers, we
witness the effect of God’ never-ending love on the lives of ten outcasts of
society. Ten men who we unwelcomed by their fellow town-folk came to God,
begging for mercy, and they were each healed by Jesus Christ. Ten men who were
courageous enough to “tune out” the words of others and approach God were given
a new chance at life.
It didn’t matter that these ten men were shunned by other
“more respectable” members of the city. It didn’t matter that these men were
foreigners rather than local insiders. Each was healed by God. But we learn one
additional and more important lesson from this story. It was the ONE man who
returned to worship God that was “made well” and honored by Jesus. And he was a
foreigner! Just goes to show you, EVERYONE is welcome by God.....but not
everyone will take the time to worship Him and give Him thanks. Which one are
you?
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