Deuteronomy 12:1-12

12:1 These are the statutes and ordinances that you must diligently observe in the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you to occupy all the days that you live on the earth.

2 You must demolish completely all the places where the nations whom you are about to dispossess served their gods, on the mountain heights, on the hills, and under every leafy tree. 3 Break down their altars, smash their pillars, burn their sacred poles with fire, and hew down the idols of their gods, and thus blot out their name from their places. 4 You shall not worship the LORD your God in such ways. 5 But you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes as his habitation to put his name there. You shall go there, 6 bringing there your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, your votive gifts, your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks. 7 And you shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households together, rejoicing in all the undertakings in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

8 You shall not act as we are acting here today, all of us according to our own desires, 9 for you have not yet come into the rest and the possession that the LORD your God is giving you. 10 When you cross over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is allotting to you, and when he gives you rest from your enemies all around so that you live in safety, 11 then you shall bring everything that I command you to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, and all your choice votive gifts that you vow to the LORD. 12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you together with your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites who reside in your towns (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). (Deuteronomy 12:1-12, NRSV)

On June 5, 2007 (Tuesday in the week of Trinity Sunday, references for the week of the Sunday closest to June 1), comments were repeated from May 31, 2005, (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year One); they are repeated again here with some editing and supplement:

Yesterday’s reading brought to a close a major section of Deuteronomy, called by Bernard M. Levinson, “the requirement of loyalty to God” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Deut. 6:1-11:32). Today’s reading begins a series of selected readings from the next major section, which Levinson calls “the legal corpus, Deuteronomy’s transformation of Israelite religion” (ibid., on Deut. 12:1-26:15). By the word “transformation,” Levinson shows his general agreement with the view of many “critical” scholars that, while Deuteronomy “preserves several layers of tradition,” its present form dates from the late seventh century B.C., the time of Josiah’s reforms (2 Kgs. 22-23; cf. ibid., in the Introduction to Deuteronomy). But regardless of views on the dating of Deuteronomy, chapters 12-26 clearly, on the face of it, may be considered a legal corpus.

Chapter 11 closes with the words, “When you cross the Jordan to go in to occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and when you occupy it and live in it, you must diligently observe all the statutes (Myq09Huha, hachuqqîm) and ordinances (MyF9PAw4m09ha, hammišpātîm) that I am setting before you today” (Deut. 11:31-32). And today’s reading, from the beginning of chapter 12, begins with the words, “These are the statutes (Myq09Huha, hachuqqîm) and ordinances (MyF9PAw4m09ha, hammišpātîm) that you must diligently observe in the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you to occupy all the days that you live on the earth” (12:1). According to S. Dean McBride Jr., “these verses form a rhetorical seam between the general instructions, now completed, and the following promulgation of the statutes and ordinances” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Deut. 11:31-12:1). Rabbi J. H. Hertz comments on the transition between Deuteronomy chapters 11 and 12:

At this point we pass to the Code of Laws. All that has gone before may be regarded as the religious and historical prelude to the rehearsal of the statutes and judgments which now follow. So far Moses had been speaking in general terms of the necessity of obedience to the laws of God, reminding them of the Covenant of Horeb, and the fundamental principles of Israel’s religion. He now proceeds to give detailed laws and precepts that were to govern their lives in the Land of Promise. (Pentateuch & Haftorahs, 2^nd ed., 24^th printing, 1981, p. 800, on Deut. 12-26)

Rabbi Hertz outlines these chapters as follows (ibid., on the respective sections):

            (1)       Religious institutions and worship (12:1-16:17)

            (2)       Government of the people (16:18-[chap.] 18)

            (3)       Criminal Law (19-21:1-9)

            (4)       Domestic life (21:10-25)

            (5)       Conclusion of Code: First-fruits, tithes, and accompanying prayers (26:1-15)

Rabbi Hertz also describes the general content of this long section as follows:

Some commentators detect in all these chapters an elaboration of the basic laws contained in the Decalogue. Thus XII-XIV deal with the worship of God, and are an expansion of the first three of the Ten Commandments. In XV-XVI, 17 we have an enumeration of Holy Festivals analogous to the Sacred Day of the week. Chaps. XVI-XVIII deal with civil and religious government, which plays the same part in the national life as the authority of parents plays in the life of the family. The remainder of the section corresponds generally to the second half of the Decalogue, and treats of the relationship of man to his fellow-man. (ibid.)

Chapter 12 of Deuteronomy, a part of the section which Rabbi Hertz says deals “with the worship of God,” has been called the “law of the central sanctuary” (by Hertz and others). During the wilderness wanderings, after the exodus from Egypt and before the entry into Canaan, they were to worship at the Tabernacle, which was moveable and located at various places, for example, at Shiloh (1 Samuel 1) until the Philistine war when the Ark of the Covenant was stolen (1 Samuel 4). Later the temple of Solomon was to serve as the central sanctuary. Worship at the “high places” (e.g. 2 Kings 17:9) was a violation of this law.

As noted above, the chapter begins by identifying the following laws as “statutes and ordinances” that must be “diligently observed . . . all the days that you live on the earth” (Deut. 12:1). In light of the later captivities, the reference to always occupying the land is a bit ironic, but remains as promise. Moses presents the LORD’s command: “You must demolish completely all the places where the nations whom you are about to dispossess served their gods, on the mountain heights, on the hills, and under every leafy tree” (v. 2). These would be the alternatives to the worship of the LORD in his central sanctuary. “Break down their altars,” says Moses, “smash their pillars, burn their sacred poles with fire, and hew down the idols of their gods, and thus blot out their name from their places” (v. 3). “You shall not worship the LORD your God in such ways.,” he adds (v. 4), “But you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes as his habitation to put his name there” (v. 5a). “Jerusalem played no role in Israel’s history until the period of David,” says Levinson. “Consequently the city cannot be named explicitly without undermining the literary form of Deuteronomy as a Mosaic address” (op. cit., on Deut. 12:5). However, Rabbi Hertz points out:

Though Jerusalem was the ultimate place chosen, it is not here in view. God might from time to time designate different places where offerings were to be brought. Thus, in xxvii, 5 f., Israel is commanded to build an altar on Mount Ebal and sacrifice burnt offerings upon it. Thereafter Shiloh was for centuries the home of God’s choice; see Jeremiah vii, 12. Israel was to be guided in this matter by the Prophets. The Prophet Gad tells David to erect an altar in the threshing floor of Araunah in Jerusalem (ii Sam. xxiv, 18); and other instances are found in Judges vi, 26; xiii, 16-20; 1 Kings xviii, 32. (op. cit., p. 801, on Deut. 12:5).

The Rabbi adds, “There is no contradiction between the law of the Central Sanctuary and Exod. xx, 21 (xx, 24 in the English Bible)” (ibid.).

The people are expected to “go there, bringing there your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, your votive gifts, your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks” (vv. 5b, 6). “Burnt offerings,” says McBride, “ ‘holocausts’ in which flayed animal carcasses were wholly consumed by fire on the altar, sustained the system pf expiatory sacrifices (cf. Lev. 1:3-17; 6:9-13; Num. 28:2-8, 23-24; Am. 5:22)” (op. cit., on v. 6). “And,” says Moses, “you shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households together, rejoicing in all the undertakings in which the LORD your God has blessed you” (v. 7). “Other sacrifices,” says McBride, were usually consumed in part by the worshipers who presented them and also by priestly officiants (cf. 18:1-3; Lev. 3; 7:29-36)” (ibid.). Verse 7 begins, “and there ye (plural) shall eat” in older versions (e.g. the JPS trans. 1917 used by Rabbi Hertz; cf. AV/KJV), where “ye” (second person plural) represents the plural verb ending in Hebrew. “The word ye,” says the Rabbi, “refers either to the priests and Levites, or to the persons who bring the sacrifices and their households, according to the character of the offering” (ibid., on v. 7).

Moses makes a distinction between his time, “today,” and the later situation when the people are in the promised land. “You shall not act as we are acting here today, all of us according to our own desires,” (v. 8), because the occupation and settlement of the land is still in the future, “for you for you have not yet come into the rest and the possession that the LORD your God is giving you” (v. 9). After the conquest and the allotment of land, then the regulations regarding the central sanctuary will apply.

When you cross over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is allotting to you, and when he gives you rest from your enemies all around so that you live in safety, 11 then you shall bring everything that I command you to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, and all your choice votive gifts that you vow to the LORD. (Deut. 12:10-11, NRSV)

Rabbi Hertz explains the phrase, “He giveth you rest” (v. 10 JPS 1917, cf. AV/KJV): “This did not occur until the reign of David. Hence the statement in ii Sam. vii, 1, ‘when the king (David) dwelt in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies round about,’ that the desire to build a Temple arose in his heart. Before that final resting-place in Jerusalem was available, a temporary abode was found in Shiloh; Josh. xviii, 1” (ibid., on v. 10). On the phrase “then it shall come to pass” (v. 11, JPS 1917), he adds, “In other words, the law of the Central Altar was not meant to come into operation till the time was ripe for building the Temple (1 Kings iii, 2). Levinson, who tends to date Deuteronomy much later than does the Rabbi, comments: “Rest and . . . possession, territorial security (Josh. 21:44) would allow centralization. This was fulfilled with David’s conquest of Jerusalem, which allowed the construction of the Temple (2 Sam. 7:1, 11; 1 Kings 8:56)” (op. cit., on Deut. 12:9-10). Today’s reading concludes with a further statement from Moses. “And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you together with your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites who reside in your towns (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you)” (v. 12).

2 Corinthians 6:3-13 (14-7:1)

The Ministry of Reconciliation (cont.)

3 We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, 7 truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see-we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

11 We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. 12 There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. 13 In return-I speak as to children-open wide your hearts also. (2 Corinthians 6:3-13, NRSV)

The Temple of the Living God

14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness? 15 What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

"I will live in them and walk among them,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

17 Therefore come out from them,

and be separate from them, says the Lord,

and touch nothing unclean;

then I will welcome you,

18 and I will be your father,

and you shall be my sons and daughters,

says the Lord Almighty."

7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1, NRSV)

The following comments are based on those of June 5, 2007 (Tuesday in the week of Trinity Sunday, references for the week of the Sunday closest to June 1), when comments were repeated from May 31, 2005 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year One):

Paul continues to defend his ministry. “We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,” he says (2 Cor. 6:3), a ministry that he has defined as a ministry of reconciliation (cf. yesterday’s comments). Ben Witherington III refers to it as Paul’s “apostleship”:

Paul begins the last subsection of his first argument [i.e. 2 Cor. 6:3-13] by stating flatly that no one, by which he means neither himself nor any of his coworkers, is placing any obstacles in the way of the Corinthians receiving the benefits of this reconciliation (v. 3). Indeed the whole function of this letter is to remove such obstacles or exigencies, saying whatever it takes within the bounds of personal integrity to produce that result. Paul is even willing to commend himself, but only as the minister or servant of God, that is, in his role as apostle, not in himself (v. 4a). This is, then, not Paul’s defense of himself, but his defense of his apostleship. (Ben Witherington III, Conflict & Community in Corinth, 1995, p. 398, on 2 Cor. 6:3-13).

Paul presents a “catalog of hardships” (2 Cor. 6:4-12) to demonstrate his integrity as an apostle, as “evidence,” says Witherington, “of ēthos or character” (ibid.). Paul says,

as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. (2 Cor. 6:4-8a, NRSV)

According to John T. Fitzgerald, “Adversity and virtue were closely linked in antiquity, so that the nine hardships given in vv. 4-5 (see also 4:8-9) function not only to magnify Paul’s great endurance (v. 4), but also to prove that he is vir4tuous; the list of virtues (vv. 6-7) underscores the point. For other virtue lists, see Gal. 5:22-23; Phil. 4:8; Col. 3:12; 1 Pet. 3:8; 2 Pet. 1:5-7” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on 2 Cor 6:4-7). Paul’s list continues as he says, “We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see–we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (vv. 8b-10). “The seven antithetic clauses that conclude this section,” says Fitzgerald, “contrast the outward appearance, which is false or deficient, with the true and greater reality that belongs to Paul’s heart (5:12; 6:11). In formulating these verses, Paul draws on Ps. 118:17-18 as well as Greco-Roman paradoxes about the ideal sage” (ibid., on vv. 8-10). According to Witherington,

The list in 6:4-10 should be compared to the one in 11:23ff. [i.e. 11:23-33]. Both expose the qualities of the “servant of God,” but the latter is longer and more precise and concentrates more on specific experiences of Paul. One could then argue that the more general passage in ch. 6 prepares the listener for the more specific account in ch. 11, but with enough common terms that the latter builds on what was said in the former. (op. cit., p. 400)

This interpretation by Witherington accords with his view that 2 Corinthians is a unit, not a composite of separate letters or letter fragments. The various shifts in tone and/or topic cited by some as evidence of disunity or fragments are explained as consistent with ancient rhetorical theory and practice (cf. ibid., pp. 328, 339, esp. pp. 333-336).

Paul appeals to the Corinthian believers to accept his ministry. “We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return–I speak as to children–open wide your hearts also” (vv. 11-13). Some would see in 6:14-7:1 a fragment of another letter–Paul’s letter, to be sure– but from another occasion. It makes sense to see 7:2, “Make room in your hearts for us; we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one,” as a continuation of the appeal in 6:11-13, and to see 6:14-7:1 as an interruption with an abrupt change in tone. Various explanations of 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 have been given, for example, that it is the “painful letter” that Paul sent earlier (cf. 2:3-4), or even the letter that preceded 1 Corinthians (cf. 1 Cor. 5:9). But Ben Witherington III sees it as a digression, but as a part of the overall train of thought in 2 Corinthians. After citing and developing a series of arguments, he concludes:

Taken together, these arguments provide a compelling case for seeing 6:14-71 as a very appropriate deliberative digression, one that dovetails with what precedes and what follows and with the larger rhetorical purposes of this document. It thus serves to create reconciliation between Paul and his audience by defending Paul’s ministry and by attacking those factors and alliances that had alienated at least some of Paul’s converts. (Ben Witherington III, Conflict & Community in Corinth, 404)

“Do not be mismatched ( eJterozugou:nteV, heterozygountes) with unbelievers,” says Paul. And he introduces a series of questions with obvious answers. “For what partnership (metochv, metochē ) is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness?” (v. 14). There is none, of course, at least on Paul’s terms. Sze-kar Wan observes that “mismatched [ eJterozugou:nteV, heterozygountes], lit. ‘misyoked,’ [is] used only here in the New Testament; see Lev. 19:19”; and he notes the same for “partnership [metochv, metochē ]” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on 2 Cor. 6:14). The questions continue, calling for separation from idolatry. “What agreement does Christ have with Beliar?” he asks. “Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” (vv. 15, 16a). According to Witherington, the biggest threat to the Corinthian church as Paul saw it, was the belief of a few men engaged in the business of an important commercial center–Corinth–that participation in banquets in pagan temples was essential to their livelihood and not a violation of their Christian commitment. In various ways, Paul sought to persuade them otherwise, for example, in a context where he warns against idolatry (1 Cor. 10, esp. v. 14), he says, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons” (v. 21). The command, not to “be mismatched with unbelievers,” and the following rhetorical questions (above) are For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14). This warning is primarily against such social and business entanglements as would conflict with one’s religious, spiritual and ethical commitments. I believe that more than one seminary student in Houston has made changes in his or her career and professional life in order to be freed from such conflicts. According to Witherington,

The social function of this passage [2 Cor. 6:14-7:1] was the same as its predecessors in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10, namely to create a stronger sense of what the proper moral and social boundaries were for the Christian community in Corinth. There were entangling alliances from which the Corinthians needed to disengage themselves in order to be fully reconciled to Paul and the One who sent him. These alliances involved koinōnia with nonbelievers in pagan temples and, worse, involvement with false believers, the latter not addressed directly until chs. 10-13. Some partnerships exclude others, and the Corinthians needed to understand this because their relationship not only with Paul but also with Christ hung in the balance. This passage shows Paul going on the attack, though in a deliberative mode, and as such it serves his larger goals in this discourse of defending his own integrity and that of his work in Corinth, with hopes of a full rapprochement with his converts. He longs for full partnership in the gospel with them again. (ibid., p. 406).

“For we are the temple of the living God,” says Paul; as God said, “I will live in them and walk among them, / and I will be their God, / and they shall be my people. / Therefore come out from them, / and be separate from them, says the Lord, / and touch nothing unclean; / then I will welcome you, / and I will be your father, / and you shall be my sons and daughters, / says the Lord Almighty” (vv. 16b, c, d, e, 17, 18). According to Wan, Paul supports his position with “a chain of citations from Lev. 26:12; Ezek. 37:27; Isa. 52:11; 2 Sam. 7:14; Isa. 43:6 to show separation from defilement” (op. cit., on vv. 16b-18).

“Since we have these promises,” Paul concludes, “beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God” (7:1).

Luke 17:11-19

11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" 14 When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19 Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:11-19, NRSV)

The following comments are based on those of November 19, 2008 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 16, Year Two), comments that were repeated from June 5, 2007 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year One), when comments were repeated from November 22, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 16, Year Two), when they were combined with revision and supplement from November 17, 2004 (Wednesday of the week of the Sunday closest to November 16, Year Two), and from May 31, 2005 (Tuesday of the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year One):

The story of the healing of ten lepers (Lk. 17:11-19), one of which turned back with praise to God and thanks to Jesus (Lk. 17:15-16), like the Parable of the Good Samaritan (10:29-37), is found only in Luke. But David L. Tiede reminds us that it “contains echoes of the healing in 5:12-14 [or -16; cf. Mk. 1:40-45; Mt. 8:1-4]” (HarperCollins Study Bible, 1^st ed., 1993, on Lk. 17:11-19). Papyrus Egerton 2 (Fragm. 1 r[ecto]) has an account similar to the latter.

Kai; (ij)dou; lepro;V proselq(w;n aujtw:/) levgei` didavskale =Ih(sou:) le(proi:V sun)odeuvwn kai; sunesqivw(n aujtoi:V) ejn tw:/ pandoceivw/ ejl(evprhsa) kai; aujto;V ejgwv` eja;n (o)u\n (su; qevlh/V) kaqarivzomai` oJ dh; k(uvrio)V (e[fh aujtw:/ qel(w) kaqarivsqhti` (kai; eujevwV aj)pevsth ajp= aujtou: hJ levp(ra` oJ de; k(uvrio)V ei\pen aujtw:/`) pore(uqei;V ejpivdeixon seauto;)n toi:(V iJereu:si . . . (cited by K. Aland, ed., Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum, 3^rd ed., 1965, p. 60)

In English, including the “restored” gaps in the fragmentary text (marked with square brackets [ ] ), the text says,

And behold a leper came to him and said [historic present]: “Teacher Jesus, while traveling with lepers and eating with them in the inn, I also caught leprosy. Therefore, if you will, I am clean.” And so the Lord said, “I will, be clean.” And immediately, the leprosy left him. And the Lord said to him, “Go and show yourself to the priests . . . (my translation, cf. that of Wieland Willker, “The Papyrus Egerton 2 Homepage,” on the internet at http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~wie/Egerton/Egerton_home.html; the translation is at http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~wie/Egerton/egerton-engl.html, both accessed May 31, 2009).

In the present reading, Luke tells us that, “On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee” (Lk. 17:11). As in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan leper here is singled out for commendation, in contrast probably with Jews. “The other nine were, presumably, Jews” (Elwyn E. Tilden and Bruce M. Metzger, NOAB, 2^nd ed., 1994, on Lk. 17:17; so by Marion Lloyd Soards in the 3^rd ed., 2001, on Lk. 17:17).

“As he [Jesus] entered a village,” we are told, “ten lepers (devka leproi; a[ndreV, deka leproi andres) approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ ” (Lk. 17:12-13). Their “keeping their distance” reminds us that, having learned the hard way, no doubt, they “knew their place,” so to speak, on the margin of society. But we are also reminded that “the terms leper and leprosy can refer to several diseases” (NRSV text note b). “When he [Jesus] saw them,” says Luke, “he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were made clean” (v. 14; cf. Lev. 14).

The point of the story is apparently in what happens next. When they were made clean (v. 14), then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice” (v. 15). Luke says, “he prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him” (v. 16a); and Luke notes that “he was a Samaritan” (v. 16b). As if to emphasize the point, Jesus asks, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner (oJ ajllogenhvV, ho allogenēs)?” (vv. 17-18). Jesus commends the Samaritan healed leper. “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well (sevswkevn se, sesōken se, with the perfect tense of the verb sw/vzw, sō(i)zō )” (v. 19).

By this emphasis on the one thankful healed leper, who was a Samaritan, the story reminds us of the Good Samaritan (Lk., ch. 10), the Prodigal Son (ch. 15), and Lazarus (ch. 16), and Jesus’ continued concern for the marginalized people. Luke anticipates the mission to the Samaritans (Acts ch. 8) and to the Gentiles (Acts, chs. 10, 13, 15, etc.). But we are reminded that, in our time, many foreigners, social outcasts and other marginalized people live among us.

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, first the priest, then the Levite, “passed by [the victim] on the other side” (Lk. 10:31, 32). Eric Franklin says:

All ten [lepers] were cleansed, but it is only the one who returns to give thanks who is ‘saved’ (the Gk. [swv/zw, sōzō] has this significance for Lk. 8:12, 36, 50). He is a Samaritan. Like Luke’s characterization of the disciples as ‘the poor” (6:20), he is an outsider who has been brought in. Christians must retain that sense, and the thankfulness that should go with it, if they are not to become like the Pharisees and cease to act as those who live out of grace. (Eric Franklin, The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001, p. 949).

Franklin’s comment on the significance of the Greek word swv/zw (sō(i)zō ), reflects the fact that it has two different, though related, meanings: “1. Preserve or rescue from natural dangers and afflictions” including rescue from death and disease. “2. save or preserve from eternal death, from judgment, sin, bring salvation bring to salvation” (F. Wilbur Gingrich, Shorter Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, 1965, p. 212). The related noun, swthriva (sōtēria), is the normal word for “salvation” in the New Testament, and the word from which we get “soteriology,” the doctrine of salvation. The fact that this Greek verb is used both for spiritual salvation and also for Jesus healings, suggests that stories of Jesus’ healings were likely used as illustrations in the first disciples’ preaching.

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net