Flemish Master, cir. 17th c.
Translation of the Epistle for the 13th Sunday After Pentecost
Brethren, To Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed. He saith not: And to his seeds, as of many; but as of one: And to thy seed, which is Christ. Now this I say, that the testament which was confirmed by God, the law which was made after four hundred and thirty years, doth not disannul to make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance be of the law it is no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise. Why then was the law? It was set because of transgressions until the seed should come, to whom He made the promise, being ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not of one: but God is one. Was the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given, which could give life, verily justice should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Continuation of the Holy Gospel According to St. Luke
At that time, as Jesus was going to Jerusalem, He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee: and as He entered into a certain town, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off, and lifted up their voice, saying: Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Whom when He saw, He said: Go, show yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were made clean. And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God: and he fell on his face before His feet, giving thanks: and this was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said: Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine? There is no one found to return, and give glory to God, but this stranger. And He said to him: Arise, go thy way for thy faith hath made thee whole.
The Saving Words of the Gospel
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Transcription of Homily
Unlike last Sunday, today we’re not offered a parable but rather a fact, a historical fact, of this encounter that Our Lord has with the lepers. And as you know, the lepers were ostracized. They would have houses built for them outside of the city precincts in which they were housed and weren’t allowed to enter into the city. They could beg from afar off and people in their kindness would leave some offering on the roadside, but there was always a certain distance that had to be maintained. They also had certain clothing requirements. The whole idea was to protect the general population from this illness which was a horrible thing. And to be ostracized like that, I think added to the suffering of this illness.
When Augustine comments on this passage, he says that the lepers are there as a type. Now, a type in scriptural language means a symbol. It’s not that this wasn’t real, this was real, but a symbol that stands for something else. And so, Augustine says that this is why we know that the lepers stand as a type because Our Lord, to heal them, says, Go, show yourselves to the priests. Now the priests would have to verify a possible case of leprosy, and there were 16 symptoms that they would check out to verify if this was a real case of leprosy. And once it was verified, the person had a new chapter in his life, a very dark chapter. But Our Lord says, Go, show yourselves to the priests as a demand of obedience.
He could have just cured them right there, but Augustine says that this type was there as an illustration of what sin is, and that for us, in our sinfulness, our solution is to not to go, as many would say, as the Reformers would say, Luther, Calvin, etc., “I go directly to Jesus for my forgiveness.” Well, there’s nothing wrong with going directly to Jesus for forgiveness, that’s for sure, but we know that He gave us the sacrament of Confession, and for that, we have to go, in a certain sense, and show our soul to the priest in order to be forgiven.
Now, there is a certain brilliance in Christ wanting to use a mediator of mercy. Why? Because man is not only wounded from the disorder, the fourfold disorder that comes as a result of original sin, but we also have self-inflicted wounds, which are our own sins. And to say, “I just go directly to Jesus for forgiveness,” and then I sin again, and then I say, “I just go directly to Jesus for forgiveness,” what can happen is we create a certain psychosis. “Am I really forgiven? Am I really forgiven? I mean, I say so, because I want it, but who am I to declare myself forgiven?” Our Lord wants us to hear the words, I absolve you, because when the priest says, ego te absolvo, I absolve you, he doesn’t, in Confession, the priest does not say, “Jesus forgives you,” says, I forgive you. Why? Because it’s Christ acting through the priest in that moment. It’s called in persona Christi, just as the moment of Consecration. This is My Body. A priest doesn’t say, “This is Jesus’s body.” And if we ever doubt about having been forgiven, we can remember, I heard the words I forgive you. It’s a fact.
And when Our Lord forgives us, it’s a done deal. We’re not allowed to go back and question it. We are not allowed to think “Was I really forgiven? I am so bad. Isn’t it so presumptuous to think that this thing beleaguers me in my memory is actually gone? It is. It is. And we shouldn’t insult His mercy by questioning it.
This real central part of this Gospel, however, is something that seems to wound the Heart of Our Lord, which is the ingratitude of the Nine. Why is that so wounding to the Heart of Our Savior?
In the Old Testament, you know, there were five types, five sorts of psalms they were used for different purposes: There were the pilgrimage psalms, there were the psalms of jubilation, psalms of contrition, psalms of petition, psalms of thanksgiving, and the songs of thanksgiving are called the todah songs and those are the highest form of prayer known to the Jews in the Old Testament. Why was thanksgiving prayer the highest form?
Because thanksgiving, gratitude, sets us up for a deeper communion with Our Lord. We can ask Him for things, forgiveness, or graces, gifts, things that we need, we can praise Him, and that’s all necessary and certainly good, but there’s something about giving Him thanks that deepens our relationship with Him. Why? Because we’re no longer mere recipients. We’re not just, so to say, takers in this relationship. We have something to give and this thing that we give ought to be in proportion to the gift that we’ve received. So, when we give Him thanks, we’re giving Him something He doesn’t have yet; my gratitude. And this gratitude then sets us up for still more graces, more gifts from Our Lord, which ought to elicit more gratitude. And so, there’s a virtuous spiral that Our Lord wants to take place through receiving and giving thanks, receiving and giving thanks.
And all of that todah prayer in the Old Testament is a preparation for the ultimate gift, the ultimate thanksgiving. Thanksgiving in Greek is εὐχαριστία (eucharistia), where we get the word Eucharist. And so, when Our Lord gives us of Himself, that’s everything. What’s lacking in God Himself? He gives us everything. And therefore, our giving ought to be in proportion. How do we do that? How is our thanksgiving in proportion to this magnificent gift that we receive of God Himself in the Eucharist? How do we give Him something that’s proportion to that?
Well, all we can do is give Him our all, which is what he wants. Nothing less. Nothing less. And that’s why in the collect today, which is a beautiful prayer, Give us an increase of faith, hope, and charity. Those are what are called the theological virtues. They’re theological because they have God as source, but they’re also theological because they have God as end. And we’re somewhere there alongside all of it. It doesn’t happen, though, without our consent. And these Theological virtues do not permit limitations or mitigations. They demand totality. Totality.
And so, how do we give Him our entire self? We don’t have to lay down our lives like the martyrs did. If He asks us to, we will have the grace to do so. But in our day-to-day, how do we give Him everything? It’s in our faith, hope, and charity with no limits. Giving ourselves to Him absolutely. And it’s through these theological virtues that, in a certain sense, we touch God. He comes and touches us, just like he touches the Samaritan, the lepers. It would make you unclean to touch the lepers but it’s Our Lord’s healing touch and His Word that makes them clean. And so, this type of the image used here of the of the lepers who stand there as sinners and the leprosy as the sin, then as the type for sin, then all of this is setting us up to understand better the collect that Church has given us to go along with this Gospel, this encounter of sinful humanity with God who forgives us, speaks us forgiven, clean, healed, and He asks us for ourselves in return.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, the Holy Ghost. Amen.
— Fr. Ermatinger