Ten lepers beg Jesus for help, and He tells them to show themselves to the priests. Why? Why did He not touch them, or pronounce them healed? In the Book of Leviticus (14:2-20) we read about what a person healed of leprosy is to do. They show themselves to the priests, sacrifice is offered in what is the first of several purification rituals, which ultimately culminates in the sacrifice of a lamb eight days later, followed by several more rituals before the person is considered, truly, clean. Jesus tells the lepers to go to the priests to be inspected, as if they were already healed, but only the Samaritan—the foreigner—takes the time to inspect himself and notices that his disease has gone. The other nine perhaps believe that the priests will heal them, or the rituals will; the Samaritan dared to believe Jesus had healed him; thus Our Lord’s words, “…your faith has saved you.”
For he had presented himself to the High Priest of Heaven, the Lamb of God; what would purification do for an illness if one would later die in their sin? The Samaritan could not possibly have known Jesus was the Messiah, and yet he dared to believe that he had already been made clean.
When we become unclean by our sins, do we have that same faith in the Sacrament of Confession? “Jesus, Master!” we say in our hearts, “Have pity on us!” and He responds, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” Yet the purification rituals had no true power beyond meaning and symbol; they did not make a person whole, but only demonstrated to the community that this person was considered clean and purified. When we go to the priest for confession it is quite different: we are, indeed, make clean. We are healed; the High Priest and the Lamb of Sacrifice washes away our sins not in the blood of any animal, but with His own Blood. We may absolutely trust in the promise and grace of this Sacrament, and when we do go, and we receive that pity and mercy, let us not forget to go to Jesus in prayer, in Holy Communion, and thank Him, as the Samaritan did.