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The Gospel that we proclaim this Sunday is the very famous story of the Ten lepers. Often, this Gospel is used to indicate that we should have a true spirit of thanksgiving, but it has, in fact, a deeper Christological meaning.

Jesus is the Master Teacher and everything that he does, all of his words and gestures have great significance. Everything that Jesus says and everything that he does points to who he is: the Christ of God. Jesus reveals in every moment of his life his mission, which is also who he is in himself.

Note carefully the Lord Jesus’ instructions in this Gospel. What does the Lord Jesus order the lepers to do? “Go and show yourself to the priest.” Who is the one who returns to say thank you? It is the Samaritan.

On the human level, due to societal norms, the leper cannot do so, as he is a Samaritan, part of a community whom Jewish priests of Jesus’ day believed to be racial and religious traders. Simply put, a priest would not welcome the leper. Yet, in fact, this is what the Samaritan leper precisely does: the thankful Samaritan leper shows himself to THE PRIEST, the one and only true High Priest, Christ the Lord.

Going further with the concept of Christ’s absolute divinity, we have Sunday’s Gospel — this one and true High Priest IS in fact the long-awaited Kingdom of God. It is the Lord Jesus who is the messenger and the message, the teacher and that what is taught. The Lord Jesus Himself is the Kingdom of God.

In Sunday’s Gospel, the Lord reminds us not to go searching for the Kingdom of God, not to go run off in pursuit of the Kingdom of God. He is already in our midst, just like he was for the leper, right in our midst, breaking in, “already, but not yet” fully present in our world. In our midst, most especially in his Eucharistic self, we have the true High Priest. In his Body and Blood found present in the Eucharist, we have the Kingdom of God. So, I say to you this Sunday — “look, there he is.”
Father Cush is professor of dogmatic theology at Saint Jo­seph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie.

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