Devotion for the Week

Devotion based on the scripture from October 12, 2025.

On Common Ground

Ten people are healed by Jesus, but only one returns to thank him. That is the central tension of today’s gospel story. But there is also a twist, one we may have missed if we were not listening closely: the one who thanked Jesus was a Samaritan.

The faithful of Jesus’ time would have known all about the hostility between Judeans and Samaritans. The conflict between the two groups stretched back generations and generations. It was animosity so entrenched that people probably did not remember the specifics of the fight. They just knew they hated the other side. A Judean would never associate with a Samaritan, much less heal one of them.

But as we see in this story and others throughout the gospels, Jesus did not seem to care about the labels the world assigned to people: scribe or Pharisee, sinner or tax collector. Jesus also did not stop to consider whether the person was from Judea or Samaria. He looked into the eyes of all who came to him and saw directly to their humanity. He brought healing and wholeness to everyone.

Just as Jesus told the Samaritan, he could tell us, too, that our faith makes us well. God gives us faith that overcomes the destructive words of the world, allowing us to transcend barriers and labels and to recognize the humanity in each individual. God is also calling us as a whole community to go and seek out the Samaritans of our own time and place—anyone whom the rest of the world rejects and reviles—and show them the same compassion and mercy we have received.

God’s love makes us whole. Words can hurt, but thanks to Jesus, words can heal too. More often than not, we will find common ground through God’s power to heal, even among the Samaritans.