People: Ten Lepers
Apartheid wall art in Bethlehem, which is 2x as tall and 5x as long as the Berlin wall was.
“As he continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met [him]. They stood at a distance from himand raised their voice, saying, ‘Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!’ And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”
As they were going they were cleansed.And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?’Then he said to him, ‘Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.’”
(Luke 17:11-19)
Justice, Purity, and Impurity
Madonna and Child in Taybeh, West Bank, Palestine. Taybeh is biblical Ephraim, where Jesus sought refuge after his persecution in Jerusalem upon raising Lazarus from the dead.
The untouchables, the leftovers, the ones cast out. In an ancient society where you were forced to constantly brand yourself, screaming “unclean” at the very possibility of being approached by a fellow human being, the leper was left to despair and to desire a quick death. Often starving and in unimaginable pain as they lose their image of themself, both internally in societal alienation and externally in the literal rotting away of their face, the leper is forcibly pushed into the arena of being alone with God. The leper is compelled to face earthly life for what it is: temporary, passing, and un-Reality. What faith is required to withstand this unchosen trial!
In 2026, I see this faith in the Palestinian people. Sabeel is the ecumenical, grassroots center for Palestinian liberation theology, rooted in the universal ethic of nonviolence. In English, "Sabeel" can roughly be translated to "The Way", the name of Christianity in its earliest days. I’ve gone to Palestine to learn from the world’s masters of nonviolence, from Palestinians who demonstrate a commitment to The Way that has been sharpened and tested under unfathomable daily oppression. A type of testing I will never comprehend, a proof of their love of neighbor I will never show.
After 100 years of modern settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocide, Palestine remains the compass of the world. They are the Palestinian Muslim woman entrepreneur who not only refuses to leave, but decides to open an affordable flatbread shop in the Old City of Hebron at prices that her community, not just tourists, can afford. They are the children in Ramallah who are terrified, but make the dangerous trek to school anyway, every day. They are the couple in Bethlehem who returned to Palestine in 2008, walking away from elite professorships and six figure incomes, to donate their life savings and volunteer full-time to conserve the natural world. They are the Gazan teenagers who passed their high school matriculation exams on Day 767 of the 2023 genocidecommitted by Israel. They are the Nassar family of farmers at Tent of Nations that both refuse to be enemies and refuse to be victims. They are our Palestinian guide, Omar, director of Sabeel, who preaches his practice of the necessity of internal liberation and transformation, speaking with clear eyes on the immortal truth of how “small people make big money from endless war, whether in the US, Emirates, Iran, Russia.”
The duty to renounce violence always falls first upon the oppressor. Violence enacted forces the oppressor to sell a part of themselves, a prostituting of the soul God is always calling us back from. God is never with those who drop bombs. For woe to those who bomb the hungry! To be ethnically cleansed, to have the home where you were born stolen from you, to witness your uncle be beaten to death in front of your eyes -- these are trials that would break most of us, for most of us walk this earth with tepid faith. Human, fear-driven instinct tells us to return eye for an eye. And this is the logic of the world Jesus has come to upend.
Indeed, Jesus has come to the outcast, positioned himself with the marginalized, and brought about the Christian revolution of love with the radical insistence that every single human being is totally, infinitely, and equally worthy and precious in God’s eyes. Including the lepers. Including the ungrateful. For mercy to be granted, it must be asked for. In this case, Jesus healed all ten lepers.
Painted rock poem by international volunteers at the Tent of Nations, Bethlehem, Palestine
Throughout Jesus’ public life, we see him grant healing to the pure of heart as well as the belligerent of heart. God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. All will be accounted for in the end. For the chances that we were given to make a different choice, did we choose what gave life to our souls or merely stoked the passions of what is passing? For the sake of our souls’ growth, self-awareness must be present, repentance must be sincere. Everything God desires for us is the entirely Selfless Love. God is in need of nothing, but hopes endlessly, lavishly, prodigally that we will join Her in the infinite freedom and liberty of the dance of Love. God is crying out to us to keep the eternal perspective.
After years of oppression and torturous pain, nine of the ten lepers flee home to be embraced by earthly society. They long to belong, to reclaim their human honor, and to escape the trials of being alone with God. Only one returns to Jesus to thank him. Only one has kept the eternal perspective, for the greatest miracle is the transformation of the heart. Palestinian civil society is Christ’s modern model to the world of this feat. Every Christian would do well to take heed.
"𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, '𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯?' 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴, 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬, 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴. 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦. 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯." - 𝘋𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘋𝘢𝘺, 1948
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jessica Sun (she/they) is a 2nd generation economic-settler-immigrant and Chinese U.S. American zillennial from northern Virginia. A Catholic convert after 10 years of identifying with varying philosophies as an agnostic, she finds a dear sense of belonging in spaces of zealous, Gospel-led advocacy and action for just peace and nonviolence. Christians for a Free Palestine, Pax Christi USA, and the PCUSA Young Adult Caucus are her organizing homes. A graduate of the Virginia Tech College of Engineering, she had worked as a software engineer by day, local activist by life. She is currently in the application process to the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods. Follow this writer’s work on Spoutible, click here.