Sunday Readings for October 11-12, Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Lyn Zahorik | For On Mission
One of my favorite lines from “The King and I,” a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, is King Mongkut’s wry observation: “It’s a puzzlement.”
This Sunday’s Gospel tells the story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers — a passage I’ve heard or read well over 100 times in my life. Yet this time, a single line caught my attention and left me echoing the king’s words: “It’s a puzzlement.”
When the lepers cried out for healing, Jesus did not respond with an immediate cure. Instead, he gave them an instruction: “Go show yourselves to the priests (Lk 17:14).” And as they went, they were healed.
It’s a puzzlement. Why didn’t Jesus heal them instantly, right there in front of everyone? Instant healing would have surely won their gratitude on the spot. It would have been a powerful witness to the crowds — perhaps moving many to follow him then and there.
Jesus was always intentional in his words and actions. By sending the lepers to the priests before their healing, he invited them into an act of faith and trust. They had to start walking —still sick and marked as unclean — trusting his word alone. Their healing came not in the moment of asking, but in the continuation of the faith journey, while they were still broken.
Then comes the twist. Of the 10 who were healed, only one turned back — praising God in a loud voice, falling at Jesus’ feet, and thanking him. It’s a puzzlement. All 10 received the same gift, but only one allowed gratitude to interrupt his journey.
Isn’t that how it often happens in our own prayer lives? When an answer comes quickly — sometimes even before we finish asking — we are filled with gratitude. We thank God with joy and may even tell others about the blessing we received.
But when the answer comes slowly — over days, weeks, or even years — we may not even notice when the prayer is finally answered. The moment of asking has passed, our attention has shifted, and the connection between our prayer and God’s response fades from view.
It’s a puzzlement. How many blessings have we walked past because they arrived long after we expected? How many times has God been faithful, yet we fail to turn back and thank him.
Perhaps the challenge of this Gospel is not only to have faith while we wait, but to keep our hearts awake enough to recognize the answer when it comes — and to return to the Giver with praise. Because unanswered prayers are not always unanswered; sometimes they are simply answered on a slower timetable than we imagined.
So the question this Gospel leaves us with is not only, “Do I have faith enough to keep walking before I see the miracle?” but also, “When the miracle comes — whether in a flash or after a long journey — will I recognize it, and will I turn back?”
In the end, the greatest puzzlement of all would be to receive the gift and miss the Giver.
The readings for Sunday, October 12, can be found at Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB.