Wisdom 6:1-11 / Luke 17:11-19
Whenever we have to call a service hotline, it is not over a casual matter.
We call a service hotline over some matter that is urgent, or important or that we can't figure things out. Otherwise there is no need to call the service hotline.
Our experience of such calls can vary from unsatisfactory to satisfied. That's why in some companies, such calls are monitored and they would even ask for feedback.
But one frustrating experience of calling a service hotline is when we get transferred from one department to another, and we have to wait for our query to be addressed. We feel like a hot potato being tossed from one to another.
In the gospel when the 10 lepers came to Jesus and asked Him to have pity on them, He said to them: Go and show yourselves to the priests.
Although the 10 lepers did what Jesus told them, they could be probably thinking if they were like a problem being passed around or kicked around. After all if Jesus could heal them, then why would He tell them to go see the priests.
But Jesus showed that His Word has authority and the power to heal and cleanse. At the same time He also acknowledged the authority of the priests to declare whether the leper is cleansed or not.
The 1st reading has a stern message for those in authority. "For power is a gift to you from the Lord, sovereignty is from the Most High ... If, as administrators of His kingdom, you have not governed justly, nor observed the law, nor behaved as God would have you behave, He will fall upon you swiftly and terribly.
In one way or another, we have authority over someone or something. But authority is meant for service.
So if we have the authority and the ability to resolve an issue or to help someone, let us do it instead of trying to pass it to someone else.
Let us exercise whatever authority or ability that we have been given for the glory of God and bring about healing for others