Sunday 12 October 2025

Psalm 111

Background
In our reading for today we see Jesus encounter ten people with leprosy. Ten people, outcast from society. Ten people who see themselves as untouchable. Ten people who, in the encounter are 'cleansed', transformed and healed. But only one comes back with praise on his lips … “And he was a Samaritan." This week, at the start of Prisons Week, two things strike me as particularly relevant:

• How many people, affected by the prisons system – whether as victims, prisoners, staff, or the judiciary – are transformed by encountering Jesus and how we never hear anything more about this.
• How incredible it is that the Bible identifies the Samaritan, the one who is culturally most hated, as the hero who returns to thank Jesus.

As a prison chaplain, when a prisoner leaves our care, I often say with real hope, “God bless you – I hope I never see you again in my life”! However, I similarly hope that, as Jesus suggests to our ten with leprosy, that they present themselves to a church, to a faith community, to a place where they can find welcome, acceptance and safety. There is much evidence to show that those who do have significantly lower chances of re-offending. Some do re-offend, many do not, but still we trust that God transforms.

The chains that keep us away from God such as 'I am not good enough', 'I am different', and 'they won’t accept me' are powerful and in many ways humanly unbreakable. This is as true for the victims damaged by those in prison as it is for the prisoners themselves. The harms done to us so often cut deeply into our sense of security and identity, which increases our isolation.

'God’s word is not chained' which is the theme for this year’s Prisons Week comes from 2 Timothy 2:9. The word of God to these ten people was simply “Go, show yourselves …”. And this broke the chains of isolation, exclusion and fear, bringing cleansing. For the Samaritan, he found opportunity to return with joy to Jesus, the source of his healing. My prayer is that all of us who are being transformed do indeed find the chain-breaking freedom that welcome, acceptance and safety can offer.

To Ponder:

• Who do you know who feels isolated and needs to know that they are not alone? What do you think might help them to feel more welcome, more accepted, safer?
• Why do you think it is so difficult to reach out to those who are culturally so very different to us?
• What areas in our lives do we need to see transformed by a word that changes things, even that changes our expectations of the possible?

Prisons Week Prayer
Lord, you offer freedom to all people. We pray for those in prison. Break the bonds of fear and isolation that exist. Support with your love prisoners and their families and friends, prison staff and all who care. Heal those who have been wounded by the actions of others, especially the victims of crime. Help us to forgive one another, to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly together with Christ in his strength and in his Spirit, now and every day. Amen.

Bible notes author: The Revd Bob Wilson
The Revd Bob Wilson is the Free Churches Faith Advisor to His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. He works with the Ministry of Justice to ensure that Methodist and all other Free Churches prison chaplains (over 220 of them) are appointed and supported appropriately. Bob has been involved in prisons ministry in voluntary, paid, ordained and lay capacities for over 30 years, sits on the Board of Reference of Prisons Week and is a trustee of The Welcome Directory, a charity seeking to help faith communities to become even better at welcoming people who leave prison.