Creator of a world without borders, Yahweh Elohim, give us eyes to see the number, the brilliance, and the richness of your gifts to us. Make gratitude burn in our hearts, so that no small blessing goes without a “Thank you.” Infuse our lives with a gracious desire to serve and to spread the wealth and joy of your kingdom. We pray it for the power of your Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus!
The Blessing of Gratitude
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”
~ the Gospel According to Luke, Chapter 17, verses 11 to 19, from The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. 1989, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers. (Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Proper 23, 9 October 2016)
The brightest blossom in this passage is the example of gratitude. Ten lepers are healed; ten lepers receive—without examination, without reference checks, without even an introduction—the lavish gift of release from a physical and social sickness. Only one returns to give thanks and to praise God for his deliverance.
Our generation, whose access to health care and social services exceeds the dreams of those fifty years earlier, ought never to complain. And yet! The trap of entitlement snaps so quickly on the soul, making every deliverance just another thing on the way back to our work, our leisure, and our Facebook accounts.
By subtle implication, Jesus’ words indicate that the tenth leper need not go to the priests. He need not receive endorsement for his healing. He need not spend resources on a sacrifice at the temple. He need not go to God, for he has already been. His gratitude is sufficient: he is ready for the rest of his life. Gratitude, it seems, completes the great event of faith and healing. By giving thanks we are not only healed, we are also fully at peace with God.
Beneath this shining message—so important to all generations—is the matter of the leper’s identity. He is a Samaritan: a member of the much-maligned outcast tribes of Israel. Jesus’ epithet for him, “this foreigner,” seems strange if not offensive. It highlights the prejudice of the Judean Jews that Samaritans did not really belong to God’s people. And yet! The outcast is the only one who knew what to do upon receiving Jesus’ gift.
Our generation, for whom immigration has become a hot-button political issue, can sympathize with the punch of this episode. I myself have met many immigrants to the United States—some of them with impeccable credentials from the INS, some of them without—who participate in the upbuilding of American society with zeal and relish. They have been afforded something that was not always theirs, and they are grateful. Their gratitude shows in wonderful ways.
I have met too many born-and-bred Americans—occasionally I have seen one in the mirror—who show no gratitude for the gift of membership in this society. They expect from their geopolitical station another meal, another video game, another raise—because that’s the system. Callous indifference to the wonder of the gift will not necessarily diminish the gift. But the thought of a selfish, entitled American contrasted with a grateful, giving immigrant echoes in Jesus’ surprise at gratitude’s low rate of return. I desperately desire not to be on the wrong side of this fence. I would like to become someone who overflows with gratitude rather than retreating into the consumption of entitlement. I want to be like that Samaritan, foreigner that he is.
Whether my healing affects the body, the mind, or the soul; whether the gifts I receive from God seem basic or miraculous; whether we speak of things material or things spiritual: I want to echo the psalmist’s sentiment, who seems ever ready to “give thanks to the Lord,” and to “enter the Lord’s gates with thanksgiving.” Gratitude seems the only worthy response to the abundance of God’s gifts to us.
Creator of a world without borders, Yahweh Elohim, give us eyes to see the number, the brilliance, and the richness of your gifts to us. Make gratitude burn in our hearts, so that no small blessing goes without a “Thank you.” Infuse our lives with a gracious desire to serve and to spread the wealth and joy of your kingdom. We pray it for the power of your Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus!
~ emrys tyler