“The power of gratitude”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Luke 17: 11-19 (Forward, p. 22) CEV p. 1085

In this famous and well-known story of the ten lepers, I have often wondered—and speculated about the unstated and hidden motives of these men. I can fully understand how such totally disparate persons could find themselves together, after all, ‘adversity makes for strange bedfellows’. All of them were in a difficult and harrowing life situation, so it was quite natural for them to stick together.

What I find ‘interesting’, however, is the varying ways that they reacted to Jesus’ act of healing them of their leprosy. The passage states that ‘ask they went’, as they acted in faith to Jesus’ words, they were healed. All ten of them have this in common.

But, what they don’t have in common is where they went from there. The nine Jewish fellows simply went on, as instructed, to meet up with a priest to be certified as ‘clean’, that is, fit to rejoin society. The one other man, however, here identified as a Samaritan, came back to Jesus to thank Him. So, why the difference?

Here's where my speculation kicks in. With the nine Jews, perhaps it was a matter of obedience: they were simply doing as they had been told. Or, perhaps, it was a matter of impatience and eagerness: nothing was going to stop them from regaining the lives they had once known. Or, perhaps, it was a matter of presumption and religious bias: they thought that, as God’s chosen people, they ‘had it coming’, they ‘deserved it.’ We will never know.

With the one lone Samaritan, there certainly was no sense that he desired it. After all, he was the hated foreigner, the outsider. And so, there was going to be nothing that stopped him from thanking Jesus. And so, he won out. He received a blessing, a greater wellness, that the others lost out on. Such was the power of gratitude.

For me, this raises some profound questions. Firstly, do we remember to give thanks to God? And more to the point, do we give thanks both for the things that are good—as with this Samaritan--and the things that are not so good? After all, the Scriptures instruct us to give thanks at all times and for all things (1 Thessalonians 5:18). If you’re like me, this is a bit more trying.

Forward notes: “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice” (verse 15).

“Gratitude is a practice. It doesn’t always come naturally. But I find when I feel thankful, my gratitude ‘begets’ itself: the more I practice being thankful, the more I notice what there is to be thankful for.

“In today’s gospel lesson, ten are healed, but only one takes the time to turn back and say thank you to Jesus. I wonder if that man had been practicing.

“How easy it is in our own lives to forget to turn around and say thank you. Many have helped us get to where we are—teachers, mentors, family, and friends who have formed us and poured themselves into us. I wonder how many of those people we have left on the road without a second look.”

Moving Forward: “Reflect on your life and think about someone who impacted you. Is there a way to turn around and thank them?”