There have been times in my life when I have not been grateful. These were times I was overburdened, struggling, frustrated, or in some kind of grief. It was almost like I forgot to be grateful. At times when I am distracted by difficulties, I am sometimes simply less able to notice the good things around me; the many things I can be grateful for. This happens to most of us at various points in our lives, and it is not pleasant. When we forget to be grateful we have lost the ability to notice things that bring joy into our lives and to celebrate them.
This week’s gospel story has set me thinking about the times I am grateful as well as the times I am not. Jesus encounters ten lepers (afflicted with a skin ailment that excluded them from religious observance, connection with the community, and even family life) and sent them off to be pronounced healed by the priests. Along the way, they discovered that they were in fact healed! One ran back, praising God, and fell down at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. The others were no where to be found. Jesus points out that the one who has returned is a Samaritan, an outsider who was despised and definitely not likely to be the hero of the story.
We really don’t know whether or not the nine who don’t come back were grateful or not. They may have been in such a hurry to get to the priest and be permitted to see their families or return to their work or to offer prayers of thanksgiving at the temple or any number of other reasons. They may also have still been distracted by the sorrow and misery of their ailment and its wide-reaching consequences and not yet able to be thankful that they were healed. We just don’t know.
As Jesus sends the Samaritan on his way, Jesus says, “your faith has made you well.” That phrase could be translated as “your faith has healed you” or “your faith has saved you (as from some great peril)” or “your faith has made you whole.” Wholeness in this context is about being complete, being fulfilled, being what was intended from the start. I really appreciate the notion that this Samaritan’s gratitude to God for his transformation has healed him, saved him, and made him who he was always meant to be.
When we can realize that God is the source of everything good that we encounter and respond in joy and gratitude, our days are different. With this outlook, we are more fully who we are meant to be by God who creates us and walks with us through the wonderful days and the miserable ones.
May we all find wholeness and see reasons for gratitude today and each day.
Peace,
Alicia