Today the disease we fear the most is probably cancer. In ancient times, the dreaded disease was leprosy. If someone developed a spot on their skin, they were required to go show it to the priest and if the priest determined it was leprosy, it was in essence a death sentence.
The person was required to remove themselves from contact with all people, including their families and friends. For most, it meant a life of begging for food at the gate to the city or village and shouting “Unclean, Unclean” to anyone who came close to them. For a Jew, this meant they could no longer go to the temple so there was no way to offer sacrifice and receive redemption.
In today’s Gospel, ten lepers stood at a distance and shouted “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” As we will soon learn the ten lepers consist of Jews and at least one Samaritan. In their life of misery, their hatred for one another became insignificant in the scheme of living an extremely difficult life so they banded together begging for food and clothing.
Jesus has pity on them. He tells them to go show themselves to the priest and as they were going, they were cleansed of their leprosy. Even the Samaritan would have gone to show himself to the priest because they were taught that salvation is from the God of the Jews. As they were going, one of them realized that they were healed and returned to Jesus giving thanks for their healing.
We know that all ten were cleansed because Jesus said “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?” But only one returned to give thanks, and that one was a foreigner, a Samaritan.
That means that the other nine were probably Jews and had the most to gain from their healing. They could now associate with others and go into the temple to worship and offer sacrifice for their sins. We don’t know if they gave the required sacrifice of thanksgiving for their healing after they showed themselves to the priest, but only the Samaritan returned to Jesus praising and giving thanks to God for healing.
We are truly blessed. We live in a nation with more freedoms and a better living standard than any in the world. Despite the turmoil and polarization in our political system, we are the richest in the world in terms of freedom and wealth. The poor in the United States have so much more than the poor in the rest of the world, and middle-class Americans live in a standard that only the wealthiest have in many nations of the world.
How often do we give thanks for these blessings? Are we like the other nine lepers? Do we complain about the issues and the hardships of life instead of giving thanks for the blessings we have received?
Today’s Psalm reads: “All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God. Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands: break into song; sing praise.”
Indeed, the rest of the world envies the freedom and wealth that we have received from our God. That is why so many millions want to come to the United States even if they feel the only way into the country is illegal. We must give thanks for the blessings we have received from God!
Our culture teaches us that the only way to get ahead is to work, work, work. The stress of trying to be the best at any cost wears us down until we are unhappy with life and complain about everything. We become difficult to live with and for others to be around.
Even with all the turmoil and polarization within our nation, we have so much to thank God for all the blessings we have received from him. Let us always remember to give thanks for these blessings we have received from his bounty.
The verse from the Alleluia today reminds us “In all circumstances, give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” God wants us to have these blessings and wants us to give him thanks for them.
God gave us the gift of his Son, who gave his life on the cross that we might have forgiveness of our sins. Christ rose from the tomb to defeat death and give us eternal life. It is imperative that we give thanks to God for his many blessings, especially his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ who gives us eternal life.
