The Pastor’s Pen

Thinking of Thanking

                  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." (Luke 17:11-19 NRSV)   

The Samaritan: the foreigner, the non-orthodox believer, the unclean one, the outsider, is the only one in this story who returns to give thanks to Jesus.  In first century Palestine, comics, bullies, and cruel children probably told Samaritan jokes (How many Samaritans does it take to change the torch in a wall-sconce?).  Remember that Jesus told a story to prove a point and that he chose a “Good Samaritan” to drive his point home.  The standard object  lesson that we take from the text above is to remember to give thanks; remember - don’t be an ingrate.  That IS what this text is about in general terms.  For many of us this text functions as an early teacher or parent might who does not let go of the piece of candy while saying, “What do you say?” And we respond, “Thank you.”

The wider meaning of this passage is that an attitude of gratefulness does not depend on who or what we are. The Samaritan and the other nine did nothing to earn Jesus’ blessing and healing. All ten, as Jesus states, received the healing and the instruction to go upon their way. Only one, it seems, realized that the proper response to blessing was gratitude.

How many of us do not stop to count our blessings on a regular basis? About this time each year, on social media, people publicly name one of the blessings in their lives and say thanks. This is good as I’m pretty sure that God keeps at least one eye on the various Feeds that come into the divine laptop. But God also listens to our prayers. And I suspect that these get through even more easily as they do not need to pass through computers and smartphones and the internet and all. We can express our thanks directly to God. In fact, that may be a good way to get those conversations going again, in case we’ve been a little lax in our devotional life. A second great idea that I think this passage has for us is this: Stop and give thanks to your immediate helper. Sure, the Samaritan was healed by Jesus and went back to Jesus to say thank you. Sure, if we experience a blessing, we should say a prayer of thanks to God above. But what about God in the world with us? Disciples of Jesus are urged to see Christ in our neighbor. If our neighbor brings a casserole, or cuts the grass for us, or has a kind word, are we remembering to be as thankful as that Samaritan in the Gospel? Do we say thank you enough and do we mean it. Could cultivating an attitude of thankfulness in our lives bring the Kingdom closer?

Any way, it’s something to think about in this month of Thanksgiving.

Blessings,