GRATITUDE: A DOORWAY TO GRACE
Luke 17:11-19
On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten men with a skin disease approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus’s feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.17 Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? So where are the other nine? 18 Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.
Jesus had ‘set his face toward Jerusalem’ and was travelling in a geographic area that was in the margins—’the region between Samaria and Galilee’ to reach Jerusalem. On his way, ten men call out to Jesus to heal them. Notice Jesus did not distinguish between Jew and Samaritan. Both Samaritan and Jew claimed to be true believers and each insisted that theirs was the one true way. Jesus didn’t care. There was no qualifying exam. Jesus disregards the categorizations of religion and society. He is not interested in their theological differences nor their social status. He simply loved the people in front of him.
When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean.
Two things are happening here. First, medical outcasts (such as these men) were excluded from the community. Notice, they called out to Jesus, ‘keeping their distance.’ They had to be inspected and their healing validated before they would be allowed to rejoin the ordinary connections of human life. Their word, nor Jesus’ word, would not be sufficient.
Secondly, official validation served to confirm that Jesus could indeed heal. Jesus was setting up his claim to authority by using the very people who would oppose him to confirm his authority.
Then one of them (he was a Samaritan)…turned back —praising God with a loud voice, prostrated himself— and thanked Jesus.
Now the focus of the story shifts to the grateful foreigner. One of the ten, expresses gratitude for the transformation of his life. Without being too cynical, that may be an embarrassingly accurate percentage of our capacity to show gratitude. Very few of us pause to acknowledge the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who make our lives possible. We turn on a light switch fully expecting light. We have running water. Our toilets work. But I do not remember ever pausing to thank God for a working toilet. Yet that is exactly what many of us realized when, on mission trips, the primary activity was mixing cement to provide floors and latrines in people’s homes. The gratitude these labors engendered was a stark reminder of how we took such ‘luxuries’ as floors and toilets for granted.
There is plenty of modern research that supports this ancient truth. Happiness and joy in life are both measurably increased when people are grateful. Gratitude serves to take us out of our self importance. “It is God who has made us and not we ourselves.” Gratitude helps create community and connection. We see our place in creation more clearly as dependent and interdependent people. Claims of self sufficiency and entitlement are harder to sustain.
The same is true of awe. Though we often associate awe with big dramatic experiences, it is also the incremental layering of mindfulness and gratitude. Brene Brown speaks of daily walks in which she takes the time to notice her world. So called ‘little things’ like the colors of flowers stir up deep appreciation and awe. Collectively, these experiences redefine our place in creation. We can marvel at our importance even as we see ourselves as tiny parts of creation.
Unfortunately, it takes discipline and intentionality to cultivate an attitude of gratitude. We are far more likely to take the path of the nine lepers. Commentators make up reasons the nine did not return to give thanks. Some explanations are kind, and some are judgemental, but all we really know is that in this story they did not say thank you. I am sure they were happy to benefit, but they did not say thank you.
We do the same when we are too busy or too comfortable to notice. We live our lives, blessed beyond words, but most of us are content to utilize these gifts without paying attention to how fortunate we are. Nine out of ten of these men were quite content to return to their community without paying heed to how it occurred.
In contrast, the Samaritan leper had no reason to expect anything different than living in the margins. As a samaritan in a mixed community, he would have regularly experienced being an outsider. His medical condition would only have reinforced those experiences. Not so much for the other nine. I believe they would have assumed they belonged in a way the samaritan would not. In noticing him and in removing the stigma of impurity, Jesus offered both healing and grace. The nine accepted healing but missed the grace. We do the same when we are too busy, too self-absorbed or too entitled to notice.
Gratitude is required reading for spiritual life. It reflects a different grasp of our importance and place in the world. And just as important, it will deepen our relationship with God. Gratitude actually provides us with new ways to encounter life. These are old ideas:
1. Cicero: “Gratitude is not only the greatest virtue, it is the parent of all others.’
2. G. K. Chesterton: “‘When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”
3. Bishop of St. Martin in the Fields: “The one who has the grace to give thanks can survive the worst that life can send.”
I believe this is what Jesus meant when he said to the samaritan: “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” His faith was revealed in his gratitude. He realized his place in the world was a gift. That realization opened the door to grace and transformation.
Cultivate mindfulness and gratitude. It will transform your life. Let it be so.
