Word to the Wise
Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - Wednesday in the 32th Week in Ordinary Time
[Titus 3:1-7 and Luke 17:11-19]"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" And when he saw them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" [Luke]
Today's gospel scripture is often heard on Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.A.. But that is only one day in the year. The healing is dramatic and life-changing for the ten lepers, but only one of them returns to thank Jesus, and he would have been the least expected because of the traditional animosity between Jews and Samaritans. [cf. also Luke 10:29-37 - The Good Samaritan and John 4::4-42, the Samaritan Woman at the well]. One wonders if the priests, who certified the cleansing as required by Mosaic Law so the lepers could be returned to normal living, would even have agreed to help the Samaritan.
Perhaps it is easier in our relatively affluent culture to be thankful for dramatic gifts from God simply because we are more likely to pray for that kind of gift than for the ordinary things that we are more likely to take for granted: another day of life, friends who love us, good health, economic security, food on the table. In much of our world, most people do not have those and such gifts would seem dramatic to them! In many ways, we in the USA are insulated from the misery and poverty experienced by so many others around this planet. Students returning from mission trips speak to the faith, gratitude and generosity they experience in the poorest of families.
We may hear this same gospel scripture on Thanksgiving Day, but hearing it now is a reminder that giving thanks to God every day should be the norm. And it should not be just the duty of those least expected. AMEN