Sunday, October 9, 2022 | By Rev. Michael P. Hanifin
Readings: 2 KGS 5:14-17; PS 98: 1-4;2 TM 2:8-13; LK 17:11-19
An attitude of gratitude is the key to a Christian’s way of life. The readings this weekend demonstrate the power and vital importance of gratitude in the life of the intentional Christian disciple, for gratitude leads us to worship God who offers us salvation.
We see the power of gratitude at work in the response of two individuals in today’s readings who received the gift of physical healing: one in our First Reading from the book of Second Kings, and the other in our Gospel Reading from Luke.
In the First Reading, we hear the story of Namaan, a commander in the army of Syria, who presents himself to the prophet, Elisha, “the man of God,” to ask for healing from his leprosy. The prophet agrees to this request and intercedes on his behalf before God, telling Namaan to wash in the Jordan River. Namaan receives complete healing from the disease.
Overjoyed, Namaan returns to Elisha, filled with gratitude to God and wanting to offer a gift in thanksgiving for this healing. Though Elisha refuses to accept a gift, Naaman declares that for the rest of his life he “will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the Lord.” Namaan recognized the great blessing he had received from the Lord and as a result of his gratitude to God, is led to worship Him for the rest of his life.
We find a similar instance of healing in the Gospel passage, this one involving ten lepers seeking healing. They cry out to Jesus in their affliction and feeling pity for the ten, He tells them to go and show themselves to the priests. As they go on their way all ten are healed.
Yet, what we learn in the very next verse is surprising. “And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned.” Only one of the ten recognized the tremendous blessing he had received from Jesus and returned to thank him. It’s easy to feel indignant at the failure of the nine others to return and thank Jesus. But how often do we fail to recognize blessings great and small, answered prayers, healings (both physical and spiritual), that the Lord showers upon us each day and night?
The truth is that our very lives and every breath we take are His gift to us. But we can get so caught up in the stresses and distractions of daily life that we lose touch with this truth.
Gratitude begins within our minds and hearts when we take the time to recognize how blessed we truly are and when we have the humility to recognize where these blessings come from — our merciful and loving God.
The Samaritan reacts to his gift of healing in much the same way that Namaan did and demonstrates the proper response to our loving God. Recognizing what he had just received from the Lord, he “returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked Him.” He was grateful for what God had done for him and this gratitude led to worship.