The story of Jesus curing the ten lepers serves as a powerful reminder of how important it is to give thanks. We know this from our own experience. Everyone appreciates when their work and efforts are applauded. However, all too often we neglect thanksgiving even though it is at the vital heart of the spiritual life. As Catholics we believe thanksgiving is so important that we use the Greek form of the word, Eucharist, thanksgiving, as the description of what we do every Sunday when we gather for worship. As we gather around the table of the Lord we Eucharize (to coin a term), we give thanks, that God is with us when we hear the divine word and when we break the bread and share the cup of the real presence of Jesus in our midst. So, yes, giving thanks is at the heart of our spirituality. But, if you are anything like me, it is not always at the heart of our practice. Try this experiment. In the corner where you say your prayers put two bowls. Label one bowl “petition;” the other name “gratitude.” Each time you ask God for something write it down on a piece of paper and put it in the “petition” bowl. Each time you thank God for something write it on a piece of paper and put it in the “gratitude” bowl. Then see which bowl fills up faster.
When we look carefully at the gospel story as St. Luke tells it we find that thanksgiving is not just a good idea, not just polite, not just good manners. Thanksgiving, gratitude, transforms us. Let’s unpack the text: Luke 17:12 – “They stood at a distance from Jesus and raised their voices.” Lepers were compelled by the Torah, which both Jews and Samaritans obeyed, to stay separated from the general population. In an age before infection was clearly understood the only remedy was isolation. According to the Law, whenever lepers met another person they were supposed to keep a distance and cry out “unclean, unclean.” It was bad enough to catch this horrible disease but the effect of the isolation must have been doubly devastating. Think how that would make you feel. You don’t belong anywhere. You are not worth anything. You are a problem to others. You are anonymous and unnamed. You have to keep people like that at a distance.
Wait a minute. That description of lepers in first century Palestine sounds a lot like situations we deal with in this country. When we have racist attitudes we create a class of lepers. Those people are different. Those people don’t belong. Those people are not worth anything. Those people are a problem. As has been amply proven racism is an infection that isolates and alienates. Racist attitudes keep people at a distance. Think about the rhetoric around immigration in the current environment. Immigrants are a problem. Immigrants don’t belong. Immigrants don’t contribute anything. Immigrants need to be kept at a distance. The MeToo movement illustrates that women in the workplace can feel marginated and alienated as well. She doesn’t belong here. She should keep her place. She is a problem. She is worthless. Keep her at a distance. This kind of attitude, this creating a new kind of leper, causes tremendous harm where people begin to doubt themselves and their self-worth. How easy it can be for people to assume the negative attitude that others have projected onto them. It takes a dramatic intervention to correct such attitudes.
Jesus gives such a dramatic intervention in the story of the ten lepers. He tells them to “go, show yourselves to the priests.” That was the prescribed way according to the law of re-integrating oneself into society. When the priest pronounced the lepers clean they could once again join with their families. They could work, play, eat, ride the community donkey. They belonged again. But here’s the thing. The experience of self-doubt, of being a motherless child, does not dissipate that easily. It lingers. You might be able to ride the bus but you still sit in the back.
Which leads to the point of the story: the Samaritan leper was not only healed of his infection, he was also restored in spirit. And we know this because St. Luke tells us that when he returned to see Jesus he marched right up to him, he got into his space, he was there at his feet. No longer did he keep at a distance. No longer did he need to think of himself as unclean, unworthy, unacceptable. He was somebody. He was able to close the gap between himself and Jesus because he felt gratitude. That helps us to understand the last line in this passage. Jesus says to the healed Samaritan, “Your faith has saved you.” While it was the word of Jesus that saved him from leprosy it was his faith — his faith that God loved him, his faith that he was precious in God’s sight no matter what society thought, his faith that he was a child of God – that brought about the real salvation. He showed faith to Jesus in his act of gratitude. He proved that he was a healed and whole person who belonged with the best of them.
Church, that can be our story as well. When we are feeling lost and alone, full of doubt and fear, not fitting in anywhere we must learn to see how blessed we are and give thanks. Each one of us is made in God’s image and can’t nobody or nothing take that away. Give thanks for that. Each one of us is loved by God with love beyond all telling, unasked and unearned. Give thanks for that. Each one of us is promised that this life is merely the preparation for the new and fuller life to come in glory. Give thanks for that. When we offer thanks in this way, we will find that the gap that exists between heaven and earth, between ourselves and God has been closed. We come right into the presence of God, for that is where we belong.