Gratitude
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He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. -Luke 17:16
The man had a skin disease that made him an outcast in his society. In times before antibiotics or other modern treatments, the only way to keep leprosy from spreading was to separate those with the disease from the rest of the community.
In the gospel this Sunday, 10 leprous people called out to Jesus from a distance, asking him to have mercy. Jesus responded that they should go and show themselves to the priest (the people that declared people either clean or unclean.) On the way there, their skin cleared up! How could that be? No one ever got better from leprosy. It just got worse and worse. I can imagine they couldn’t wait to get to the priest to show him that they were now worthy to be a part of the community again. Amazing!
But one of them, when he looked down and saw smooth, un-diseased skin, turned back, praised God, and then fell at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. Jesus expressed some surprise that none of the others had come to give thanks, particularly because the one who did was a Samaritan. And Jesus tells him, “Get up and go on your way, your faith has made you well.” The man was now made well not only in body, but in mind and spirit as well.
Gratitude is a core part of our own wellness, too. We’ve probably all heard of the practice of keeping a gratitude journal and starting out each day naming 5-10 things that we are deeply and genuinely grateful for. It’s a great idea, and if you’ve ever gone past just thinking it’s a good idea and actually practiced gratitude in this way, you know how transforming it can be. I recommend this practice highly. The more you do it, the more well you feel.
It is all too easy to think about all the things we disagree with or disapprove of in this stressful world. However, if you’re reading this, you’ve been given ‘another trip around the sun on this side of the grass,’ as an old friend used to say to me. Whenever I’d ask him how he was doing, he’d respond, “Never had a bad day!” (although I know he’d had more troubles than most.)
May you, like him and the Samaritan man with leprosy, get up and go on your way with a grateful heart.
