28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
28th Sunday of the Year – Ten Lepers – Only one Thank you
How hard can it be to say Thank You? Someone does you a favour – you say Thank you. Someone offers you a common courtesy – you say Thank you. Someone is simply friendly and approachable – you say Thank you.
Someone cures you of a disfiguring and deadly disease; allows you the chance to live your life back in your community, back in your family; to be recognised and accepted as a human being – you say – Nothing. Not only do you say nothing but you vanish and do not go back to that someone at speak with them at all!
How does that work? How hard can it be to say Thank you?
In our readings today we have this point picked out clearly and with an emphasis on the right response coming from the wrong people – or the people who were certainly pictured as being wrong.
In our first reading we have Naaman, a pagan commander of the Syrian army who travels into Israel to seek out the prophet Elisha to cure him of his leprosy. Elisha told Naaman to bathe in the river Jordan seven times and he would be cured. He did and he was. He rejoiced in his cure but also took the time to seek out Elisha to offer him thanks and when Elisha told him that it was not him that had cured him but in fact the one true God. So Naaman took some of the home soil back to his own country to build a shrine to the true giver of this miracle. He praised God and thanked the prophet.
Our gospel today is from Luke and Luke is the only gospel-writer to make mention of Naaman. He is writing for an audience of gentiles, foreigners, outside of the chosen people and is looking to make a point for them and to them – that God is the God of all peoples. He is calling to all to come to him. That everyone can hear the word; can listen to the word; can respond to the word – if they choose to do so.
And so to our ten lepers. All ten are cured but only one comes back to praise God and give thanks to Jesus: and he is a Samaritan. Not only a foreigner but a despised outsider. Jesus says – were not all ten made clean? Where are the other nine?
Why do the nine who were cleansed, now treat Jesus as if he were the leper and stay away? What makes it so hard to say – Thank you?
Maybe when we look at this for ourselves we can see the answer more clearly. Maybe the problem is in the need to have to ask for help in the first place? Nobody likes being needy. Nobody likes not being self-sufficient. Nobody likes the idea of having to go cap in hand. And it matters not a jot how nice, or caring, or loving, or helpful, or humble, or welcoming or empathetic – the giver may be. In fact most of these can make us feel ten times worse. The ‘Thank you’ gets stuck in the throat; in fact somewhere between the gut and the throat. That ‘Thank you’ is the outward sound of your inward need – and it hurts.
We don’t know whether the nine lepers were appreciative of their cure or not. I would bet that they were but that they were so taken up with their cure that they danced merrily away from any awkward reminder of their time in need and of their call for help from Jesus. They were better now and could put all of that behind them.
A simple and obvious question is – “who are we among this ten – the one who gave thanks or the nine who danced away without a glance back?
We gather here each week to celebrate our Eucharist together. Eucharist means “thanks”. When we gather we are gathering as Naaman and the tenth leper did – in glorious praise of God and in thanks to him for the gift of his son. We are the neediest of the needy, seeking to give thanks for the myriad of blessings we have each received in our lives. We are a chosen people who does not want to take God’s graces for granted or to hide away in the shame of our need. We want to be as vocal and as outward praising as Naaman and the tenth leper were. We want to sing and dance and shout and praise and rejoice for the gift of having God in our lives.
Is that how we feel? Are we in a praising and thanking mood? Are we - like Naaman - looking to take soil back to our homes to build our own shrines to worship the one true God? Are we – like the tenth leper – looking to sing praises to the Lord in thanks, in joy, in celebration?
And what about with each other? Do we see Christ in each of our fellow Christians? Do we give thanks out to each other – to each of God’s chosen ones or do we let it lie within us – hidden, silent, unknown?
Are we the one or the nine?
Bidding Prayers
That we recognise all of the good things that we have in our lives and give thanks to God for them. Lord in your mercy
That we recognise all those that are in need and that have less than we do and work hard to make their lives better. Lord in your mercy
That we work actively and positively to make our parish a stronger and more welcome place to be, especially to new visitors. Lord in your mercy
That there is an end to war and conflict across and between nations and that people can live in peace and security. Lord in your mercy
That the young people of our parish grow to love the Lord and learn to live this love in their lives. Lord in your mercy
That all the sick, the dying, the housebound of our parish receive the care they need and know that they are loved by us their brothers and sisters in Christ. Lor in your mercy
That those who have died recently receive eternal rest in the bosom of the Lord and that their relatives are comforted in their grief. Lord in your mercy
That Our Lady joins her prayers with ours as we now say together, Hail Mary