[Howdy, Church fans! Well, we are all recovered from the trip to the Holy Land. Hope you enjoyed the ride. Deacon John is preaching this week, but I will be covering St. Elizabeth’s this evening before I blast off the the Canon Law convention in Cleveland. If you want to catch the livestream of that, you can go to their Facebook page by clicking here; https://www.facebook.com/SaintElizabethAnnSetonParishAnchorage
In the meantime, here’s my thoughts on today’s gospel with an added bonus at the end.
It was not an easy thing to be a leper in Jesus’ day. Unlike today, where the use of sulfates has pretty much eradicated the effects, and the stigma, of the disease, to be a leper in the first century was to be completely outcast from society. Not only were you physically disfigured and rather smelly, you were ritually unclean as well. This meant that you could not worship with the believing community. Indeed, you were seen as cursed because of some sin of yours or a recent ancestor.
Two grateful lepers are offered for our consideration in this week’s scripture readings, both are Gentiles. The first is Naaman the Syrian. You may recall that he was a general of the army of the King of Aram. At first, he was disappointed that Elisha did not do some outrageous ritual. Instead, he just had him bath in the Jordan seven times. But at the advice of his servant, he did and was cleansed. His gratitude knew no bounds.
The ten lepers that approach Jesus, also in Samaria. Jesus is even less dramatic than Elisha. He simply has them show themselves to the priests to verify that they are now ritually pure and the curse lifted. They go off to do what he says and are healed on the way.
So why the big deal about the Samaritan leper who comes back to give thanks? If you look at it on the face of it, the other nine, apparently Jews, were obedient and presumably did go and show themselves to the priests, just as Jesus instructed them. The Samaritan does not follow instructions. Instead, he returns to give thanks.
The lesson here is that gratitude is the higher virtue. Once they were cured, they could all move about freely anywhere they wanted. They could have gone to the priests first or they could have returned and given thanks first. Only the Samaritan gets it right.
As Christians, when we realize what we have been given, and what we have been forgiven, our first response should always be grateful. It is in the warmth of this gratitude that all our other acts of charity and duty take on luster of grace.
BONUS!
As many of you know, I fly a little airplane around the Alaskan wilderness to many secret fishing holes and a few cabins that people let me use in their kindness. It is a float equipped Citabria 7GCBC with a 160 horse-Lycoming I0-360. It is great for getting me wherever I want to go. Here are some pics of the past summer. Enjoy.
Beautiful photos!