Reading: Luke 17:11-19
Luke 17:15 – “One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, ‘Praise God!'”
As we begin this week, the Upper Room Disciplines devotional steps outside the lectionary readings today. The addition of today’s Luke 17 passage is in recognition of Thanksgiving Day in Canada. I am grateful because this passage also connects into Philippians 4’s call to always rejoice in the Lord, living as people of thanksgiving and praise.
Today’s story about the healing of the ten lepers is a familiar story. Traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem for the last time, Jesus enters Samaria. Almost all Jews avoided this area. Not Jesus. Along the border, Jesus encounters ten men with leprosy. Their contagious diseases forced them to live outside of society. It also forced them into mixed groups. Only one of the ten is identified as a Samaritan. The other nine, because of the border location, must’ve been Jews.
The ten lepers cry out to Jesus, asking for mercy. He instructs them to go to the priests. As they go, they are healed. Nine continue on to the priests so that they can be declared “clean,” so that they can re-enter society. In verse 15 we read, “One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, ‘Praise God!'” One of them, the one outside of Judaism, returns to thank Jesus. Jesus praises the man’s faith, questioning where the other nine are. We likely do too.
We do so because we are more like the nine than the one. We do not always give thanks for the things that God and others do for us. Maybe we usually intend to but get caught up in the busyness of life – nevermind in the joy of being reunited with family and friends that you’ve been isolated from forever. Reminder COVID? And remember the joy of finally being able to gather in community again? We can relate to the nine. And yet we are called by Jesus’ story to be like the one. We are invited to live with an attitude of gratitude, noticing and taking the time to give thanksgiving and praise for God’s presence and work in our lives. May it be so for us all.
Prayer: Lord God, draw us into a time of reflection right now. Bring to our minds the things that we should’ve been thankful and grateful for but somehow missed or didn’t make the time to offer our thanks. Draw out our praise and thanksgiving right now, in this moment…
Amen.
