October 11 - Reflections on Thanksgiving in 2020
Deborah Laforet
Luke 17:11-19
And One Returned
The passage Findlay read for us today is one we hear often on Thanksgiving. We hear about these ten lepers who were healed by Jesus, of which only one returns to say thank you. We usually hear a note a judgement for the other nine who didn’t show up, who carelessly forgot to thank Jesus for healing them of a horrific skin disease.
I wonder though if we might look at it slightly differently this year. We have ten lepers, ten people with horrific skin diseases that has left them ostracized from their communities. They plead for mercy from Jesus, a man who is rumoured to have performed miraculous acts of healing. Jesus has compassion on them and instructs them to show themselves to the priest. The only reason these people with skin disease would show themselves to a priest would be if they were clean of the disease, so the priest could declare them clean. So, of course, they all rush to the priest, hoping for the best.
On their way, they all healed. All ten. Now, Jesus later says to the one who returns, “Your faith has healed and saved you.” Now remember, all ten were healed, so it’s not that the other nine weren’t faithful. I imagine there are a variety of reasons why the other nine didn’t return. Jesus said them to go show yourselves to the priest. Maybe some feared that if they didn’t follow these instructions to the letter, their disease would return. Maybe others had their families to consider. They wanted to show themselves to the priest and immediately go find their families, that they hadn’t seen in who knows how long. Or maybe some of them had friends who also had this disease and it was their priority to go to the priest and then share the news of this miraculous person with these wonderful healing powers, with their friends in hopes that they too could be healed.
When one suddenly has their whole life changed in an instant, who knows in what direction they would go, but of the ten, one stopped. One suddenly saw their body healed, realized their whole life was going to change, and instead of going anywhere, stopped. This one turned back, kneeled at the feet of Jesus and said thank you.
What if Jesus wasn’t condemning the nine that didn’t return but putting special emphasis on the one who did. I’m sure Jesus didn’t heal people for the gratitude, but I wonder how often was Jesus thanked? How often did people take a moment after Jesus healed them,, to stop, breathe, and say thank you, offer gratitude for such an enormous gift?
How often do we remember to offer gratitude, to stop, step on the brakes, be still, to take a moment in our busy, hectic lives, to stop what we’re doing, and be grateful, to actually kneel and praise God for the gifts in our lives. I think we all can, figuratively, kneel and cry out to the divine when we are in need, when we are hurting, but how many of us do the same when we are joyful, when we are feeling joy for something extraordinary in our lives.
Once a year is not enough. I’m glad we have the opportunity to give thanks on this day, give thanks for the food at our tables, give thanks for the earth, give thanks for the loving relationships in our lives, but once a year is not enough. What if we took time once a day? What might that look like? How might we all live differently if we took time each day to say thank you, no matter what is happening in our lives, and I know that many of us find it difficult some days to articulate for what we might be thankful. It’s a practice. The more we do it, the better at it we get.
One leper turned back. It happened to be the one who was marginalized and stigmatized in several different ways, for his skin disease and for his race as a Samaritan, This one stopped in his tracks, stopped what he was doing to return to this holy man who had given him back his life.
Let’s take a moment now to practice. I invite you to think for what you might kneel at the feet of Jesus to say thank you. Take a moment, write it down, say it out loud, or ponder in silence. For what are you thankful today?
May we find the time regularly to give thanks, to acknowledge that we are surrounded by a wondrous and mysterious world and the abundance of life in creation. May we stop and be still and remember the healing, forgiveness, grace, and love that surrounds us through others and by the Spirit. Go out into the world and express that thanksgiving and share that love. Thanks be to God. Amen.