Thanksgiving, as we all know, is a time to gather with family and friends to thank God for all His blessings, then to make glutens of ourselves. Then comes the morning after, with regret over that third piece of pie and a mess to clean up because everyone left without helping. Oh, and you swear you will never invite Uncle Ralph back until he promises to stop belching at the table and complaining about everything!
Okay, let’s take a step back and think about lepers. That’s right – lepers. Let me start with a bit of leper history during Jesus’ time. First of all, if a leper was Jewish, he was lucky. If he was a Samaritan, not so much, because he was excluded from the temple, which meant he could not seek healing from the temple priests.
If someone contracted leprosy, it was impossible to hide because it was an obvious contagious skin disease. When they were discovered to have it, they were immediately sent to a priest, not a doctor, and if the priest determined it to be leprosy, they would be expelled from the community. Basically, sent away from everyone, including family, and left to fend for themselves, begging daily to survive, until they died and were buried in a pauper’s tomb.
Now think about the ten lepers (Luke 17:10-19) seeing Jesus coming down the road. They begged for him to heal them, but watch what happens. They aren’t instantly healed. He tells them to go and show themselves to the priests. Then the priests could declare them clean, and they could return to their families. The cleansing didn’t happen until they were actually on the road back to their village. No doubt they were all excited and giddy when they got there and were allowed to resume their lives.
But here’s the point of the story: the minute the Samaritan was healed, he turned around, went back, fell at Jesus’ feet, and, with tears of gratitude, thanked Jesus for healing him. He likely felt “less than” everyone else all his life, and everyone in his village certainly made him feel that way. In that moment, Jesus showed him how blessed and loved he was. Jesus ended their encounter by telling him, “Your faith has healed you.”
And the other nine? They gave Jesus a wink and a nod and went right back to living their selfish, miserable lives, forgetting about Jesus until the next time their sorry butts needed saving.
So, what about us? Perhaps after this Thanksgiving, when we have counted our blessings and thanked God for all He has done for us, we could keep being thankful throughout the year and, more importantly, share those blessings with those who are suffering. And maybe cut Uncle Ralph some slack.
