28TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YR C
2Kg 5:14-17; Ps 98
2 Tim 2:8-13; Lk 17:11-19
GENUINE FAITH SHOWS GRATITUDE
In our Gospel for this Sunday, Luke once more presents us with a story where a Samaritan does something that Jesus praises. We heard that Jesus met 10 Lepers who called on him for mercy. Jesus then asked them to go and show themselves to the priest. Then as they went they were cleansed.
Out of the ten only one returned to give thanks. This makes Jesus wonder, where are the other nine? Jesus praises the only one who returns to give thanks and guess what? He is a Samaritan! The others did not bother to return to give thanks.
The nine who did not return to give thanks are like many of us. Many of us forget the Lord, after he has blessed us. We take the blessings we have for granted forgetting that there are many people who do not have what we have now.
Why didn’t the nine return to give thanks? I believe that being Jews, they thought that they deserved it. Thinking that it is their right. Don’t we sometimes feel the same way?
Coming across Jesus, they were just interested in his power to heal them and not to have relationship with the him. They were people who have heard about Jesus and got interested in meeting him one day. But their desire to meet was not because they wanted to know him,they were interested only in what they can gain from him and His power. They were not interested in a relationship with him.
But the Samaritan gives all of us an example to follow; he returned to give thanks to God and Jesus commended him.
The Samaritan is a fascinating good example of gratitude. He was not a Jew, but obeyed Jesus to go and see the Jewish Priest. From all indications, the Jewish Priest would probably not have declared him clean. But he went because Jesus said it. This is the kind of faith that we all need. So Jesus told the Samaritan leper, “your faith has healed you”.
Unlike the other nine, he returned because he desires a relationship with the Lord. He was not only interested in his power. He fell in love with Jesus. Those who return in gratitude are those who have fallen in love with the Lord and not his power.
He was thankful because he recognizes that all he had experienced was by grace. Undeserved favour. He didn’t take it for granted neither did he think that he deserved it.
We must learn from the Samaritan. Our faith should be in the Lord and not his power. We must make Jesus our focus. We must desire to fall in love with him and not his power. We must with great humility, be grateful for all that we have, especially the things of life we take for granted.
We must be grateful for our parents. Our parents are God’s gift to us. We must thank him for them no matter who they are. We must be grateful for our families also and even our country. In appreciation to our parents, we too must serve them and take care of them especially in their old age. The situation these days, where the elderly is abandoned in their old age, is lack of appreciation to God for all that they have done for us. “The man who deserts his father is no better than a blasphemer and whoever angers his mother is accursed of the Lord”. (Ecclesiasticus 3:16)
We must be grateful every day for life. Life is a gift from God. Every day is a present from God for us. We must be grateful.
We must be grateful for all those we come to encounter in our lives. There are times when God has used them to bless us. Sometimes the things that the people bring into our lives are so good that we cannot thank them enough. That is when we should thank God. Even for those who bring us anguish and pain, we learn something to avoid. We must thank God for all of them. Remember that, the one who lacks gratitude does not have faith enough.
Lord, thank you for all that you have done for us. The blessings we have received and especially the ones that are not obvious to us. We bless you thank you.
Have a thankful and blessed week.
By Fr. Delight Arnold Carbonu
