Saint James UCC of Hamburg, NY

Leviticus 14:1-9; Luke 17:11-19

Preached by Rev. Robert Matlack
=================================================

In the time of Jesus there was no known cure for leprosy. There were also very limited in their ability to diagnose diseases, so that typically many other skin diseases were lumped together with leprosy. People were fearful of these afflictions, because they had no ability to cure them. Their solution was to set people with these afflictions apart from everyone else, so that the disease might not be spread by contact.

While that solution protected the rest of society, it was brutal in it's effect on those with the affliction. Not only were they coping with the fear and anguish caused by a disease that no one knew how to cure, but in addition, they literally lost their family, their friends, their home, and everything else. These people were forced to live apart, not approaching anyone who was not similarly afflicted, and being forced to shout "unclean, unclean" if anyone approached them, lest they inadvertently come too close

So it was that as Jesus entered a village between Samaria and Galilee that he was met by ten men suffering from a skin affliction. It's no wonder that there was a group of them, because they could only associate with others similarly afflicted, and it's no wonder that they would approach Jesus, since these were people desperately looking for any possible source of healing and wholeness.

When Jesus saw them, He told them simply to "Go and let the priests examine you". As we heard in our text from Leviticus, the priests were the only ones who could certify that someone was once again clean, and thereby fit to reenter society. There was a whole ritual that had to be undergone. By sending them to the priests, Jesus, in effect, had sent them to be restored to society.

We're told that on the way there they were healed. One of them, on noticing that he was healed, returned to Jesus, praising God in a loud voice and throwing himself to the ground at Jesus' feet to offer Him his thanks. Ten were healed of the skin affliction, but only one returned to say thanks. Only one offered praise to God. And Jesus says to him, "Get up and go; your faith has made you well."

The one who returned received a second healing, a second blessing. The first one which was received by all ten was a healing of the skin, of the affliction that had brought them to Jesus, but the second healing was far deeper. It penetrated to that person's innermost spirit. His faith made him well. He found healing and wholeness in his relationship with God, healing and wholeness that sprang from his spirit of gratitude.

He didn't bemoan all that he had suffered during the time of his affliction. He didn't bemoan all that he had lost. Rather, he was grateful for this new blessing that he had received, a blessing that offered him a new opportunity in life. In gratitude he offered praise to God, and in gratitude and faith he found healing and a new wholeness in his life.

Yet sometimes we find it hard to be grateful. It's easier for us to focus on those things we don't have - those things that we've lost, or that we'd like to have, or those things that we wish we had or hope to have one day. It's easier to focus on those things than it is to focus on the blessings which we have already received. Yet the difference is a profound one. When our focus is on the things we don't have, we never stop to be grateful. We never really appreciate what we have, what we have received. We never offer our praise and thanks to God. We're like the nine in this passage - running off eagerly to claim this new gift and then moving on to look for the next one, without ever stopping to appreciate, to give thanks for what we have.

There's a story about a man who decided to sell his home. He went to see a friend who was in the real estate business. The realtor talked with the man asking him to describe the house so that he might write an advertisement to be put in the newspaper. As the realtor read back to the man what he had written, the home-owner said, "Read that again." The realtor obliged, only to hear this astonishing remark. "The house is not for sale. All my life I've wanted a place just like the one you have described. But I never knew I already had it, until I heard what you have just written about it."

How often are we like this homeowner? We are people who have received many wonderful blessings from God. We don't always appreciate them. We don't always stop to say thanks. Yet how important it is that we do. What a wonderful feeling it is when we finally wake up to what we already have, when we finally realize how blessed we are.

One of the amazing things that happens is described so well in our text from the gospel of Luke. The one who turned back to give thanks had no ulterior motive. He didn't come expecting another blessing or some other gift for himself. He came back just because his heart was filled with gratitude and he wanted to offer his thanks and praise to God and to Jesus. He came freely and openly in gratitude. And then an amazing thing happened. He didn't come back for what he would receive, but he received something anyway. His spirit was touched. His relationship with God weas healed, and he received the greatest gift of all - a gift far greater than the healing of his body that had taken place earlier.

How often that's true for us as well. When we are grateful for what we have received, and we seek to give in gratitude, it often seems that we receive more than we give. The joy, the love, the meaning that we find in reaching out and helping someone else is a special gift indeed.

When our focus is just on what we want - our hurts and pains and needs, our desires and our wishes... When our focus is just on ourselves, then we're like the nine who were healed. When we receive something, we run off without even stopping to say thanks. We aren't really changed inside by the experience - any change is shallow and probably very temporary.

It's when we allow ourselves to feel and really live a sense of gratitude for all the blessings that we have received, that we find something far better. For then we're like the one who returned to give thanks. He came to give, and found that he received even more, because his healing was more than skin deep. It reached to the very depths of his soul, where he found once again how much God loved him.

Amen.