To be a leper in Jesus’ day and age was to be . . .

To be a leper in Jesus’ day and age was to be both an outcast and an outsider.  You were not permitted to work or worship in the synagogue.  You were not permitted to attend community events or even to live in town.  In short, you were forbidden from engaging in social interaction of any kind—which is why, when a group of lepers learn that Jesus is heading in their direction, they do not rush to his side.  Instead, they stand at a safe distance, shouting at the top of their lungs, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

Jesus responds by giving them an order: “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”  And just like that, they are on their way.  None of them asks why, or whether this will, in fact, result in their being made well.  They just do as they are told, and somewhere between Jesus and the priests, the scabs on their skin start going away, and the feeling begins to return to their once numb limbs.  Miraculously, they have been cured.

Now, nine of them continue on to the priests, just as Jesus had told them, in order to be officially certified as “clean” and restored to society.  However, one does not do as he was told.  One, upon realizing that he is healed, turns back, and throws himself at Jesus’ feet, praising God and giving thanks.

The emotional display obviously impresses Jesus, because he immediately asks: “Were not ten made clean?  But the other nine, where are they?  Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”  And then, turning toward the Samaritan, Jesus adds, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well”—or as it literally says in the Greek, “Your faith has saved you.”  In other words, all ten lepers are healed, but only one finds salvation!

But wait a minute here.  Didn’t Jesus tell all ten to go show themselves to the priests?  And aren’t the other nine doing precisely as they were told?  Isn’t the one who returns, in fact, not doing as he was told?  So why is he suddenly receiving special treatment?  Why is he the only one who is “saved”?  What’s going on here?

This is a strange story, to be sure.  But I wonder if the lesson here is that it is not enough simply to receive a blessing; we also need to recognize it as a blessing, and thus, give thanks for it as a blessing.  This coming Thursday—Thanksgiving Day—most of us will gather around tables laden with food, amidst family and friends, and we will give thanks to God for our many blessings.  But perhaps before we do so, we ought to take a moment to recognize them as blessings.  Take a moment to realize that what we enjoy are not rights or rewards for good behavior; they are gifts, pure and simple.  Then, and only then, will we truly be able to express thanksgiving!