Today’s gospel reading is the traditional one for Thanksgiving, focusing on the story of the ten lepers and particularly on the one who returned to thank Jesus. It is a story that reminds us of the importance of simply giving thanks, but I want to focus on another aspect of the story. Yes, it is a story about giving thanks, but it is also a story about healing and wholeness. 

 Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He is going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. There he encounters a group of lepers. They are Jews and Samaritans bound together by this dreaded disease. They had heard of Jesus, and approaching him, they called from a distance: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” And Jesus does. He cures them and sends them to the priests to be declared clean. This is the only way that they could return to their families and communities. When one of them realizes that he has been cured, he turns back, praising God with a loud voice. He falls to Jesus’ feet and thanks him. And he was a Samaritan.  

Jesus wonders what happened to the other nine. Were not all ten made clean? He points out that only this foreigner returned to give praise to God. And then he says to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” 

An interesting thing about this is that it is the first time in the passage that the Greek word, “sozo,” is used.  The word “sozo” means to be made well, or to be healed.  It can also mean to be saved. When someone’s sins are forgiven in the New Testament, they are “sozo-ed” When someone enters the kingdom of God, they are “sozo-ed” When someone is healed, they are often “sozo-ed”.  

Now here is what is interesting: only one of the ten lepers that is healed is “sozo-ed”, the one who give thanks. All ten were cured but only one healed  and there is a vast difference between being cured and being healed. Think of the one who returned to Jesus as receiving something more. Think of him as entering into a life-giving, healing, loving relationship with Jesus, a relationship that doesn’t wait for heaven but begins here and now. This is what Jesus wants for every one of us. 

So, what did this leper do that made the difference between being cured and being healed? 

All ten lepers were cured but only one of them saw that he was healed and it was only when he saw that he was healed that he returned to Jesus.  

Christianity has sometimes been described as a particular way of looking at the world, a particular way of seeing, and I think that is true. Christians see the world differently. The Samaritan saw that he was healed, and he turned around to go back to Jesus and praise God for this gift. He saw what the other lepers did not. 

We as Christians see the world differently. We see God at work in our world. And we see God at work in our lives. It’s not that God isn’t at work in the lives of others, but we are blessed to see it, through the eyes of faith. And when we look at the world through our eyes of faith, we cannot help but see God’s presence, love and mercy everywhere. 

This one leper saw clearly that God was at work in Jesus Christ so he turned back to Jesus, praising God with a loud voice. Think about that. Think about how hard it must have been for this leper to turn back. 

Turning back is never easy to do. We want, most of the time, to move forward. And you can imagine how hard it must have been for this man. Because of his leprosy, he has been separated from his family, his home, and his community. That was the law at the time. No exceptions. And now he is healed of this leprosy. All he has to do is show himself to the priest, and then he can be reunited with his friends and family. Who would want to delay that? Who would want to turn back at that moment? But he does, because he sees that he is healed, and because he knows who healed him. And because he wants to praise God and thank Jesus for his miracle. So he sees, and turns back. And of course, after he finds Jesus again, he falls at his feet and thanks him. That’s the next thing that this leper does that is different: He thanks Jesus. This is obviously why this story is so often used at Thanksgiving. This leper models for us an attitude of gratitude which so integral to our Christian faith. 

It’s easy to be thankful when things are going well, not so easy when we are being challenged but as Christians, we are to be thankful in all circumstances and this is not always easy. 

We are taught to give thanks in all circumstances. And one of the most powerful examples of this takes in the upper room, at the last supper On the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus “took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And after supper, he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’” 

You all know this prayer; we hear it every Sunday when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. But think about when Jesus prays this prayer: The night on which he was betrayed, the night before he was crucified. We might expect a prayer of thanks after Jesus is raised from the dead, but we won’t find one there. Jesus gives thanks when things are at their darkest. Which is part of what makes it such a powerful prayer. It reminds us in a powerful way that you and I can be thankful in all circumstances, at all times and in all places. Because regardless of what is going in our life, we are blessed to have a God who loves us, who is present with us in our suffering, and who has given his son to us to free us from all fear. 

This particular leper sees that he is healed, and he wants to give thanks. So he turns back and falls at Jesus’ feet and thanks him, but that’s not the end of it. He now has a relationship with Jesus, he is giving thanks to the one who healed him; he’s not simply thankful. He is giving thanks to the One who healed him, which the other nine lepers do not, they went on their way, healed / cured and able to return to their families and community but that is as far as it went. It is the relationship that the one leper now has with Jesus that makes him whole. 

There are many ways we can be cured in our present times: medical advancements, doctors, surgeons and modern medicine can do amazing things, but the story of the leper reminds us that there is one thing that no medical skills or knowledge can achieve and that is to be healed, to be made whole. There will never be a medical advancement that will offer that. It comes from Jesus. And we receive it through faith. 

And that is the last thing that this leper does that is different. He places his faith in Jesus, and by doing so receives the pearl of great price – healing, wholeness, salvation. Medicine can cure us of many things these days. But it cannot make us whole. Physical healing is important and necessary but our relationship with God is eternal, and God cares about that even more than physical healing. 

Jesus physically healed people to show us that God does care about that, and to assure us that in the end we will all be healed. But, really, God cares much more about our relationship with Jesus. That is what will make us whole and bring us salvation. Amen.

 

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