Gratitude and Compassion
The Gospel reading for this Sunday (Luke 17:11-19) is the Gospel reading usually used for Masses celebrated on Thanksgiving Day. It makes sense that this is so, as one of the ten lepers that Jesus cleansed makes a point of returning to Jesus to give thanks, glorifying God.
Gratitude is such an important part of being Christian and of having peace in one’s heart.
This account also speaks to me of other considerations. This is because Luke tells us that the one leper who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan. In fact, Jesus remarks, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” I can’t help but think that Jesus was making these remarks for the benefit of those who may have watched what was going on.
I also wonder whether these were ten isolated individuals who just happened to come to Jesus at the same time, or had they been living together as outcasts from society? Were there both Jews and Samaritans in this group? If it was the case that they were a mixed group of Jews and Samaritans living together, this story has much to tell us in these times.
I have often thought that the reason the other nine did not also return was because they were so anxious to get back to their former lives, while the one who did return was not going back to an old life, but starting a new one because of his encounter with Christ.
But my hope is that all ten lepers had been changed from their experience as lepers. I wonder whether they viewed lepers differently, now. Many people in Jesus’ time would have looked upon lepers as sinners who were being punished by God. Could these ones who were cleansed look now at other lepers with compassion and empathy? Could the Jews and Samaritans now put aside whatever prejudices and stereotypes they may have learned about the other, and see the other group as human beings?
It is a cliché to talk about walking a mile in another’s shoes to truly understand them. And yet it still seems to be a challenge we are often unwilling to take up. We can make assumptions about undocumented immigrants or Muslims or transgender people or people of color or liberals or conservatives or whatever group you’d like to mention without making the effort to understand.
Does our encounter with Christ in the Eucharist open us up to have compassion for others, even those who are different from us?
In our second reading (2 Timothy 2:8-13), St. Paul writes: “Beloved: remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David: such is my gospel, for which I am suffering, even to the point of chains, like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.” When we decide for ourselves that others are inherently evil and therefore outside of God’s love, are we not trying to put God’s word “in chains?” To put it more forcefully, when we deny God’s love for others, whoever they might be; whatever they might do, are we not denying Him? They may be as evil as we think they are, even though I doubt that is true for all of whatever group to which we are hostile; the fact remains that God loves them, and even though we may have to stand up for what is right and work against injustice, whatever we do is to be done in love, as Jesus commands.
May our hearts be opened and our lives changed with every encounter we have with Christ, and may we be always grateful to God.
I welcome any comments or questions. Thanks for your time.
In Christ,
Phil, CP
