THE ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

 

Homily for the Twenty-eight Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Scriptural Texts: 2 Kings 5:14-17, 2 Timothy 2:8-13, Luke 17:11-19

 

Our gospel reading of this twenty-eight Sunday is on the story of the healing of the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19). Leprosy is a horrible disease. It attacks the body, leaving sores, missing fingers, missing toes, and damaged limbs. In many cases, the initial pain of leprosy gives way to something more terrible than that - a loss of sensation in nerve endings, leading to more damage to more body parts. But that is not all. The emotional pain that a leper experienced especially in the time of Jesus was even worse than the physical pain. For instance, lepers were excluded from their family and the rest of the people. They were not allowed to have contact with the normal people for fear of infecting them with their deadly affliction.

They usually walked from place to place, in groups, begging for alms and shouting ‘unclean’ as they walked in order to alert and warn others of their presence so that they could keep a distance from them. It is even believed that in the time of Jesus, lepers had a bell tied to their bodies which rang as they walked to signal their dreaded presence. The ten lepers in the gospel reading must have been on their routine walk in search of food and alms when they encountered Jesus. When they met Jesus, they forgot their need for physical food and requested for supernatural healing instead. They were looking for a temporal solution to their hunger and thirst but met a permanent cure to their disease and affliction. Their request was clear and direct: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (Luke 17:13). You yourself, what do you need from Jesus? One of the reasons why our prayer is without focus is mainly because we do not really know what we need (from God).

In response to their request, Jesus asked them to go show themselves to the priests as the Law prescribed. In the Jewish tradition, the priest also acted as a health official. For instance, if someone was miraculously healed of leprosy, it was up to the priest to inspect the body, to test for a complete removal of the disease, and to certify the person healed (Leviticus 14:1-2). This is the reason why Jesus sent them to show themselves to the priests. On their way, they noticed that they had been healed. They were all excited at the discovery. They all celebrated but it was only one of them that stopped and headed back to return thanks to God for the wonders He had done in his life. Most often, we too celebrate our wins and gains without remembering to give thanks to the one who made our win and success possible.

It is possible that the other nine also had the intention of going back to Jesus to give thanks but they first wanted to get the confirmation from the priests that they were truly healed. Here, the attitude of the nine is like our own attitude. We want to have all our problems sorted out before we can thank God for the good things he has been doing in our life so far. We put off acts of gratitude and thanksgiving. Today, we are reminded to always give thanks to God. Like Naaman in the first reading who was also healed of leprosy, our attitude towards God should be that of gratitude.

Our gratitude adds nothing to God. Our gratitude to God is rather for our own good as it profits us for salvation. By coming back, the Samaritan gained salvation in addition to healing. The other nine lepers were healed, but they were not saved. Lastly, the ten lepers were of mixed nationalities- Jews and Samaritans. The Jews and Samaritans were enemies. But when one is inflicted with leprosy (adversity), differences cease to be barrier to fellowship- Jews and Samaritans unite. The leprous situation of our country Nigeria calls for unity of purpose. Like the lepers who united in their misery despite their differences, we too are encouraged to sheathe our swords of ethnic and religious differences and come together to choose a leader competent enough to salvage the decaying situation of Nigeria. May God heal us of every infirmity and restore our world to wholeness.