The Gratitude of Inclusion

Based on Luke 17:11-19
First delivered Oct. 13, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr


            It came just in time. Last year, it seemed that the entire marching band season for Westerville North, both the football games and the contests, it was raining. Last October was so wet. And it was cold. The weather was consistently awful every weekend of October and early November. And for the past several years, North did not have band raincoats. They used to. But they were ruined when they were stored in a closet while they were still wet. When the closet was opened the next season to pull them out, they were all moldy. They were ruined. So, it was cheap ponchos, because marching band raincoats are expensive. It would take a number of years, and lots of fundraising, until finally there was enough money to buy the marching band raincoats. This summer, there was enough. The raincoats were ordered. And we waited for two months, hoping the coats would arrive before we would need them.

            Amazingly, the weather this year has been great. A little hot sometimes, but no rain. Until this past Friday. Rain was in the forecast. And raincoats arrived at the high school. Just in time. Under a gentle rain, the marching band made their way to the football field wearing their new raincoats, put immediately to use. That the raincoats arrived mere hours before they were needed filled us all with wonder and a good deal of gratitude. A few people thought it was divine intervention. After the absolutely miserable weather last year, it’s as if God held off the rain until the raincoats arrived. It was so wonderful. We couldn’t help but be grateful. And there were a few of us who gave thanks to God. The kids won’t be shivering underneath a thin sheet of cheap plastic, but now will be dry and warm in their lined raincoats so they can focus on playing their best and making great memories. Praise God.

            When things like this happen: what you need arrives just in time, something you have been working hard for finally gets done, something you worried about is now taken care of, the natural response is to be grateful. Gratitude, appreciation for what you have or what you have been given, it sometimes bursts out with a shout. You throw your hands up and shout “Yes!” Or maybe it’s a more intimate and peace-filled sigh of relief that everything is going to be ok. We can express our gratitude in a number of ways. But gratitude has to be expressed somehow. It is a spontaneous feeling that needs to come out.

            This morning we heard the story of a man, a Samaritan, who was healed by Jesus of his leprosy. As he and the other nine were making their way to Jerusalem to show themselves to the priests, as Jesus had told them, they noticed that all of a sudden their leprosy was gone. They were clean. While the others, I’m sure with gratitude and full of joy, rushed to Jerusalem so they could be declared clean and finally be able to worship in the Temple again, the Samaritan expressed his gratitude another way. He turned around and went back up the road to where Jesus was, shouting his praise to God all the way until he got to Jesus, fell at his feet, and gave thanks.

            Why did this Samaritan leave the rest and go back to Jesus to say thanks? Jesus wanted to know. He asked, rhetorically, “Were not ten made clean? Where are the other nine?” I can’t imagine the others weren’t grateful for their healing. But only this Samaritan went back, even before getting to the priests, to first give thanks to Jesus. Was there a special reason why he turned back? I wonder if he really thought he would be healed. I wonder if he really thought the priests would even see him. Maybe, for the Samaritan, showing himself to the priests was unnecessary. They wouldn’t have let him in the Temple anyway.

            Let me give you some backstory. You all have probably heard that in those days Samaritans and Jews did not get along. There was some history between these two ethnic groups that left behind a good deal of bad blood. They tried to stay away from each other and that was mutual. If a Jew was in Galilee and wanted to go to Jerusalem, instead of cutting through Samaria, they would take a longer route just to avoid walking through Samaritan territory. Obviously, you wouldn’t find a lot of Samaritans in Jerusalem. They stayed away from each other. It was mutual disdain.

            Considering their mutual hostility, it may be surprising that this Samaritan leper was hanging out with these Jewish lepers. We assume they were Jews. After all, that’s what Jews were supposed to do. In order to become ritually clean so they could go worship in the Temple after getting leprosy, they had to show themselves to the priests. That’s not something Samaritans needed to do. They wouldn’t be allowed in the Temple anyway. Nor would they want to go there. They believed they had their own way of worshipping God without need for the Temple in Jerusalem. For example, Samaritans only considered the first five books of the Old Testament as scripture. And they had built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim and claimed that spot as the dwelling place of God. That was part of the hostility between the two groups. They both worshipped God but they had different ways of doing it. So, these religious differences split them apart.

            But in this case, the Samaritan was living with all those Jews. The division between the Samaritans and Jews became a bit fuzzy because of a much larger commonality: they were all lepers. And leprosy was a disease that drove all of them out into the wilderness, cut off from the larger community, so they wouldn’t contaminate anyone else. They were together in their mutual isolation from the larger society. In their current state, none of them could worship in the Temple in Jerusalem: all of them because they were lepers and the Samaritan because of his ethnicity. They were all in the same boat. The Samaritan/Jew division was swallowed up by their mutual experience of being pushed out of society because of their common illness. They were all outcasts.

            So, here’s the thing: once they were all healed of their leprosy, now all of a sudden the common denominator of being outcasts was removed. The old animosity between Jews and Samaritans could raise its ugly head again. They no longer shared the identity of leper. Now they were Jews or Samaritans again. I wonder how long it took for the old animosity to rise up. I wonder if while the Jews saw that they were healed, they anticipated getting to Jerusalem while the Samaritan began to slow up a little bit.

            As the Jews headed to Jerusalem to show themselves to the priests and be declared clean, perhaps the Samaritan wondered if the priests would even look at him. Maybe, for the Samaritan, there was no reason for him to keep going to Jerusalem. What difference would it make if the priests declared him clean anyway. He wouldn’t be allowed in the Temple because he was a Samaritan. And he really wasn’t interested in worshipping at that Temple. So, perhaps he thought he might as well turn back and show himself to the one who made it possible for God to cleanse him. He would go back to Jesus, the Jew, who included him in the healing.

            And that makes me wonder if the Samaritan, in his heart, didn’t think he would be healed. After all, Jesus was a Jew. Of course he would cure his brothers in the faith of their leprosy so they could worship at the Temple in Jerusalem again. But why would Jesus bother healing a Samaritan? Why would a Samaritan even matter to Jesus? Amazingly, he got healed too. Jesus the Jew included him, a Samaritan, in the healing. To this Samaritan, to be included in the healing must have felt like truly a gift of mercy. The lepers had cried out to Jesus, “Have mercy on us!” I’m sure the Jews felt like Jesus had shown mercy to them. But the Samaritan…even more so. Jesus didn’t have to do it. The Samaritan did not for one second take this healing for granted. Even though he was a despised Samaritan he was healed too. His gratitude toward Jesus was overwhelming. Whether he ever went to Jerusalem or not may be beside the point. He had to go to Jesus, the Jew who included him, to humbly throw himself at Jesus’ feet and express his deep gratitude. Do you think when Jesus asked where the other nine were, that he was indirectly poking at the ancient Jew/Samaritan divide?

            It really feels good to be included for a change. Gratitude naturally springs forth when you receive something good that you expected others to receive but not yourself. Can you think of a time when you were included when you didn’t expect to be? Maybe it was when you got picked in the schoolyard to play on someone’s team. Or it was you who got called on to share your opinion. Someone asked you for advice for a change. You got moved up to first class to fill an empty seat. More tables and chairs were brought in so that the group you were in could come in from outside and join everyone else for the dinner and program. It does feel good to be included, especially when you feel like you are always being excluded or overlooked.  I can imagine that, for this Samaritan, being included in the healing was a big part of why he came running to Jesus full of praise for God so that he could tell Jesus thank you. To receive something good when you don’t expect it is a cause for gratitude.

            So, I have a challenge for us this week. During the week, I want each of us to be aware of what opportunities might come up where you can include someone who is being left out, or give somebody something good they didn’t expect. Do something for somebody that would cause them to need to express gratitude. Whether they end up saying thank you to you, or to God, or both, it doesn’t matter. What can you do this week that will cause another to be grateful? And while you’re at it, try to notice the little things that come your way, the small blessings that you didn’t expect: a parking space up front, never having to stop at a red light, having just enough change, hearing that favorite song on the radio that you haven’t heard in years. Notice what you receive this week for which you can be grateful. Express your gratitude to God and, if it’s applicable, let that person know you are grateful. Let us all seek to generate more gratitude in the world this week. That in itself can provide some healing in these times of divisiveness. Generating gratitude might help bring people together instead of push people apart. Gratitude can help make us whole. Gratitude is healing medicine.