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We just heard the familiar story of how 10 lepers were healed, yet only one of them bothered to thank Jesus.   I suppose the simplest and most direct message of that story, especially on this Thanksgiving weekend, is that we ought to be more grateful for all we have. That’s certainly true in my life. If I thanked God only 10% of the time, for all that I have received, I would be a more grateful person than I am now. Apart from being stories of gratitude, I think the stories presented to us, in both the first reading and the gospel, are also stories of perseverance and faith. The gospel ends not with Jesus taking credit for the cure but saying to the one, grateful leper, “Your faith has made you well.” Perhaps faith leads us, naturally, to gratitude.

Both the first reading and the gospel are stories of someone being healed of leprosy. Both are stories of someone persevering in faith. 

We are told in that first reading about a well-respected commander in the Syrian army named Naaman. (By the way, this is about 800 years before Jesus’ birth, and at that time Syria and Israel were sworn enemies to each other.) The Syrian army commander, Naaman, is suffering from leprosy, but in Syria, unlike in Israel, lepers were not outcasts. Nevertheless, Naaman is not too happy living with this disease. Working in his house is a young Israelite girl who was captured during one of Syrian’s raids into Israel. This Jewish girl tells Naaman that in her country, Israel, there is a powerful prophet named Elisha, who could cure him of his leprosy, and that Naaman should seek him out. Naaman thinks to himself, “Why would a pagan, like me, go to the enemy country, Israel, and seek out one of their prophets?” But the Jewish slave girl was very persistent and convinced Naaman to go.  

Naaman may have been just so desperate for a cure that he would do anything, even venture into enemy territory and seek out a quack healer. Naaman sucks up his pride, crosses the border into Israel, and finds the prophet Elisha’s house. The Prophet Elisha, while he was expecting Naaman, didn’t answer the door when Naaman knocked. Instead, Elisha sent his servant to tell Naaman, that if he wanted to be cured of his leprosy, he was to bathe seven times in the Jordan River which was inside Israel’s boundaries. Naaman was furious that he went all this way, into enemy territory at that, and the prophet Elisha didn’t have the decency to answer the door in person. And now he wants Naaman to bathe in the Jordan River! “What’s wrong with the rivers back home in Syria?” Naaman protests. For the second time, Naaman sucks up his pride and does what the prophet asked him to do—he dunked himself in the Jordan River seven times. When he emerged from the water, the leprosy vanished, his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, he gave up following pagan gods, and returned to the prophet Elisha with a heart full of gratitude. This time when he knocked on the Prophet Elisha’s door, Elisha himself answered it in person. The grateful, Syrian commander, now free from leprosy said to Elisha, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.” Although this important Syrian commander was humbled–not once but twice–he persevered in faith and was so grateful for what God had done for him. He knew Elisha was an instrument in the hands of the one, true God. Perseverance led him to faith, and faith led him to gratitude.

Jump ahead 800 years, and you see the same dynamic is happening in the gospel story of the 10 lepers who were healed by Jesus. What is supposed to be the kicker in the story is that the one grateful leper is a Samaritan, not a Jew. Samaritans were Jews who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel. But they were considered by the Jews in the south, in Judah, to be second-rate Jews. The Jews in the South, with their capital city of Jerusalem and their mighty Temple, considered themselves the “real Jews”. They thought of the Jews in the North as second-rate Jews because they intermarried with pagans and watered down the Jewish faith. Thus, they were considered traitors and should be treated as such. The Jews in the South even refused to acknowledge the Jews in the North as Jews at all, so just called them “Samaritans,” a derogatory title. 

Having leprosy, whether you were a Samaritan from the North or a “real Jew” from the South was serious business. You were despised by both religion and society. Lepers could only return to synagogue or Temple and society by first being declared clean by a priest. Until this happened, you lived a life of quarantine, a life of isolation, a life of loneliness. 

We are to assume that nine out the 10 lepers were Jews, and one was a Samaritan–the grateful one. Being a leper was bad enough but being a Samaritan leper–who was looked down upon by the Jewish lepers–was the bottom of the bottom. Yet it’s this one, the unlikely one, this outsider of all outsiders, who perseveres in his faith, and returns to Jesus with words of thanksgiving and praise. How this must have pleased the Lord. 

This Samaritan could have said, “You want me to follow Jewish law and go present myself to the priest? I don’t think so. I’m a Samaritan, I don’t need to follow your Jewish laws especially from Jews who look down on me and my people.” He didn’t say that. Like Naaman from 800 years prior, he was an outsider. And like Naaman, he persevered in faith, and surrendered to the one, true God. Out of this faith, healing happened, and his heart was filled with gratitude. The healing was fine, but the restoration of relationships with “church” and society was the real gift his heart needed even more. 

Three weeks ago, I had the privilege—in the name of our faith community—of confirming and welcoming to the Lord’s Table a man named Paul Dixon. Paul, with his wife and four children have since moved to Winnipeg. Paul reminded me of Naaman and of the leper who was a Samaritan. Paul, Naaman, and the one, grateful leper in today’s gospel were all outsiders looking in. All of them were responding to God’s promptings in their lives. Paul, Naaman, and the leper, who showed gratitude, are all examples of people of faith. They all had to step into unfamiliar territory, yield to directions given by others, and trust in God with all their might. Paul had no support, from his parents in becoming Roman Catholic.  In fact, Paul’s father, a Protestant minister, felt betrayed that his son would even make such a decision. 

Naaman sought out the Prophet Elisha on the sly. I wish it could have been easier for him. The Samaritan leper, behind the backs of the other nine lepers, sought out Jesus privately. I wish it could have been easier for him. Paul Dixon, without parental support, faithfully worshipped with us and proudly professed his faith among us. I wish it could have been easier for him. As soon as Paul got home, and before the oil had time to dry in his hair, he sent me an e-mail with words that were full of gratitude. As Jesus said to the grateful leper, I wish I could say to you, Paul, “Get up and go on your way…all the way to Winnipeg…your faith has made you well.  

Fr. Phil Mulligan