14th Sunday after Trinity, 19 Sep 1954"
19 September 1954, St. John’s Chapel
Luke 17:11-19: “And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.”
In the Gospel for today we have the cleansing of the ten lepers. Only one of the ten came back to give thanks for his recovery. And he was a Samaritan. Our Lord expresses His disappointment on the want of gratitude of the other nine. In the course of everyday life, how frequently we grumble, how rarely do we express gratitude. So it is in our spiritual life – we ask for things, we complain if we do not receive them and we do not turn to God and say ‘Thank you’ for the many blessings that we enjoy – health, home, happiness, food, friends, holidays etc. We have assumed that God has forgiven us and not been grateful.
In the Epistle we are give what are described as the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit. Some of these, perhaps, are found in us to some degree. We have taken them for granted and failed to show our appreciation. In future as we remember the way in which the Samaritan came back to thank Jesus, let us resolve that our lives, lived by the guidance and in the power of the Holy Spirit, shall be lives of thanksgiving.
And in the words of the General Thanksgiving, let us ‘show forth His praise not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to His service, and by walking before Him in holiness and righteousness all our days.’