Giving Thanks

Moment of Clarity With Rev. Lorrie Daly-Price

This week in our gospel reading from Luke we find Jesus in a village between Galilee and Samaria. He has met a group of ten people with leprosy who cry out to him for mercy. In their sickness, in their loneliness, in their poverty, they reached out for help. Jesus responded in a way that far exceeded anything they could ever have expected. Instead of tossing them a few coins or bit of food (things which might Microsoft Word - Oct 11 202 Newsletter v1 seem to help but were really only answering the symptoms of their sickness) Jesus went to the problem itself, and healed them. For nine of the ten, this was where their encounter with Jesus ended. We hear nothing more about them. We hear nothing about what paths their lives took, not even how (or if) they took advantage of their new status as cleansed individuals. They were no longer outcasts but full and welcome members of society. Did they use their renewed contact with people in a positive way? They were cleansed, and the last picture we have is of them scurrying down the road (off to the priests who would certify their new condition). That is except for the one who found it in himself to return to Jesus in gratitude.