Were Not Ten Made Clean?

Reverend Margaret discusses Jesus’s healing of ten men whose skin diseases had isolated them from society. Of the ten, it was the one foreigner among them, a Samaritan, who came back praising God to thank Jesus. Jesus asks where the other nine were. Why was this man the only one who came back to express his gratitude? Reverend Margaret suggests that being a despised Samaritan this man may have expected to be excluded from Jesus’s command to show themselves to the priests. Would the Jewish rabbi heal him, a Samaritan? When he saw his skin clear and healthy, he realized that he had been included and could not contain his gratitude. Perhaps because he expected less than the others, he was more grateful and readily expressed that gratitude. Higher expectations can result in feelings of entitlement. A sense of entitlement suppresses feelings of gratitude. Do we remember to thank God for what we enjoy: our loved ones, our health, homes, food, water, and independence? Or do we, unconsciously perhaps, think we are entitled to what we have and take it for granted? Let this story of the grateful foreigner cause us pause to remember to be grateful and to express that gratitude.