“Thanks & Praise” Colchester Federated Church, October 12, 2025, Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Luke 17:11-19)

As we continue exploring stories from the Gospel according to Luke, we witness Jesus traveling along the border between Samaria and Galilee.  Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem.  The shortest distance from Galilee to Jerusalem was through Samaria.  Though we can recall that Jews and Samaritans were enemies.  Enemies to such an extent that Jews often would travel far out of their way to avoid going into Samaria at all. 

Though Jesus and his disciples are right there traveling along the border.  Jesus enters a village and encounters ten men with skin diseases.  Some Bible translations relate that Jesus encountered ten lepers—people who could have been afflicted with leprosy (Hansen’s disease).  At any rate, these men are physically unwell and keep their distance from Jesus.  Society dictated they must do so.  However, they shout so that Jesus can hear them, “Jesus, Master, show us mercy!”[1]  Jesus hears their cries and sees them off in the distance, responding with, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”[2] 

In order to be welcomed back into their villages, to be welcomed back into society, Jews who had skin diseases like leprosy had to be declared free of the disease by a priest.[3]  We cannot be certain if these men are mostly Jews with just one Samaritan among them or all Samaritans.  What we know is that these folks are quite literally on the outskirts of society and excluded because of their physical afflictions.  Theirs would have been a lonely road to walk, and it makes sense that they found strength in each other.

 Jesus is focused on healing these folks and restoring them to their communities.  He would have understood the lonely road and wanted to help them be part of their families and larger communities once again.  This is what Jesus often did when it came to healing those who were suffering in body, mind, or spirit.  The Gospels are full of healing stories.  Jesus became known far and wide as a healer. 

We might go so far as to say that Jesus understood healing in a holistic way—that people need to be treated as a whole person.  Because it’s not always helpful to only focus on the physicality of a person, on the disease or the ailment in the body, and not on the mental, emotional, and spiritual health of the person.  Theologian Teilhard de Chardin famously said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.  We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”  Another way to think about this is recognizing the connection among our minds, bodies, and spirits.  There is more to all of us than just what we see on the outside when we encounter one another face to face.  There is more to all of us than meets the eye.

So as those men leave Jesus’ presence in our Gospel story, they are cleansed and healed of their diseases.  Jesus tells them to show themselves to the priests in order to be mentally, emotionally, and spiritually healed if you will.  Though here’s what’s striking about this Gospel story—of those ten people who were healed, only one returns to thank Jesus and praise God.  All of them listen to Jesus and believe that what he says will come to pass.  Because they do “go” as Jesus instructed.  Though only one returns.  This person falls on his face at Jesus’ feet to thank him—an action that showed respect.  Luke tells us that this thankful person happened to be a Samaritan.  Jesus responds to this grateful Samaritan, “Weren’t ten cleansed?  Where are the other nine?  No one returned to praise God except this foreigner? . . . Get up and go.  Your faith has healed you.”[4]

Gratitude is powerful.  There was an article in Psychology Today about what gratitude really is and the effects that gratitude has on us as human beings.  We can define gratitude as “the expression of appreciation for what one has.”[5]  Gratitude is independent of monetary worth and wealth.  Gratitude can be spontaneous and generated from within.  This is an expression of warmth and goodness.  Gratitude is a social emotion that strengthens relationships and it ends up that “its roots run deep in evolutionary history—emanating from the survival value of helping others and being helped in return.”[6] 

The late Dr. John Cacioppo had this evolutionary theory of loneliness that humans survived as a species not because of physical advantages like strength, speed, or size.  We survived as a species because of our ability to connect in social groups.  We survived because of our ability to work together across our differences.  Humans share information and emotions with one another.  Humans have the ability to communicate and work together.[7]  We need to remember this in our increasingly divisive society where it feels like it’s often “us” versus “them.” 

There are even physical effects that can be measured when it comes to gratitude.  Brain scans have been conducted on people assigned a task that stimulated an expression of gratitude.  These scans show that there are changes in our prefrontal cortex.  This is what some folks call our personality centers, the part of our brain that helps with executive functions like making decisions, planning, regulating our emotions, or remembering things.  We can start having heightened sensitivity to gratitude.  And as Psychology Today shares “people who are grateful feel less pain, less stress, suffer insomnia less, have stronger immune systems, experience healthier relationships, and do better academically and professionally.  Overall it can boost both your mental and your physical health.”[8] 

Though here’s what is amazing about gratitude.  It’s not just a spontaneous feeling that comes and goes.  Gratitude can be cultivated.  That is what makes gratitude as a practice so life-changing.  We can make conscious efforts to count our blessings.  We can keep a journal or find some way to note the big and small joys of living every day.  For “this is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” [9]  We can write down “three good things” identifying three specific things that have gone well for us and take the time to identify the cause.  Another way to cultivate gratitude is to write a thank you note to someone, let that person know what you are grateful for when it comes to their presence in your life.  We also can intentionally think about people who have inspired us, considering what was so significant about that person.  Another idea is a practice called “mental subtraction” where we imagine how our lives would look if something positive had not happened.  That can really put things into perspective as we consider nurturing gratitude as a practice and not just as an emotion that comes and goes.

At the end of the day, Jesus healed ten people in that village.  One came back to express gratitude to Jesus for quite literally changing his life.  One Samaritan fell down at Jesus’ feet to thank him and to praise God for it all.  Hopefully the nine who did not return to Jesus were at least grateful internally.  I am hopeful that gratitude was expressed upon being reunited with their loved ones and their respective communities.  And perhaps that gratitude would have had lasting effects on those who were healed.  Though the power of gratitude is that it can extend inward and outward.  Gratitude has this way of spreading and emanating out into the world to create a better way for everyone.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

[1] Luke 17:13, CEB.
[2] Luke 17:14, CEB.
[3] Footnote on Luke 17:14 in The CEB Study Bible with Apocrypha, pg. 146 NT.
[4] Luke 17:17-19, CEB.
[5] “Gratitude” on Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/gratitude
[6] “Gratitude” on Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/gratitude
[7] As shared by Vivek H. Murthy in Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World.
[8] “Gratitude” on Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/gratitude
[9] Psalm 118:24, NRSVUE.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash