Gratitude
A Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Blessing of the Animals
October 9, 2022
The Rev. Robin Teasley
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." Luke 17:11-19
Our Gospel reading this morning shows us what it looks like to be transformed from exile to wholeness, how gratefulness has the power to transform our lives. It’s a story about ten people with leprosy who were healed by Jesus. Leprosy was a general name given to any kind of disfiguring skin disease. Anyone with leprosy could have no physical contact with other human beings. Whenever anyone passed by the lepers had to cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!” They were exiled from the community, away from family, work, and friends, as well as worship. If they were somehow cured of the disease, they were required to go to the priest to be certified as clean, and then had to make a sacrifice before being allowed back into the community.
I think we’ve had a small glimpse of this kind of exclusion thanks to the COVID virus. Unclean! Wear a mask! Get a vaccine and all the boosters! Do a take home test to be sure! And still we wait for the world to be made well. So perhaps we can begin to imagine how it might have felt to be someone with leprosy in the first century.
Jesus healed ten lepers that day, but only one of the lepers returns to Jesus. This leper praises God with a loud voice, prostrates himself at the feet of Jesus and thanks him. The healed man is grateful. Now Jesus noticed, and so do we, that the other nine did not say thank you and to our knowledge they did not write Jesus a thank you note either. And this was a great gift, this healing from disease. It allowed them to return to their community, to fulness of life.
The grateful tenth leper did not go back with the other nine; he refused to be separated from the one who gave him life. He understood, even more than the others, what it meant to receive the healing love of Jesus, and he responded to that love with abandon. He thanked Jesus, but this was not a simple obligatory thank you note. This was total, uninhibited gratitude!
The tenth leper does not return to the way things used to be. He turns and changes direction, moving toward Jesus with joyful praise. Is a life of praise and thanksgiving something that we can choose? I believe it is. The tenth leper believed it as well and embodied it as he turned toward Jesus. How can we practice gratitude here in this community, even though the world around us can sometimes feel like exile?
Take a moment to think about things in your life
for which you are thankful.
As I see all of you here, I am thankful to be here in this beautiful place, with hints of fall color peeking out, and the sun warming the chilly air. I am thankful for creation in general, and in particular for the animals in our lives that bring us such joy.
Our pets love us with unconditional love. They are one of the best examples of what unconditional love looks like. They are grateful for any kindness we show them, they are faithful and funny, smart and goofy, obedient and mischievous, and loyal to the end.
We bless our pets on the Feast of St. Francis in thankfulness for the ways they have blessed our lives. St. Francis was one who recognized this innocent faithfulness and love in God’s creatures.
Most of us know something about Francis, the patron saint of animals. You can find statues of Francis in gardens everywhere, often holding a bowl for seed or water for the birds, and usually there is a bird perched on his shoulder.
Francis was a monk who lived in the 12th and 13th centuries. He was the founder of the Franciscans, a monastic order for men who lived in strict and absolute poverty. He also founded an order for women, the Order of St. Clare. His father was a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi.
Once, while on a pilgrimage to Rome, Francis spent some time begging with the beggars at St. Peter's, and when he came in contact with a leper, the experience moved him to leave the family wealth and live in poverty, helping others.
He believed that nature itself was the mirror of God. It is said that one day, while Francis was traveling with some companions, he stopped at a place in the road and preached a sermon to the birds in the trees. The birds were intrigued by the power of his voice, and not one of them flew away. There are a number of stories about St. Francis, all making clear that until his death, Francis completely identified with the poverty and suffering of Christ, ever grateful to God for the beauty of creation.
Gratefulness is what keeps us moving toward Jesus, toward wholeness, toward life. Gratitude becomes easier to choose as we practice it. When we express it in word and in deed, we not only grow in thankfulness, but we become an example for others, and all of us receive the healing power of God.
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