WE ARE THE LEPERS

Wednesday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 17:11-19

Have you thanked God today? I mean, thanked God verbally, orally, expressively, loudly, even with singing and dancing, and not silently or inwardly or quietly only as most people do?

Remember the Blessed Virgin Mary. God considered her lowliness and chose her to be the mother of His Son. Without ceasing to be humble, she sang the “Magnificat” in thanksgiving to God. Zechariah, too, when he regained his speech at the birth of his son, John the Baptist, sang the “Benedictus”. The same is true with old Simeon who trusted God’s promise to him that he would not see death without seeing the promised Messiah. He sang upon recognizing the baby Jesus in the temple. In the Old Testament, people say thank you to God through songs. Moses, his brother, Aaron, and their sister, Miriam sang after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. David, the shepherd-king, has a whole book in the Old Testament containing his psalms to God. Daniel sang with three angels in a burning furnace

Filipinos are a singing people too. We love to sing. We also love to dance. Have we sang and dance for God lately? Have we given Him a PDA – Public Display of Affection – today? Have we thanked God?

Somerset Maughan is a well known English writer. It is said that his Spanish royalties earned him a large sum of money. Unfortunately, the law banned him from taking his money out of the country. He thought he found a solution by going on the most luxurious vacation he ever had. He got himself billeted in a very expensive hotel and feasted lavishly. Everything was cheap for him. Finally, when Maughan thought that he had spent a huge fraction of his money, he decided to end his deluxe holiday. He went to the manager of the plush hotel he was staying in and asked for his bill. But the manager stood motionless to the confusion of Maughan. The manager told him: “Sir, it has been a great honor for us to have you here. Your stay with us brought great publicity to our hotel. We would like to show you our gratitude. Therefore, there is no bill.”

On the one hand, when we do not expect it, gratitude confuses us. On the other, when we expect gratitude but no gratitude is shown us, we often easily feel upset. There seems to be some uneasiness surrounding gratitude and expressing it publicly. Another great writer, Mark Twain, said it bluntly: “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. That is the principal difference between a dog and a man.” Thus, sometimes, as experience taught us, doing someone a favor is risking the friendship we have with him. Not a few people say, “Why bother getting hurt by helping some people?” Is it not true that some people treat you as a leper after you have helped them?

In the Gospel today, Jesus cured ten lepers but only one returned to show him gratitude. Of them who were once avoided by everyone because they were lepers, only one ran back to Jesus. And he was a Samaritan, someone who even if he were not a leper was being looked down upon and avoided by Jews. This man, moreover, did not simply return to his Healer. He went back to Jesus with a charismatic shout in praise of God.

While Jesus appreciates the Samaritans’ PDA, the absence of the other nine visibly hurt and confused Him. He reviewed His arithmetic and asked, “Were not all ten made clean?” His question even sounded like He was starting to have qualms about His healing power. If it were so, the ingratitude of the nine, therefore, made Jesus doubt. But why did the other nine not return?

It is totally incorrect to say that the other nine healed lepers who did not return to Jesus were not thankful. Neither the Gospel is quick to call them ungrateful. We are left guessing why they did not bother to thank Jesus personally and publicly. We can only guess why the other nine did not return to show their gratitude to Jesus because they can be us, and our reasons for a rather reluctant gratitude are likewise theirs.

We are the ten lepers. Jesus heals us. If we are not the Samaritan, we can only be one of the other nine.