( Luke 17,11-19 ) - [ Deutsch ]
"Praise the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all the good He has done for you." This week everything will be about this theme. The week's Scripture verse already mentioned that, and it is in the songs we have sung. It is good to make a conscious effort to praise and thank God. It is so easy for us to "forget" to give thanks. To give thanks for all God has done for us.
One of the small incidents with Jesus also tells of this issue. Luke is the only one to have preserved it in his Gospel:
Jesus heals ten men with leprosy.
11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.
12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a] met him. They stood at a distance
13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.
16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?
18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”
19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
Dear congregation, in this short half-sentence "... they stood at a distance ..." (v.12) the whole misery of these ten men is summarised. They were called: Lepers because they were leprous and therefore "abandoned". Everyone was afraid of catching the disease from them. That is why they were banished from the community. In the Book of Leviticus, there is a basic rule on how to behave when you are a person with leprosy: "He shall wear torn clothes, let his hair hang down freely and cover his mouth and chin. He shall also cry out, 'Unclean, unclean'. He is to live in seclusion and stay outside the camp.
In the best case, there were still family members who provided them with food to some extent - but mostly only in such a way, that they put it somewhere at a great distance from them. In the worst case, the lepers were forced to survive all by themselves.
Jesus, however, does not keep his distance from the ten lepers.
What touches me deeply in this story is how naturally Jesus gives his attention to those who are untouchable. He requires nothing from them. He does not ask about their faith or whether they are good or evil. He does not impose any conditions. Jesus sees their suffering, knows about their physical pain, and he also feels the pain of their souls. He hears their cry, "Dear Lord, have mercy on us!" - and, without hesitation, does what is in his power. This could have been the end of both the story and the sermon. "Go and do likewise!" could have been a possible conclusion.
However, the story has a surprising continuation: one of the lepers turns back, praises God with a loud voice, falls at Jesus' feet and thanks him. And this was a Samaritan, one of the most despicable of the despised at that time. Jesus was surprised that only one of the ten who were healed had returned. To him, the only one, he says: "Get up; go, your faith has helped you".
I have often wished "If only I could have been there” with some of Jesus' stories, and this one is no exception. I would have liked to find the nine others and ask them why they did not go back to thank Jesus.
I will do it in my imagination and take you to the other nine healed ones:
The first one might answer me: "I have been a burden to my poor parents for so many years - they are fishermen on the Sea of Galilee - my very first thought was to go to them to at least make up for it a little bit.”
The second would admit "Oh, I was so happy to be healed that I only thought of myself and my unexpected joy. Returning to Jesus and thanking him did not occur to me at all at that moment. And by the time I thought of it, Jesus had long since gone somewhere else and the opportunity had passed."
And one says with a petrified expression: "I was sick and excluded from life for many, many years. My heart has become bitter over this. There is no more room in it for joy and gratitude."
I was particularly moved by one who said: "On the way back to my village, I met other lepers who were not lucky enough to be cured. Suddenly, I felt unbelievably bad about being allowed to be healthy. Ask yourself: Isn't my cure unfair to the countless others who must continue to be sick? Don't they have the same right to life as I do? Why does God arbitrarily shower happiness on some and leave others in misery?"
Three of the healed people live in the same village and ponder my questions together: "I would be more grateful if there wasn't so much suffering in the world," one of them begins and asks me the counter-question: "How can you be grateful with a happy heart when you see all the misfortune?” "I have been seriously ill for many years," the other continues in a resigned voice, "and I have long since forgotten to believe in a kind Father in heaven. There is no God whom I can thank, so there is no need to be thankful." "And why," the third continues, "should God care about my miserable life, of all things? If God really exists, I do not understand why he does not care about the much more important problems of this world than my insignificant life, of all things!"
One of the people I question laughs mockingly: "Who says I wouldn't have got well anyway? That it happened just after the encounter with Jesus on the way to the temple could be pure coincidence.”
And the last one finally answers me a little meekly: "I didn't return to Jesus because I was afraid that he would want something from me in the end, possibly that I would have to change my life. That would have been too much for me.”
Nine of the ten healed may have had important, quite understandable reasons for not turning back to say thank you. Maybe they did at some stage. Maybe they did it within themselves. By the way, I do not believe that Jesus condemned them for not thanking him. However, I do believe that he was all the more pleased about the one who repented and explicitly said thank you.
"Why did you return?" I ask the Samaritan at the end. "Why did you say thank you when none of the others went with you?"
"Praising God and thanking Him for all that He has given me and gives me every day," I hear the Samaritan say, "is something very personal; it does not depend on how many others do it. I, too, have gone through challenging times. It has often been a mystery to me too, and I do not know how many times I have lamented in loneliness and asked, 'Why? Why me?'
Nevertheless, I have held on to my faith. And this faith makes me happy and grateful. I trust that God knows everything, I feel safe with him in every situation. I know that he will not leave me alone even when I start my last journey one day. This faith allows me to be comforted and confident.
The moment I was unexpectedly healed, I was so filled with God's great creative power that I could almost physically feel His presence. An overwhelming experience! That is why I could not help but praise him in a loud voice. Without the encounter with Jesus, this would not have happened, I am convinced of that. That is why I threw myself at his feet full of gratitude. Do you know what was particularly amazing? That Jesus said: 'Stand up ...' He spoke to me at eye level. I was respected and felt valued again."
As I return with you to this church and the present time, the conversations continue to resonate within me. We have heard: Jesus gives freely, he has no preconditions. No one who cannot, or cannot yet be grateful, is less important to him. All ten have recovered from their illness. Yet the Samaritan who turned back and expressed his gratitude is left with more in the end. Inner healing and outer healing are connected, I believe. I would like to be on his side.
Whoever is grateful has opened his heart to God. Those who are grateful can go their way comforted and confidently take the next steps. Whoever is grateful knows that despite some troubles, they are always safe in God's hands.
And the peace of our Lord, which is beyond our reason, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen