The Soil of Thankfulness

 By: Joanne Viola

 We read the story in Luke 17. There was ten of them that day. They watched as He entered the village, the law required them to stand at a distance.

They were lepers, but it did not keep them from crying out to Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

Hearing them, He responded, “Go show yourself to the priests.” They left to go do just that, for it was the priests who would have to pronounce them “clean” of leprosy.

This going, and obeying, would take faith on their part, as they were not yet healed. Their healing would come to them in route to the priests.

And it did.

One of the men, seeing that he was healed, came back to Jesus to thank Him for what he had done. He was the only one who returned to give glory to God.

Jesus identifies him as a “foreigner”. Luke calls him – a Samaritan.

A Samaritan, hated by most, returned with a grateful heart to give thanks. He took nothing for granted.

Jesus notices the lack on the part of the other nine and asks, “Where are the others? Where are the other nine?”

To the foreigner, the Samaritan, He says, “Your faith has made you well.”

We want to be like the one, the one who returned. Christ noticed his gratitude. He also was disturbed by the ungratefulness displayed by the others.

One received more than the others. He received healing and recognition from the One he called “Jesus and Master”.

Faith grows in the soil of thankfulness.
There were ten, but only one returned to give thanks.
May we be like the one,
and give thanks.

“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith,
just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” 
(Colossians 2:6-7, NASB)

 

Photo by Sushobhan Badhai on Unsplash