Your faith has made you well

I used to work with a guy who used to say, "You gotta have an attitude of gratitude", and I wanted to punch him in the head every time I heard him say.  He was just so cheerful and grateful, and I disliked him.

I realize now that I disliked him because I was jealous of him.  I was an angry ingrate, and so it was only natural that this guy would tick me off.

Today Gospel passage (Luke 17:11-19) presents an interesting portrayal of gratitude and ingratitude.  Jesus cures 10 lepers, and only one turns back to thank him.

Jesus says to this one leper, "Your faith has made you well", and interesting phrase that Jesus employs in at least 3 other distinct situations throughout the Gospels.

He uses this phrase when Mary Magdalene come in and washes his feet.  He says it when he heals the blind man.  He says it when the bleeding woman touches his cloak.  And he says it of this leper.

It is interesting to note that he makes this statement AFTER the healings have taken place.  And in the case of Mary Magdalene, there was actually no healing that took place.

At least not in a physical sense.

Could the healing that Jesus refers to be emotional, psychological, spiritual?

Certainly, all 10 of the lepers in today's passage were healed bodily, but only one showed any gratitude, an indication of his humility and spiritual maturity.  He actually stopped to be thankful for his return to a normal state of health.

We all do it: we pray when we are in trouble, but we often neglect to pray when things are well.  We forgot to pray in gratitude, to bring into our conscious minds those things we are actually happy for in our lives.

Take the time to do that today.  I guarantee you are richer than you thought.

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