1. The Seeds of Discouragement:
In one of the small booths along the window was a young mother with a little girl. They had just been served their food when the little girl broke the sad silence by almost shouting, "Momma, why don't we say our prayers here?" The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around and said, "Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?" And she turned and looked at the rest of the people in the restaurant and said, "Bow your heads." Surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down. The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, and said, "God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food. Amen.
Overwhelmed by the Gift
The Old Farmer's Feelings
The First Billionaire
An old legend tells how a man once stumbled upon a great red barn after wandering for days in a forest in the dark. He was seeking refuge from the howling winds of a storm. He entered the barn and his eyes grew accustomed to the dark. To his astonishment, he discovered that this was the barn where the devil kept his storehouse of seeds. They were the seeds that were sown in the hearts of humans. The man became curious and lit a match. He began exploring the piles of bins of seeds round him. He couldn't help but notice that the greatest majority of them said, "Seeds of Discouragement."
About that time one of the devil's helpers arrived to pick up a load of seeds. The man asked him, "Why the abundance of discouragement seeds?" The helper laughed and replied, "Because they are so effective and they take root so quickly." "Do they grow everywhere?" the man asked. At that moment the devil's helper became very sullen. He glared at the man and in disgust he said, "No. They never seem to grow in the heart of a grateful person."
Keith Wagner, But Are We Grateful?
------------------Keith Wagner, But Are We Grateful?
2. Greg Anderson,
in Living Life on Purpose, tells a story about a man whose wife had left him. He was completely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, in God--he found no joy in living. One rainy morning this man went to a small neighborhood restaurant for breakfast. Although several people were at the diner, no one was speaking to anyone else. Our miserable friend hunched over the counter, stirring his coffee with a spoon.
in Living Life on Purpose, tells a story about a man whose wife had left him. He was completely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, in God--he found no joy in living. One rainy morning this man went to a small neighborhood restaurant for breakfast. Although several people were at the diner, no one was speaking to anyone else. Our miserable friend hunched over the counter, stirring his coffee with a spoon.
In one of the small booths along the window was a young mother with a little girl. They had just been served their food when the little girl broke the sad silence by almost shouting, "Momma, why don't we say our prayers here?" The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around and said, "Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?" And she turned and looked at the rest of the people in the restaurant and said, "Bow your heads." Surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down. The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, and said, "God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food. Amen.
That prayer changed the entire atmosphere. People began to talk with one another. The waitress said, "We should do that every morning."
"All of a sudden," said our friend, "my whole frame of mind started to improve. From that little girl's example, I started to thank God for all that I did have and stop majoring in all that I didn't have. I started to be grateful."
We all understand and appreciate the importance of gratitude. How it can radically change relationships. In fact, one of the first things we were taught and that we teach our children is to express their gratitude. Someone gives them some candy and we say: "Now what do you say?" And the child learns from an early age the answer "Thank you." And certainly we all know as adults that we appreciate being thanked. Yet, when it comes to giving thanks to our heavenly father, we so often miss the mark.
And when it comes to giving our thanks to God, I don't suppose there is any story in the Bible that is so endearing to us, so timelessly appropriate, as the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers. We have all heard the story many times, but like so many Bible stories, we never tire of it...
And when it comes to giving our thanks to God, I don't suppose there is any story in the Bible that is so endearing to us, so timelessly appropriate, as the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers. We have all heard the story many times, but like so many Bible stories, we never tire of it...
An old legend tells how a man once stumbled upon a great red barn after wandering for days in a forest in the dark. He was seeking refuge from the howling winds of a storm. He entered the barn and his eyes grew accustomed to the dark. To his astonishment, he discovered that this was the barn where the devil kept his storehouse of seeds. They were the seeds that were sown in the hearts of humans. The man became curious and lit a match. He began exploring the piles of bins of seeds round him. He couldn't help but notice that the greatest majority of them said, "Seeds of Discouragement."
About that time one of the devil's helpers arrived to pick up a load of seeds. The man asked him, "Why the abundance of discouragement seeds?" The helper laughed and replied, "Because they are so effective and they take root so quickly." "Do they grow everywhere?" the man asked. At that moment the devil's helper became very sullen. He glared at the man and in disgust he said, "No. They never seem to grow in the heart of a grateful person."
Keith Wagner, But Are We Grateful?
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Nine Reasons They Did Not Return Keith Wagner, But Are We Grateful?
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Why did only one man cleansed from leprosy return to thank Jesus? Someone has made a list of nine suggested reasons why the nine did not return:
One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy in the first place.
One said he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, "O, well, Jesus didn't really do anything."
One said, "Any rabbi could have done it."
One said, "I was already much improved."
That's not surprising, is it? I doubt that more than ten percent of us are ever truly grateful to God. In fact, it often seems that the more we have, the less gratitude we feel.
One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy in the first place.
One said he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, "O, well, Jesus didn't really do anything."
One said, "Any rabbi could have done it."
One said, "I was already much improved."
That's not surprising, is it? I doubt that more than ten percent of us are ever truly grateful to God. In fact, it often seems that the more we have, the less gratitude we feel.
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Now Thank We All Our God
You can even be thankful during the most difficult of circumstances in life. It's true! We see an especially inspiring example of a brave and thankful heart in the story behind one of the church's most popular hymns, "Now Thank We All Our God." This particularly hymn was written during the Thirty Years War in Germany, in the early 1600s. Its author was Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran pastor in the town of Eilenburg in Saxony.
Now, Eilenburg was a walled city, so it became a haven for refugees seeking safety from the fighting. But soon, the city became too crowded and food was in short supply. Then, a famine hit and a terrible plague and Eilenburg became a giant morgue.
In one year alone, Pastor Rinkart conducted funerals for 4,500 people, including his own wife. The war dragged on; the suffering continued. Yet through it all, he never lost courage or faith and even during the darkest days of Eilenburg's agony, he was able to write this hymn:
Now thank we all our God,
with hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom the world rejoices
...[So] keep us in His grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills,
in this world and the next.
with hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom the world rejoices
...[So] keep us in His grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills,
in this world and the next.
Even when he was waist deep in destruction, Pastor Rinkart was able to lift his sights to a higher plane. He kept his mind on God's love when the world was filled with hate. He kept his mind on God's promises of heaven when the earth was a living hell. Can we not do the same - we whose lives are almost trouble-free, compared with the man who wrote that hymn?
Whom can you say "thank you" to?
Erskine White, Together in Christ, CSS Publishing Company
____________________Overwhelmed by the Gift
When did you first notice that some people are more thankful than others are? When I was a young father, I remember taking my little children out on Halloween to go "trick-or-treating." They were very young, perhaps three and five, and were appropriately costumed in garb which thrilled us as parents. As they toddled to the front doors, I stood back and watched. I noticed that after they bravely mustered their "trick or treat," and took the candy, they didn't say "thank you." It then became my mission to explain that after they received the candy, they should always say "thank you."
After many attempts to encourage a grateful behavior pattern, in some frustration I came to understand that they were far more overwhelmed with the idea that when a door opens in the darkness two people with candy appear, than they were overwhelmed with the idea that they were being graced with an unwarranted gift. It dawned on me that gratitude needs a touchstone in the heart, a place or moment when someone recognizes that this didn't have to happen: What I am receiving is pure gift! I neither earned nor deserved this! Such an insight is too profound for little children on Halloween night-and perhaps for many of us on any night.
David Zersen, What Is Grace Calling You to Be?
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Humor: Does Everyone Do That?
The story is told of a farmer who went into town for a little breakfast. As his meal was set before him, he bowed his head and offered a silent prayer. The man at the next table derided him, "Hey, does everybody do that where you come from?" "No," said the farmer. "The pigs don't."
Frank Lyman, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
_________________________________The Old Farmer's Feelings
Perhaps you have heard the story of the old farmer who, with his wife, was celebrating fifty years of married life. Life on a farm can be tough; commitment is required. And you have to be frugal.
Their children gave them a party during which lots of friends congratulated the honored couple. They looked at old pictures, brought out old phonograph records. The fifty-year couple even danced a bit to the old, familiar music. When the party was over and all had gone home the happy couple found themselves alone. It was a tender moment. The old farmer, who was careful with his money and even more frugal with his words, felt moved to speak.
"You know, Ma, over these fifty years, sometimes I've loved you so much that I could hardly keep from telling you." She reached for a hankie, dabbed her eyes and said: "Thank ya', Pa."
Why are we so reluctant to let others know how we feel? Why are we so stingy and so slow to speak words that others long to hear, so private in saying things that cry out to be said?al
To be sure, God's name is holy itself ...To be sure, the kingdom of God comes of itself, without our prayers ...To be sure, the good and gracious will of God is done without our prayer ...To be sure, God provides daily bread, even to the wicked, without our prayer...
To be sure, to be sure, to be sure! God's gifts come to us despite our unfaithfulness and often without our prayers. Paul quotes an ancient Christian hymn in his second letter to Timothy: "If we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself (2 Timothy 2:13)." Our faithlessness and ingratitude cannot make of God something that he is not. To be sure!
All of which brings us to the heart of today's gospel. Rudolph Bultmann is quite correct when he notes that the emphasis of Luke's story is not the miracle of 10 lepers cleansed, but rather the contrast of gratitude and ingratitude depicted on the same dramatic canvas.
Luke draws the contrast all the more boldly when he notes that the man returning to give thanks was a Samaritan, a "foreigner." Always the master storyteller among the four evangelists, Luke, having already given us the story of the "Good Samaritan," now gives us the story of the "Thankful Samaritan."
Theodore F. Schneider, United the King Comes, CSS Publishing Company
______________________The First Billionaire
The very first person to reach the status of billionaire was a man who knew how to set goals and follow through. At the age of 23, he had become a millionaire, by the age of 50 a billionaire. Every decision, attitude, and relationship was tailored to create his personal power and wealth. But three years later at the age of 53 he became ill.
His entire body became racked with pain and he lost all the hair on his head. In complete agony, the world's only billionaire could buy anything he wanted, but he could only digest milk and crackers. An associate wrote, "He could not sleep, would not smile and nothing in life meant anything to him."
His personal, highly skilled physicians predicted he would die within a year.
That year passed agonizingly slow. As he approached death he awoke one morning with the vague remembrances of a dream. He could barely recall the dream but knew it had something to do with not being able to take any of his successes with him into the next world. The man who could control the
Fro business world suddenly realized he was not in control of his own life. He was left with a choice...
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From Fr Tony Kadavil's Collection:
Fro business world suddenly realized he was not in control of his own life. He was left with a choice...
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From Fr Tony Kadavil's Collection:
1: "Then where’s his hat?" Winston Churchill loved to tell the story of the little boy who fell off a pier into deep ocean water. An older sailor, heedless of the great danger to himself, dove into the stormy water, struggled with the boy, and finally, exhausted, brought him to safety. Two days later the boy’s mother came with him to the same pier, seeking the sailor who rescued her son. Finding him, she asked, "You dove into the ocean to bring my boy out?" "I did," he replied. The mother quickly demanded, "Then where’s his hat?" In today’s gospel Jesus tells the story of nine ungrateful lepers.
2: "I'm just so glad and thankful I can hear and see." Perhaps the most grateful person I've ever heard of was an old woman in an extended care hospital. She had some kind of wasting disease, her different powers fading away over the march of months. A student of mine happened to meet her on a coincidental visit. The student kept going back, drawn by the strange force of the woman's joy. Though she could no longer move her arms and legs, she would say, "I'm just so happy and grateful to God that I can move my neck." When she could no longer move her neck, she would say, "I'm just so glad and thankful I can hear and see." When the young student finally asked the old woman what would happen if she lost her sense of sound and sight, the gentle lady said, "I'll just be so grateful that you come to visit." (Rev. John Kavanaugh S. J.)
3: "Accept my sincere acknowledgments." James Madison, the fourth President of the United States, is known as the Father of the American Constitution. Madison was known for his spotless character. In his old age, the venerable ex-President suffered from many diseases, took a variety of medicines and managed to live a long life. An old friend from the adjoining county of Albemarle sent him a box of vegetable pills and begged to be informed whether they helped him. In due time Madison replied as follows: "My dear friend, I thank you very much for the box of pills. I have taken them all, and while I cannot say that I am better since taking them, it is quite possible that I might have been worse if I had not taken them, and so I beg you to accept my sincere acknowledgments."
4 Expressing our gratitude: In 1976 Louise Fletcher was awarded an Oscar for best actress for her role as Nurse Ratched in the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. She had given up acting for eleven years to raise her children before she won that role after five big-name actresses had turned it down. In accepting her Academy Award, Louise Fletcher did a very dramatic thing. With her voice breaking with emotion she faced a national television audience and said: “For my mother and my father, I want to say thank you for teaching me to have a dream. You are seeing my dream come true.” Louise Fletcher delivered the message in sign language at the same time, because both of her parents were deaf mutes and were watching from their home in Alabama. (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds).
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From Connections:
One of the now-clean lepers went off to build a new life for himself. He busied himself seeking work, a new place to live, putting down roots for himself and, maybe someday, a family. Work, work, work became the driving force of his life.
But another one of the lepers was immediately overcome with fear and worry -- What do I do now? I can no longer beg. I must find work. But I have no skills, I've never learned how to do anything. Who will hire me? How will I survive? So worried and fearful was the once unclean leper for his future that he was paralyzed from doing anything and remained huddled at the gate.
Still another leper, realizing that he was now clean, wanted revenge on the many passers-by who laughed at him, ignored him, and inflicted so many cruelties and indignities on him because of his illness. They will pay for what they did to me, he vowed.
But one of the lepers, finally freed from his sufferings, ran as far away from the place as he could. All he wanted to do was forget his old life -- and everyone and everything about it. He tried to make himself deaf to the cries of the suffering of others, but he could never run away far enough not to hear them.
And, of course, there was one leper who went out and celebrated -- and celebrated and celebrated. His newfound joy lasted as long as the wine did. Once the wine and the camaraderie that comes with it disappeared, he had to face a new life. And he found himself completely lost and alone.
There was one leper who didn’t believe he was made clean. Why would anyone -- least of all God -- want to do this for the likes of him? There had to be catch. So he just waited and waited for his leprosy to return. In his own mind and spirit, he was never healed.
And so the nine lepers went their separate ways. But without a sense of gratitude for the miracle they had experienced, the miracle didn’t last very long -- their fears, their angers, their repressions, their skepticism, their misplaced hopes and values just made them lepers all over again.
For no other reason than for love so deep we cannot begin to fathom it, God has breathed his life into us. The only fitting response we can make is to stand humbly before God in quiet, humble thanks. Such a sense of gratitude can transform cynicism and despair into optimism and hope and make whatever good we do experiences of grace. But too often we let our obsessions with money and fame, our worries and fears, our disappointments and hurts overwhelm that spirit of gratitude. Like the Samaritan who gives thanks for the miracle that has taken place, we, too, can be transformed by such joyful gratitude to God once we realize that, in Christ, we have been “made whole,” “made clean,” “restored” to completeness in his hope and love.
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From Connections:
The nine other stories
So where were the other nine lepers who had been healed?One of the now-clean lepers went off to build a new life for himself. He busied himself seeking work, a new place to live, putting down roots for himself and, maybe someday, a family. Work, work, work became the driving force of his life.
But another one of the lepers was immediately overcome with fear and worry -- What do I do now? I can no longer beg. I must find work. But I have no skills, I've never learned how to do anything. Who will hire me? How will I survive? So worried and fearful was the once unclean leper for his future that he was paralyzed from doing anything and remained huddled at the gate.
Still another leper, realizing that he was now clean, wanted revenge on the many passers-by who laughed at him, ignored him, and inflicted so many cruelties and indignities on him because of his illness. They will pay for what they did to me, he vowed.
But one of the lepers, finally freed from his sufferings, ran as far away from the place as he could. All he wanted to do was forget his old life -- and everyone and everything about it. He tried to make himself deaf to the cries of the suffering of others, but he could never run away far enough not to hear them.
And, of course, there was one leper who went out and celebrated -- and celebrated and celebrated. His newfound joy lasted as long as the wine did. Once the wine and the camaraderie that comes with it disappeared, he had to face a new life. And he found himself completely lost and alone.
There was one leper who didn’t believe he was made clean. Why would anyone -- least of all God -- want to do this for the likes of him? There had to be catch. So he just waited and waited for his leprosy to return. In his own mind and spirit, he was never healed.
And so the nine lepers went their separate ways. But without a sense of gratitude for the miracle they had experienced, the miracle didn’t last very long -- their fears, their angers, their repressions, their skepticism, their misplaced hopes and values just made them lepers all over again.
For no other reason than for love so deep we cannot begin to fathom it, God has breathed his life into us. The only fitting response we can make is to stand humbly before God in quiet, humble thanks. Such a sense of gratitude can transform cynicism and despair into optimism and hope and make whatever good we do experiences of grace. But too often we let our obsessions with money and fame, our worries and fears, our disappointments and hurts overwhelm that spirit of gratitude. Like the Samaritan who gives thanks for the miracle that has taken place, we, too, can be transformed by such joyful gratitude to God once we realize that, in Christ, we have been “made whole,” “made clean,” “restored” to completeness in his hope and love.
