Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Today’s readings:
Titus 3:1-7; Ps
23:1-6; Luke 17:11-19
Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the
other nine?"
God's blessing can be appreciated
or unappreciated. The nine lepers who were healed didn’t return to Jesus to
say, “thank you.” Only the Samaritan came back to Jesus to give a vote of
thanks. The ingratitude of the nine lepers wounded the heart of Jesus.
Gratitude is the least of virtues, ingratitude the worst of vices. The nine
lepers had the worst of vices – ingratitude.
“The ones whose fingers I have
treated are the ones stealing my potatoes,” says the Bahaya proverb. The hands
of Jesus which were pierced by the nails are the hands which blessed the
people. The people he blessed wounded him. Perhaps these nine ex-lepers
shouted! Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Jesus had the wounds of
ingratitude. These are the wounds of grudging thanks, the wounds of taking
everything as one’s due, the wounds of thanklessness. When you omit to thank,
you inflict wounds on the generous heart. When you take your partner for
granted you inflict wounds on his/her loving heart. When you return evil for
good you inflict wounds on the goodhearted. When you take a gift as one’s due,
you inflict wounds on the generous heart.
Winston Churchill loved to tell
the story of the little boy who fell off a pier into deep ocean water. An older
sailor, headless 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?” The mother inflicted the wound of ingratitude on the sailor’s heart.
