Gospel & Reflection for the Twenty Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 17:11‐19
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered one of the villages, ten lepers came to meet him. They stood some way off and called to him, ‘Jesus! Master! Take pity on us.’ When he saw them he said, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ Now as they were going away they were cleansed. Finding himself cured, one of them turned back praising God at the top of his voice and threw himself at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. The man was a Samaritan. This made Jesus say, ‘Were not all ten made clean? The other nine, where are they? It seems that no one has come back to give praise to God, except this foreigner.’ And he said to the man, ‘Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.’
Reflection
First published in 1719, Daniel Defoe’s novel ‘Robinson Crusoe’ was an immediate literary success and has since become one of the world’s most widely published books. As we know, the story follows the title character after he is cast away, and spends 28 years on a remote island where he encounters cannibals, captives, and mutineers before being rescued.
After being shipwrecked however, the first thing Crusoe does is to make out a list which he titles ‘Evil and Good.’ It is a list of the pros and cons about his situation. On one side he writes down all his problems, on the other, all his blessings. For example, he writes: ‘I am cast upon a horrible, desolate island, void of all hope of recovery. But I am alive; and not drowned. I do not have any clothes. But it is warm, and I do not really need any. All of the provisions were lost. But there is plenty of fresh fruit and water on the island.’ And on the list goes. In this way, Crusoe discovers that for every negative about his situation, there was also something positive, something to be thankful for.
Four hundred years later, through another quite different medium, that of film, the 1991 comedy ‘What about Bob?’ tells the tale of the division in humanity between the grateful and the ungrateful. Richard Dreyfuss stars as a psychologist, Dr. Marvin, a man who has everything: a lovely wife, adorable children, a dream house, and a best-selling book which gives advice on problem solving. But Dr. Marvin himself has an unsolved problem. Nothing makes him happy; he takes everything and everyone for granted.
By way of contrast, he has a patient named Bob, the film’s title character. Bob has nothing, yet shows tremendous gratitude for everything he receives, and for people who are kind to him. Played by Bill Murray, Bob ends up at Dr. Marvin’s home as an uninvited guest and from there, with his endless gratitude, he slowly winds the doctor up into such a state, that he explodes with rage. In a very comedic way, the film shows that a sense of accomplishment, while important, is not as significant as having an attitude of gratitude.
Both book and film make the point that our genuine happiness lies not in what we have or achieve, but in how we receive.
The impact of receiving, and of being grateful or ungrateful for what we receive, is at the heart of our readings today. The Army Commander Naaman, in our first reading, like Robinson Crusoe was a man whose life was on the crest of a wave. But his world falls apart when he contracts leprosy. At the height of his power, he is reduced to nothing. Desperate, he seeks and finds a cure in a country he despises, and in a God, he does not believe in. But with his healing, he is converted. He gives thanks for his leprosy because through it, he received the gift of faith.
In the Gospel, nine of the ten lepers who encountered Jesus derived nothing from their painful experience, but one did. Nine probably blamed God for their situation, while one sought not to blame but to trust Him. This one person, like Bob, was grateful for everything. His gratefulness leads him back to Christ. Like Naaman, he knew what he had received and that encountering Christ, he had indeed met God.
Friends, it is easy to be grateful, to be trusting, to be believing, when all is good for us. Yet, faith asks us to be thankful, always. Thankful and trusting in the good and the bad, in the joys and the sorrows, in the failures and the successes. This is not an easy task.
We pray today to continually grow in a vision of gratitude to God. Let us take time to acknowledge the many ways that God blesses us, listing not just our problems but our blessings too. Our presence at Mass is a wonderful opportunity to do just that. Our word ‘Eucharist’ comes from the Greek word for ‘thanksgiving.’ So, here, we are joined in a prayer of gratitude to God, thankful for everything we receive from Him.
Let us never cease in being a thankful and grateful people. This is the kind of faith that saves us.