Reflection for 18th Sunday after Pentecost – Profound healing and Gratitude
The gospel story for this coming Sunday is the healing of ten lepers by Jesus, who are sent on their way, and the return of only one, a foreigner, to offer praise to God and thanks to Jesus.
Jesus asks what happened to the other nine – where are they? It is a sad question from the divine healer that the other nine, presumably of the same ethnicity as Jesus, did not return to praise God (Jesus does not appear to be asking for personal thanks).
All ten are offered and given profound healing from their disease, a disease which meant they could not approach anyone not similarly affected. This was not only a cure, but re-acceptance into their family and society.
A profound healing.
This week, the sad news about some very young children, who have died under the medical care in Australian hospitals. The grieving parents asking how could this have happened in an affluent country with arguably the best medical care in the world? And who are wanting their cries to be heard so that it never happens to another young child.
This same week, the news that our medical staff – doctors and nurses in particular – are so burnt out from their work that they are leaving their profession in droves. They are not leaving to find ‘easier’ professions, they are leaving for their own need for healing.
The example of the ‘foreigner’ returning to praise God makes me wonder how often we return to the healers in our own society to give them thanks?
What if a simple act of gratitude – such as ringing my GP’s clinic to say thank you for the recent care I received when suffering from mild bronchitis – makes just a little bit of difference to those who offer us, in their own way, divine healing?
Blessings
Ceri
