Lesson 12: Thankfulness 137
of humble gratitude with three questions and an admonition. To begin,
Jesus observes, “There were ten who were cleansed by me, were there
not?”^7 (author’s translation) If ten were healed, Jesus continues, then
“Where,” pray tell, “are the other nine?” (17:17). How can it be, Jesus
wonders, that the only person to return to offer thankful praise to God
is a foreigner (literally “one of another race”)? Stated otherwise, Jesus is
surprised, perplexed, and disturbed that nine other persons, presumably
Jews, failed to realize what even a Samaritan (!) could see.
Whereas ten lepers were cleansed, only one was made well (literally
“saved”). Jesus tells this person whom we might think of as the “Faithful
Samaritan” to rise up and be on his way for his “faith has made him
whole,” not only in body but also in soul. As Jesus was on his way to
Jerusalem, he helped a nameless Samaritan find his way.
Focusing on the Meaning
In the letter we know as 1 Corinthians, Paul asks the church in Corinth
a couple of probing questions that are no less applicable to us, especially
in light of today’s lesson. The apostle asks, “What do you have that you
did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not
a gift?” (1 Cor. 4:7). Although we sometimes aspire to be grateful like the
writer of Psalm 103 and like the Faithful Samaritan, we are frequently
presumptuous like the nine lepers and prideful like certain Corinthians.
Like the other habits of highly effective disciples that we are consid-
ering in this series, if we are going to be grateful, we must be intentional.
While being thankful might come rather natural for some people, all
Christ-followers must seek to cultivate a deep, abiding gratitude toward
God and a sincere, profound appreciation for others.
How might we grow in gratitude to God and others? It begins with
recognizing how gracious God has been toward us in Christ Jesus.
Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 8:9: “For you know the gener-
ous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”
Furthermore, what God has done for us and has been to us, he has done
and can be for others. Jesus Christ “is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,
and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John
2:2). God’s unfathomable love should spur us on to “love and good