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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 Samaritan.’ And he said to the man, ‘Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.’

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Lepers were feared greatly in biblical times. There was no cure for leprosy and those who contracted it were sent away to live among each other so they didn’t infect anyone else. This must have been really really painful and hard for everyone concerned. It’s bad enough imagining of you had this painful disease and you had to leave your family because of it, but imagine if your mum/dad/brother/sister were sent away from you and you could not care for them, or be there when they needed you most.

These days Leprosy is curable with a long course of antibiotics.

The main leper in our story is from Samaria. Samaritans were seen in a bad light by Jews. The Jews of Judea saw them as a primitive, uncultured people and as a rule, they were quite unkind about them, even Jesus is expressing surprise at the fact that this Samaritan, this uncultured, chap with, most likely, a strange view of God should be the one to come and thank him.

We can all be guilty of being ungrateful, or forgetting to thank someone who helps us, or gives us something we really like, I would guess we have all done that. But how often do we thank God himself?

We have spoken before about how lucky we are for all we have, we all have a home to go to, if it rains tonight we won’t have to worry about getting wet while we sleep, we will all eat, we will all have a bed, we will have something to do when we get up tomorrow, to come and learn, or to earn money, everyone in the school has these things.

But how often do we say thank you to God? Thank you for the food, for the home, for those who care for us, for the ability to read and right, for the X Box, for the sweets, for the clothes that keep us warm, for the pets we enjoy.

Only a couple of weeks ago we were watching the most amazing feats from the Paralympians. When ever they were interviewed they never complained, they were always joyful at having taken part, even those who had not won. But we can sulk because the canteen has run out of what we want.

How often do you leave a classroom having understood something you had not understood before? And when that has happened have you ever thought to thank the teacher? When I was at school I can remember doing it once. Some might say it’s a teacher’s job to explain things so a student understands but we can be grateful the teacher has done the job well enough that you ‘get it’.

The leper that returned to thank Jesus, like the other nine, showed Jesus he had faith in him simply by asking Jesus to cure him. We often ask God for things, we might get cross with him if he doesn’t grant our request, sometimes God answers our prayers with ‘no’ but it will always be the right thing. It might not be the right thing for us, but it could be the right thing for someone else.

God does not necessarily give us what we want, but he does give us what we need. What are the things we should thank him for that we have just taken for granted?

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For all You have given me For all You have withheld,

For all You have permitted

For all You have withdrawn For all You have prevented, For all You have forgiven me,

For all You have prepared for me, For the death You have chosen for me, For the place you are keeping for me in heaven,  For having created me to love You for eternity, Thank You God.