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A map of the Holy Land In Jesus' day looked like this: Galilee at the top, Judea at the bottom, and sandwiched in between: Samaria.

For unpleasant reasons of history, religion, and racism, the Jews of Galilee and of Judea looked down on the Samaritans; and Samaritans were unfriendly to Jews. Like so many historical hatreds, they were not sensible. Sensible or not, the favorite route of travel between Judea in the South and Galilee in the North was an end run to the East. Better to walk miles out of the way than to walk directly through Samaria.

Included in Jesus' ministry was overcoming this hatred. Thus the hero of a parable was the Good Samaritan; and the "woman at the well" was a Samaritan. In today's Gospel only one out of ten healed lepers returned to say thanks, "and he was a Samaritan."

There is another lesson against racism, easily overlooked, in today's Gospel: Jewish lepers had no problem getting along with a Samaritan leper. In their common misery and humiliation, lepers found brotherhood and sisterhood no matter what their race or religion.

Leprosy was a disgusting and incurable disease. Even without the benefit of scientific medicine those almost 2,000-years-ago people observed that there was something communicable about leprosy. As a precaution against infecting others, lepers were condemned to being outcasts outside town. They would have starved if it were not for gifts of food left by loved ones -- always at a safe distance, however.

Jesus' fame as a healer had spread to this miserable cluster of lepers. "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" they shouted. Today's Gospel notes that they did so, "keeping their distance." Jesus' response was only seven words: "Go and show yourselves to the priests."

Priests were the public health officers of their day. If a leper believed that he or she had gotten miraculously well, or perhaps the sickness had been misdiagnosed, the priests were the persons to approve or to disapprove a certificate of good health.

All ten lepers deserve some credit for faith in Jesus, because they all started walking! No questions were asked, and no explanations were demanded. They just started walking, and they saw a wonderful change in their bodies. Gray and decaying flesh changed to flesh-color and healthy-looking. They were healed.

Having just been healed, what would go through a person's mind? Going home and surprising the family, perhaps. Maybe returning to work, and hoping that employers and customers would accept the priests' declaration of wellness. Or getting a bath and some decent clothes. Probably low on the list of priorities would be, "I should take time to say, 'Thank You, Jesus.' " But one person did, "and he was a Samaritan."

How fortunate we are, if we have developed a "thanks attitude" so that we feel and say "thanks" immediately -- both to people and to God.

A basketball coach instructed his players that whenever they made a basket with assistance from a teammate, they should signal a thank you message with a gesture or some kind of salute. "But, coach, what if the other player isn't looking in our direction?" one player asked. "Don't worry; he will be," was the answer. We all like to be thanked.

A pastor, eight years after his graduation, remembered a college teacher who had been especially helpful. Remembering that he had never expressed gratitude to this man, the pastor wrote a letter to express his thanks and his apologies for waiting so long. The pastor never received an answer, probably because two months later the alumni magazine announced the professor's death. The pastor hoped his letter had arrived in time to be understood and enjoyed. Better late than never, but why not develop a "thanks attitude" to do it right immediately?

Saint Luke, the author of today's Gospel, was a doctor by profession before he became the personal physician and traveling companion of Saint Paul, as well as a writer whose most famous published books are "The Gospel According to Saint Luke" and its companion volume "The Acts of the Apostles." Let us imagine Doctor Luke, M.D., writing this letter to Ann Landers, newspaper advice columnist.


Dear Ann Landers:

As a doctor I thought I was accustomed to having lots of complaining patients, and very few words of gratitude. But recently I heard an experience that shocked even me.

Ten people sick with leprosy were healed by Jesus; I call him the Great Healer. Not only did they not pay anything for Jesus' house call; only one took time to say "thanks."
Signed, Hopping Mad in Antioch

Dear Hopping Mad:

I hear you, and thanks for the reminder that we all need a "thanks attitude."

At the same time, people who deal with the public need to remember that most people do not mean to be ungrateful; people get busy and forgetful. You know it; I know it; certainly Jesus knew it.


"Your faith has made you well," Jesus told the grateful Samaritan. What did Jesus mean, when the Ungrateful Nine were just as healed? There was no punishment for their ingratitude or forgetfulness. He must have meant that healing meant more to this one man, and it would be part of his life's faith experience.

In Gone with the Wind sweet Melaine Wilkes donated her wedding ring to a fund raiser for the Confederate Army. "It may help my husband," she said. Rhett Butler, ordinarily unsentimental, was deeply moved; "I know how much that means to you." Not to be outdone, Scarlett O'Hara, an ungrieving widow, flippantly tossed her wedding ring into the collection box. Returning to his normal cynicism, Rhett Butler observed, "And I know how much that means to you, Scarlett." (Not much, really.)

So it was with the ten former-lepers. All ten were healed, but to the Samaritan it meant something more.

This healing miracle is a wonderful illustration of Martin Luther's explanation of the Lord's Prayer's Fourth Petition, "Give us this day our daily bread." Luther wrote: "God gives daily bread, even without our prayer, to all people, though sinful, but we ask in this prayer that he will help us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanks."

Most important, perhaps, in this miracle is another example of Jesus' compassion and his healing power. It brings to mind that old Sunday school song, "I think, when I read that sweet story of old, when Jesus was here among men ... I should like to have been with them then."

Today we believe that God shows his miraculous healing through medicine. An encyclopedia article about leprosy describes medicines with names like Dapsone, Avlosulfon, Lamprene, and Rifamycin. More recent encyclopedias would probably tell about even newer and more effective prescriptions.

Those who are old enough will remember the summertime fears of polio, also known as infantile paralysis. Others will remember when pneumonia meant death. "Broken hip" was once sadly a sure sign of invalidism, physical decline, and death for the elderly. Most of our communities have old buildings, abandoned or converted, which old-timers still call "TB hospitals." These were not ancient diseases like the Black Plague of the so-called Dark Ages. Ask your parents and grandparents.

"Ten Hits, One Run, Nine Errors" is the title of this sermon. "Ten Hits": Jesus healed ten people of leprosy. Ten acts of mercy, and ten opportunities for gratitude.

"One Run": only one person had enough "Thanks Attitude" to say, "Thank You," to Jesus. To our Lord he must have seemed like a baseball game's "hit."

"Nine Errors": nine people without a proper "Thanks Attitude." Like a baseball game's lost opportunities, they were "nine errors."

Tonight when you are saying your bedtime prayers, stop thinking, for a little while at least, about all the worries we still have. Think, for a little while at least, about all the worries God has taken care of for us. Then praise God with a loud voice, prostrate yourself at Jesus' feet, and thank him.