Please, thank you, and I love you.
Please
Let me tell you about a toddler who shall remain unnamed. If there is something this toddler wants from us, there is this cute little call-and-response we do with him. It goes like this. He‘ll say he wants something. We will say to him, “what do you say?” And he’ll respond, “please.” Then we’ll say, “and …” Then, he’ll respond, “thank you.” Then, we’ll say, “and …” And he’ll respond, “and I love you!”
As heart-warming as this is to hear, later, this same toddler will say something heart-breaking that makes me question whether he was being sincere when he previously told me he loves me. For example, I was painting his thumbnail with this fingernail polish that tastes bad to help him stop sucking his thumb so he doesn’t get sick from placing germs in his mouth and so he doesn’t mess up his teeth and this toddler said to me, “I don’t love you anymore, Dadda” or if he is really upset he will say the heart-piercing “I hate you, Dadda!” These are direct quotes folks.
Is this the way we are with Jesus? With Jesus, are we the spiritual equivalent of toddlers who say or do whatever it takes to get what we want in one moment, and after Jesus gives us what we want, we do or say something that breaks his heart? Are we the type of people whose prayers begin like this: “Jesus, I know you haven’t heard from me since my last crisis?” Friends, Jesus is not a genie in a bottle. Jesus is not a gumball machine where we give him some token lip service or a token amount of our time and in return, we feel entitled to get a gumball or some special treat we want.
Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that Jesus became a human just like us and that there are things we can do or say that is heart-warming for Jesus and there are also things we do or say that is heart-breaking for Jesus. In today’s Gospel, we heard the 10 men with leprosy say to Jesus, “’Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!’” They were saying all the right things to get what they wanted from Jesus. This sounds to me like it may be an adult version of a toddler saying “please … thank you … and I love you!”
They are calling Jesus their master and their plea has the appearance of being humble and sincere as they are asking Jesus to have pity on them. They are all saying the right things, but do they all actually mean it? Are they being sincere or insincere? Well, time will tell. Jesus sent these 10 men on their way and, as they departed from him, they were healed.
Nine of them realizing that they were healed and thinking that they used Jesus for all he was worth, they acted in a way as to say “I don’t love you anymore.” Their response, or lack thereof, to Jesus healing them, made it clear they didn’t truly view Jesus as their master, and their apparent humility when making their plea was an insincere façade. Their response made it clear to Jesus that they did not want anything to do with Jesus anymore by ghosting Jesus and cutting off all communication with him. These nine men gave Jesus a taste of the heartbreak that was to come from those for whom Jesus would do anything to give them life and to give it to them abundantly, but at the end of the day, would simply walk away from him for all eternity never to turn back around.
The tenth man who was healed of leprosy responds in the opposite way making it clear that he actually meant what he said when he called Jesus “master” and when he made his humble sincere plea for help.
Thank you
This 10th man’s response to Jesus healing him was to return to Jesus glorifying God and saying thank you to Jesus. There was no additional request this leper had of Jesus. There was no hidden agenda this man was trying to butter Jesus up for in terms of a future request. This man wanted nothing more than to praise God, thank Jesus for his goodness, and simply be with Jesus. By doing so, this man lets Jesus know that Jesus is enough for him. In fact, Jesus is more than enough for him. All this man wants is to be with Jesus.
It may be tempting for us to view this story of leprosy as outdated and not relevant to the world we are living in today. While we may not have leprosy, we have all contracted the disease of original sin which we do not have the power to cure on our own. We have all done things that leave us feeling unclean and in need of healing. We may not say, “I don’t love you anymore, Jesus,” but we have all acted in a way that speaks this message louder than words to Jesus.
We all know someone in our life who is trying to use us or who only does something for us because they expect something from us in return. We all know this person, because all too often we are this person, with Jesus and with others. We hate most in others that which we most hate about ourselves.
Jesus wants what we all want deep down, for someone to love us and want to be with us just for us. Not because of a miracle we are going to work in their lives, not because of the alcohol or food we have for them, not because of the fancy car we drive or fancy clothes we wear, not because we are going to tell them what they want to hear, Jesus and each of us want others to be with us and love us just for us.
In Christianity, faith is to live as a person who has responded to what God has done for us in Jesus. Jesus healed 10 men of leprosy, but only one of them responded in a way that resulted in Jesus saying the words “your faith has saved you.” Our response to what Jesus has done for us matters. Our faith is out of a response to God’s love.
We’re saved by grace alone. We cannot work our way to heaven. We cannot save ourselves. But we have to respond to what Jesus has done for us. Our response shows Jesus that we want more than a one-and-done transactional relationship with him. Our response shows Jesus we desire to deepen our relationship with him.
It was Christ’s action on the cross that saved me, which I have to respond to. If Christ didn’t die on the cross, I have nothing to respond to. We’re responding to the goodness of God. When we have this understanding of faith as being inclusive of our response to what Jesus has done for us, we can say the same thing as our protestant brothers and sisters, “we are saved by faith alone.”
We come to Mass not so much because of what we want to give to Jesus. We come to Mass because of what Jesus wants to give to each of us, his very self. The Eucharist is his work, not mine. The Eucharist has the power of Christ’s death and resurrection in it.
Just as one of the ten men who were healed came and fell at the feet of Jesus, and just as there was only one of the 12 apostles came to be at the feet of Jesus as he hung upon the cross, so too today, only one out of 10 Americans goes to Mass every week bowing our heads so his body is above us before we receive him in the Eucharist.
I love you
How do we show Jesus our love for him? In Matthew Chapter 25, Jesus tells us when we feed the hungry, give a drink to the thirsty, and care for the sick, we do so for him. When the 10th man came back to Jesus praising God and giving thanks, you may have noticed that Jesus responded in an unusual way. Jesus did not say to the man “good job for being grateful, you have crossed the finish line, you won the prize, and the work I want you to do for me is done.” Instead, Jesus said, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?” Jesus is asking this man to account for the other nine. Jesus is calling back to Genesis when God asked Cain “Where is your brother Abel?” Jesus reminds us that we are to be our brother’s keeper.
Initially, God tried the approach of taking the most qualified and expecting him to be his brother’s keeper, but that didn’t turn out so well with the oldest brother Cain killing his brother Abel. It’s as if Jesus is saying since taking the most qualified to do my important work didn’t turn out so well, instead, I am going to take the one who is least qualified and who actually showed up, and I am going to entrust that person to do my important work. This is what Jesus did while he was on the cross entrusting the least qualified apostle, the youngest apostle John, with the important work of taking care of his mother Mary. This is also the approach Jesus did in today’s Gospel reading. This is why Jesus points out that the only one of the 10 who was healed and came back was a Samaritan. Jesus says, “Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” This is Jesus’ way of saying, you are the least qualified of the bunch, but you are the one who showed up, so I am going to entrust you to do my important work.
Then, next, notice what Jesus does not say. He does not just say, “your faith has saved you” as a pat on the back. No, the entirety of what Jesus says next is “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” This Jesus’ way of saying, “You can do way better. To be precise, you can do nine times better. I want you to play an important part of doing my work of saving the other nine. Stand up and go.”
While Jesus is the hero of every story, in the story of the 10 lepers, the tenth man is also the hero. But heroes aren’t just content with themselves being saved. Heroes, after all, want to save others. You and I are the least qualified who actually showed up and who Jesus is entrusting to do his important work. We all know the nine people in our lives who are not here to encounter Jesus today. Jesus commands the Samaritan and each of us here to “stand up and go” to share the blessing we have received with the other nine so they too may come to Jesus.
The hero of this story of being saved is not just a Samaritan who was cured of leprosy. The hero is every one of us sinners who respond to what Jesus has done for us with sincere hearts saying to him “please, thank you, and I love you.”
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C – October 9, 2022
Mass Readings:
Reading 1: 2 Kgs 5:14-17
Psalm: Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4
Reading 2: 2 Tm 2:8-13
Gospel: Lk 17:11-19