Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time: October 9, 2022

“Constructed in Conscious Gratitude”

2 Kings 5: 8-15/Psalm 111/ 2 Timothy 2: 8-15/ Luke 17: 11-19

Bishop Ariel P. Santos

In the gospel, Jesus and His disciples were on their way to Samaria, which was in between Galilee and Judea, where ten lepers were quarantined. They called from afar to Jesus and said, “Lord, have mercy on us. Heal us!” Jesus did not go near them but said, “Go and show yourself to the priest.” The priest in the temple is the one who clears people that they are healed and are free to get out of the quarantine and rejoin society. Imagine what was going through the minds and the hearts of these ten lepers. They were ostracized, but being healed from leprosy, there should be a great thanksgiving from them. But only one came back to Jesus to thank Him.

God, in Jesus Christ, does not require a payment, a thank offering, before He heals us, He blesses us, and He saves us. Jesus asked why only one, a Samaritan, was thankful out of the ten who were healed. While God blesses us, He wants to see our hearts are thankful. While He gives us freely, He also wants us to give freely and to be thankful as expressed in our giving freely.

During that time, before one is given a sacrament in the temple, there should be an offering. The parents of Jesus brought Him to the temple to give an offering. This was God’s design because there were workers in the temple, the Levities, and the collections from the services were the fund from which the salaries of the Levites came from. St. Paul said that those who proclaim the gospel get their living from the gospel. This has not changed. What changed is that giving is not forced now.

There was this story of a priest who became the gossip of the parishioners. The parishioners saw that in his clothesline were clothes and underwear of women. So there was this talk that the priest was having an affair in the church house. This rumor got to the priest. One Sunday, he addressed the parishioners. He admitted that the women’s clothes in the clothesline that they see are true, but he told the people that because he hadn’t been receiving tithes and offerings, he had to accept laundry work.

We are encouraged, not forced, to give freely because we have freely received as well. God saved us and we are blessed beyond our imagination but we may not be aware of it and we take things for granted. It was a great blessing for the lepers to be healed from their disease as it was a matter of life and death but only one came back to Jesus. Today, God writes the Law in our hearts, not in stones anymore. We give freely because compliance is not obedience. If we are forced to give, it is not from the heart.

The ten lepers represent us. Jesus healed everyone, forgave everyone, blessed everyone, but He doesn’t require repayment. We can never repay God but He looks for our thanks. The challenge in the gospel is that it was a Samaritan who came back to give thanks, not the Jews who were the people of God.

In the Old Testament reading, Naaman was a Gentile, not an Israelite, but he showed his thanks by giving a generous offering. He said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Because I know this, therefore, I give an offering.” Our thanks must always be expressed in tangible and concrete form. God is pleased with our voluntary giving, and He loves a cheerful giver.

God has blessed us, but why are there only a few who show their gratefulness? I remember the time when our Church’s altar could not contain the thanksgiving offerings. I am sure we are thankful, but sometimes, we forget to express these thanks in concrete form. The foreigners, the Gentiles giving thanks confront our laxity in showing our thanks to God.

In 2Corinthians 8, St. Paul was collecting for the needy in Jerusalem and said, “Last year, you expressed your willingness to give but you have to complete it. You showed a desire, now, pursue the desire.” We have to produce something tangible that would loudly and clearly express whatever we say. Faith is the substance of the things we hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen. We are to manifest this.

We are a Eucharistic people. We are a thankful people. We go to the Eucharist because we are thankful to God for giving us His Son. We are also an incarnational people; that is, we give ‘flesh”, a tangible manifestation, a substance and evidence to our faith and our thanks.

Jesus was heard from the Hebrew Bible as a Spirit; and when the fullness of time came, God sent Him to become flesh. St. John said, “Jesus is the incarnate. We have seen Him; heard Him; touched Him; eaten with Him; spent time with Him. This is what we proclaim.” To know God, we have to look to Jesus. Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

Our calling is also incarnation. What we believe should be manifested in our flesh – in actual, tangible, concrete, perceivable, observable, and visible form. In the construction of our Church building, yesterday, there were materials that needed to be brought from the first floor to the third floor yesterday. Young and old alike volunteered to work. It was their expression of their hope that this Church building be completed.

We believe in the Creed and we proclaim, “We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” The fullness of the Kingdom coming to earth where peace, love, compassion, kindness, justice, and equality reigns are not yet seen. We still hope for these. Our calling is for this hope, the future fullness of the Kingdom, to manifest today, right now. We are the mustard seeds and it is inevitable that this Kingdom grows and increases.

The initiators, the pioneers are the ones called to give the most. This building is a parable of our story as a Church. Our generation will be the generation that will give the most for this building – time, talent and treasure. Will we see the completion of this? Hopefully, but the ones who will benefit are the next generation. This is a project of love that is for others.

We are enjoying peace and prosperity because our founding fathers invested their lives. This is love. One plants, somebody else reaps. The principle of God is what we sow is what we reap. This is true! John 4 says, “One sows, another reaps, but he who sows rejoices with those who reap.” We don’t ask for a return; we are blessed and fulfilled in seeing that somebody else reaps the good of what we sow. It is one way. We are encouraged to give substance to what we believe and what we say we are thankful for. Do things for God in response to what He has done.

Jesus gave His life in obedience to God to save His people. It was not a bother for Him to do so with Him saying, “Of course, I would gladly give My life for them.” Freely, we have received, freely give. Not under compulsion, but because God loves a cheerful giver.

The amount of willingness, of free will in giving, expresses the genuineness of the love. The amount of sacrifice behind the giving expresses the depth of the love. Psalm 111 says, “I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart.” May we be a thankful people. We are a Eucharistic people; thus, we are to prove this and give flesh and substance to it.

Our goal is to be restored in the likeness of God who wholeheartedly gave His life. Jesus gave His life; what more could He give? This proves the genuineness and depth of His love. We want to give substance and evidence of our praise to Him because this is the way it is in the kingdom of our God.