WEBVTT 00:00:01.989 --> 00:00:04.629 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:04.629 --> 00:00:08.449 of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ. 00:00:10.169 --> 00:00:15.009 Today, in the Gospel, we hear that familiar annual 00:00:15.009 --> 00:00:22.289 story of Jesus' cure of the ten lepers, and only 00:00:22.289 --> 00:00:26.829 one of them came back to thank God, to thank 00:00:26.829 --> 00:00:30.829 Jesus for everything. that he had done to them, 00:00:30.929 --> 00:00:33.869 especially his cure of that dreaded disease. 00:00:35.770 --> 00:00:41.750 The main point of this parable, this story, it's 00:00:41.750 --> 00:00:44.070 not so much a parable, it's an actual event, 00:00:44.590 --> 00:00:48.850 but it has a parabolic meaning, so to speak, 00:00:48.929 --> 00:00:54.670 for us, is the theme of gratitude and thanksgiving. 00:00:56.609 --> 00:01:01.259 As a background, Many of you know in general, 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:05.579 or at least you've heard about, the disease leprosy. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:11.040 It's pretty much been eradicated nowadays, except 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:15.939 in third world countries. But in ancient times, 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:20.299 there is a social stigma attached to that disease. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:25.079 We know much more about this disease now, which 00:01:25.079 --> 00:01:29.430 modern medicine is able to treat. But at that 00:01:29.430 --> 00:01:32.030 time, they thought it was extremely contagious. 00:01:33.209 --> 00:01:37.310 And that is why lepers were expected to live 00:01:37.310 --> 00:01:41.750 by themselves and have little or no social contact 00:01:41.750 --> 00:01:46.950 with otherwise healthy people. We had a little 00:01:46.950 --> 00:01:51.250 taste of that a couple of years ago in that pandemic. 00:01:51.609 --> 00:01:56.569 And you remember that mantra to have social distancing. 00:01:57.930 --> 00:02:01.290 Well, that was only six feet. They expected lepers 00:02:01.290 --> 00:02:08.610 to stay much farther away from others. So that 00:02:08.610 --> 00:02:14.729 is the disease of leprosy. It caused disfigurement 00:02:14.729 --> 00:02:21.469 and a painful disease as well. But in today's 00:02:21.469 --> 00:02:26.629 gospel, all ten are cured, and one comes back. 00:02:27.099 --> 00:02:31.099 And the point of this is that he's a Samaritan. 00:02:32.199 --> 00:02:36.219 And then we run into Samaritans every once in 00:02:36.219 --> 00:02:39.560 a while in the Gospels. And you basically know 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:42.219 what that is. If you look at a map of the Holy 00:02:42.219 --> 00:02:46.780 Land, the northern part is Galilee. Then there's 00:02:46.780 --> 00:02:49.699 a territory, the middle is the territory of Samaria. 00:02:49.819 --> 00:02:53.500 And then you go down to Judea. So someone traveling 00:02:53.500 --> 00:02:57.139 from Galilee to Judea would have to pass through 00:02:57.139 --> 00:03:03.099 Samaritan territory. Samaritans were very much 00:03:03.099 --> 00:03:07.340 despised by Jewish people. They considered them 00:03:07.340 --> 00:03:12.520 to have polluted the purity of the Jewish religion 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:16.520 by incorporating certain practices that were 00:03:16.520 --> 00:03:20.020 not kosher in the eyes of the Orthodox Jews. 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:24.400 And then, of course, the thing that really annoyed 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:28.659 them is that the Samaritans set up rival worship, 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:34.159 their own temple on Mount Gerizim in Samaria. 00:03:34.819 --> 00:03:41.939 So Samaritans were very much despised by most 00:03:41.939 --> 00:03:46.780 of the Jews. And Jesus several times in the Gospels 00:03:46.780 --> 00:03:51.199 plays on this prejudice. that Jews have against 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:54.960 Samaritans because the Samaritans emerge in the 00:03:54.960 --> 00:04:02.099 story as the good guys. A familiar story of the 00:04:02.099 --> 00:04:06.699 Good Samaritan. When the priest and the Levite, 00:04:06.699 --> 00:04:10.199 the officials of the Jewish religion, passed 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:14.159 by this wounded man who had been beaten up by 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:18.120 highway robbers. But then it was the Samaritan. 00:04:19.019 --> 00:04:23.639 who came, bound up his wounds, took him to an 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:27.800 inn, and even paid for his time at the inn for 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:31.639 his recuperation. And then, of course, perhaps 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:35.579 the most familiar event with Samaritans is when 00:04:35.579 --> 00:04:39.139 Jesus met the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. 00:04:39.939 --> 00:04:44.560 And the Samaritan woman, of course, reveals in 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:48.540 a very delicate way the prejudice of Jewish people 00:04:48.540 --> 00:04:52.879 when she says, we know that Jews have no dealings 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:56.519 with Samaritans, put very mildly because they 00:04:56.519 --> 00:05:00.939 really did not like Samaritans. They despised 00:05:00.939 --> 00:05:04.920 them. So the Samaritans sometimes turn out as 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:09.660 the least expected ones to be good and holy and 00:05:09.660 --> 00:05:12.379 to do the right thing. And that is one of the 00:05:12.379 --> 00:05:15.949 features in today's gospel. Of the ten people 00:05:15.949 --> 00:05:19.430 that were healed, the ten lepers, the only one 00:05:19.430 --> 00:05:23.670 that came back to thank Jesus was the Samaritan. 00:05:24.870 --> 00:05:27.889 So as I said at the beginning, this reveals to 00:05:27.889 --> 00:05:31.550 us the theme of thanksgiving and gratitude. We 00:05:31.550 --> 00:05:35.410 can ask ourselves today, are we thankful for 00:05:35.410 --> 00:05:39.149 everything that God has given to us? Things that 00:05:39.149 --> 00:05:41.870 we don't appreciate, that we take for granted 00:05:41.870 --> 00:05:47.009 in our life. Spiritual writers tell us that there 00:05:47.009 --> 00:05:52.029 are four elements, basically, in prayer. Number 00:05:52.029 --> 00:05:57.870 one is praise or adoration of God. Number two 00:05:57.870 --> 00:06:03.589 is thanksgiving. The third feature of prayer 00:06:03.589 --> 00:06:08.370 is repentance. And then the fourth one, which 00:06:08.370 --> 00:06:10.250 is the one that we're probably most familiar 00:06:10.250 --> 00:06:13.990 with in our own prayers, is petition. When we 00:06:13.990 --> 00:06:17.949 ask God for certain things. So we have praise, 00:06:18.209 --> 00:06:26.750 thanksgiving, repentance, and petition. There 00:06:26.750 --> 00:06:30.629 are in our life many things that we should be 00:06:30.629 --> 00:06:34.990 thankful for. Things that we take for granted. 00:06:36.629 --> 00:06:40.850 Our health, basically. Those of us whose health 00:06:40.850 --> 00:06:44.910 is not really... as good as it should be, sometimes 00:06:44.910 --> 00:06:48.329 complain and ask God to relieve them of that 00:06:48.329 --> 00:06:51.310 illness, that problem they have. Nothing wrong 00:06:51.310 --> 00:06:54.949 with that. Even remember St. Paul had a thorn 00:06:54.949 --> 00:06:59.250 in the flesh. It's a matter of curiosity among 00:06:59.250 --> 00:07:04.209 scripture commentators what precisely that thorn 00:07:04.209 --> 00:07:08.310 in the flesh was. But it's vague enough for us 00:07:08.310 --> 00:07:12.240 to project our own problems. as being our particular 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:19.180 thorn in the flesh. But, as I said, many things 00:07:19.180 --> 00:07:25.639 we take for granted. Our family, friends, the 00:07:25.639 --> 00:07:31.740 health that God has given us, and here in America 00:07:31.740 --> 00:07:35.819 we have so many material things. We take these 00:07:35.819 --> 00:07:40.100 things for granted. We have, especially as Orthodox 00:07:40.100 --> 00:07:43.379 Christians, we have so many religious things 00:07:43.379 --> 00:07:46.860 to be thankful for. We have freedom of worship. 00:07:47.420 --> 00:07:52.720 We can come to a beautiful church and pray. We 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:56.079 can come to a humble church and pray. We gather 00:07:56.079 --> 00:08:00.779 together and pray. Many parts of the world, this 00:08:00.779 --> 00:08:03.720 is difficult, if not impossible, for Christians. 00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:09.360 So today is an example. of the ingratitude of 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:13.560 the ten lepers, let us take the example of the 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:18.259 gratitude, the thankfulness of the Samaritan 00:08:18.259 --> 00:08:23.839 who came and thanked God and thanked Jesus for 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:28.939 healing him. Once again, look in our hearts today 00:08:28.939 --> 00:08:33.059 and think of things that we haven't thought of 00:08:33.059 --> 00:08:37.100 before or we haven't expressed to God. and give 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:41.200 thanks to him for his manifold blessings. Amen.