What are we supposed to learn from the story about the ten lepers? It’s a miracle story, but there are actually two miracles within it. The first is the “cleansing” of the lepers, as Luke terms it. The second is the salvation that is granted to the one former leper who returns to thank Jesus, and that is the one we should be learning from.

The theme for the readings today, and for the season, is giving thanks. As He did with the lepers, God has made us clean “so that we might become heirs in hope of eternal life.” But this isn’t a gift that we can just passively receive. Our gratitude for the gift of salvation should not be like a birthday thank you card—saying, “Thanks, I really appreciate it,” and then forgetting how we even acquired that new toy. It’s such an intense gift that it should change our entire lives. Thus St. Paul tells us “to be peaceable, considerate, exercising all graciousness toward everyone,” to show our gratitude through our actions. It’s a rare thing — only one of the ten lepers came back to Jesus. It’s rare, but not impossible. Let us strive to be more like the one leper and remember that it’s by God’s grace that we do anything.

What would you consider more important: health of the body or health of the soul? We know that our soul is worth more than anything on the earth, but that fact is very easy to overlook and forget in a material culture such as ours. The feast of Thanksgiving is usually directed toward gratitude for our blessings: health, family, our home, a good life. So while we are thanking God for seeing to our external needs, let is also remember to especially thank Him for healing us from the worst affliction of all — death and sin.