October 13:
Call: Psalm 66: 1-12 (790)
Text: Luke 17: 11-19
Prophet: Hosea 13: 2-6
Ingrates
All of us have things that annoy us or upset us.
Some of them are relatively minor
- to be honest, a good many are relatively minor.
For example,
I get annoyed when I put my socks on the wrong feet.
And, of course, this is where you observe
that with socks, you never knew that
there were "right" or "wrong" feet
After all, unlike shoes, socks fit either foot just as well.
But socks - men's socks, at least - often have the brand name printed on the side of one sock.
And because I believe that the name should be on the inside of the foot
That sock goes on the right foot - not the left.
Every once in a while - perhaps once a year -
There is a morning when, that - for whatever reason -
I don't pay attention.
And that evening when I take them off, I discover
That I put the brand name sock on my left foot
And just about as often,
since I have three identical pairs of blue socks
And an equal number of pairs of matching black socks,
I have an evening when I discover that I am wearing
Two branded or two unbranded socks
That is: two right socks or two left socks.
And on both of those occasions I get annoyed at myself.
I get annoyed at my error
Even though I wore them from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM
Even though during that time, I had no idea that I had "erred"
Even though I functioned just fine despite that "error."
I walked just fine. I stood just fine. I worked just fine.
But I am annoyed because I wore my socks on the wrong feet
On the Jim Barnes II annoyance scale of 1 - 100
With "1" being the least annoying and "100" being significant anger
I can't even justify my wrong footed sock error as a "2."
Somewhat higher on that scale
is my annoyance at Thruway toll both operators
Who spend their time talking on the phone
And making me feel like I am interrupting them
When I pull up to the booth.
When we lived in Jordanville,
There was a guy who worked the Herkimer toll both
And he consistently was guilty of this sin.
As a result I deliberately tried at times to ask him questions
I was not particularly successful
My only satisfaction was that
While I would give him a rating of "20" on my annoyance scale
He probably put me at "45."
But these are not earth shattering annoyances - even for me.
Now my annoyance scale index has four sections
1-33: Annoyance
34 - 66: Upsetting
67 - 90: Low to Moderate Anger
90 and above: Extremely High Anger
What I want to address this morning
is something that
"earns" a JEB II Annoyance Scale "Extremely High" rating
That something is ingratitude.
While it rates below violent actions
And just below a refusal to forgive
It is up in the "90s" for me.
Most of my memories of my life are good ones
God has been awfully good to me
Despite my flaws, my mistakes, and my sins
But prime among the relatively few negative memories
Are instances of ingratitude
Some to me;
Some to others.
So you can imagine my reaction to this morning's scripture.
It comes from Luke's gospel, 17: 11-19
There were ten men who had
Been ostracized
And had become outcasts because of their leprosy.
As Jesus entered their village
The ten men cried out, saying, "Jesus have mercy on us!"
They begged him for help.
He responded by telling them what to do
"Go and show yourselves to the priests."
(who were the ones who could certify them as cured)
They started off to do what Jesus had told them to do.
As they went, they were made clean.
As one of them began to notice that he had been healed
He rushed back to Jesus
He praised God with a loud voice
And threw himself on the ground at Jesus' feet.
As he lay there prostrate He thanked Jesus.
Interestingly, the man was a Samaritan
And because of that, he was one looked down on by the Jews
And I picture Jesus
With sad eyes in,
and a grim expression on,
His shaking head
Saying,
"Were not ten made clean?
But the other nine, where are they?
Was none of them found to return and give praise
except this foreigner?"
This is where you and quickly react,
"Those nine ungrateful men!
What an embarrassment those ingrates are.
And we want to take them out behind the barn
And give them a good whooping
Or, drawing on Nathaniel Hawthorne
We want to brand them with a red letter
But this time an "I" not an "A.
These ten men were sick, embarrassed, and ostracized.
Jesus healed them
And nine of them couldn't be bothered to turn around
Nine of them couldn't be bothered to praise God
or to even offer thanks to Jesus for what he had done.
Interestingly, we read this story differently
than we read many of Christ's parables and stories.
When we read about the prodigal son
We often read it as the older brother
When we read about the laborers in the vineyard
We almost always read it as those hired at 6:00 AM
And thus with those stories,
it does not take long to realize that Christ is talking to us
and telling us what we need to hear.
But when we read this story
We have a much more comfortable reaction
For when we read it we hear it in the third person
We don't see ourselves as one of the nine
We don't find ourselves being chastised by him
In fact we join him in chastising the nine ingrates.
This story doesn't stick a dagger in our hearts or our self esteem
It doesn't get us upset at ourselves
We have no question that had we been there,
We would have been the healed Samaritan.
The one who returned and gave thanks
BUT if we take time to try to figure out
how it is that nine healed lepers didn't return to offer thanks,
we will discover a greater kinship with them
than any of us would like.
That search for what made them respond that way
Does not lead us to
"Their parents didn't teach them any better"
Although their parents might well not have
It does not lead us to
They had to get home in time to watch
The game between Jerusalem and Bethlehem
Or "Stoners," the new reality show
in which contestants stone each other until only one is left alive.
I believe that where our search will take us is
To a very familiar place and a very common activity.
I believe that the search inside the minds and souls of the nine
Will show us that they felt sorry for themselves
"It's not fair that I am sick."
"I didn't deserve these sores all over my skin."
Not a person here hasn't experienced that feeling
Not a person here has not actively felt sorry for himself or herself
Not a person here can stand up and say, "I haven't done that."
And therefore, not a person here can say that he or she
Can't relate to the response that derives from that feeling
The response we observed from the nine healed lepers
who kept walking
instead of turning back to say, "Thank you, Jesus."
Those nine healed lepers who did not to fall prostrate before Christ
Who were not overwhelmed with praise and thanksgiving,
But who walked away thinking
"It's about time I was cured!"
"I deserved this healing."
"I can't understand what took so long."
That response is not an attitude of gratitude,
but rather a feeling of entitlement.
Years before Christ healed the lepers on his way to Jerusalem
The prophet Hosea made it clear that
this was the attitude of the Israelites in the wilderness
Hauntingly, God, speaking through that prophet said,
"They were hungry I fed them
They were satisfied And they forgot me.
Christ could say the same thing about the nine healed lepers
They were sick I healed them
They were satisfied And they forgot me.
Should you and I worry that there are times
When Christ could say the same about us?
I don't want to be an ingrate
That would be infinitely - and eternally - worse
Than wearing my socks on the wrong feet.