13th Sunday after Pentecost 11.9.11
The story of the Ten Lepers challenges us to make sure we are not one of the nine who never came back to give thanks.
The ‘nine’ symbolise that part of the human race (probably nine tenths would be a fair estimate) which does not have much time for God.
If God has any purpose in the minds of such people He is there to fix their problems and once He has done that He can go back into recess. And if He does not fix the problems then He is guilty of letting them down!
How important it is for us to have the right attitude towards Almighty God. We have difficulty with this because we find His ways so mysterious, and so much is beyond our understanding.
It will help us to get onto the right wavelength with God if we can focus on what He wants to happen; on what He regards as important.
When God looks at human affairs what is He looking for?
While we are likely to be thinking about money, health, our houses, our cars, our football team, our social life etc etc, God is thinking about our souls, about whether we are in union with Him or not.
God values the things we value, where possible, but His main point is Salvation. That is the big one for Him. We are here on this earth to know, love, and serve God. We are preparing for heaven.
So we see that can be operating at different levels. Take the question of ‘being good’, holiness of life. How much of our attention goes on trying to become better people in terms of being kind, generous, merciful - as against making more money, or getting a better house and the like?
We might dismiss goodness as more or less looking after itself. It is something I could switch on if needed. But God regards this question as the most important.
So we can be at cross purposes with God. We wonder why He does not give us the things we ask for, while He wonders why we ask for the wrong things.
In the midst of all the confusion comes the real God seeking to direct us.
All He wants is for people to take Him seriously; and He will pour down lots more blessings on us if we do that, even the lesser blessings that we worry so much about now.
But if we put those lesser things before Him He might take them from us or withhold them when we ask for them - because if we deny Him we are denying the whole purpose of our existence.
We have to be like the one leper who did see further than his physical health to the state of his soul; who did see that it was necessary to worship God and thank Him.
It is not so hard to see this. It is a common experience in this life for people who have it all in terms of money and power still to feel an emptiness inside, a lack of purpose in their lives.
In our own lives we know that when we do something good, something that requires some sort of self-sacrifice – that action will bring more satisfaction than merely enjoying some physical or material experience.
We honour people in our history who have given themselves for others, not those who have been self-indulgent. We do not erect statues for people who have looked out only for themselves.
When we take the larger spiritual view we discover that we are grateful – grateful not just for this or that blessing but for the whole scheme of things. We can see past individual disappointments to the greatest good – union with God, now and in eternity.
Deo Gratias!
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