why most of us are like the nine

Luke records the story (chapter 17) of a meeting between 10 lepers and Jesus on an edge-of-town road.  They plead for pity.  He sends them to the priests.  "As they went," Luke writes, "they were cleansed."


All ten of them.  As they obey the word of Jesus they receive full healing which would have paved the way back to "normal life."


What's most memorable, however, about this scene is what happens next: one of the ten returns to Jesus.  This one "throws himself at the feet of Jesus," thanking him and praising God.

I am more like the nine.


I am so grateful for the gift of healing that I run back to normal life.  I have thanked Jesus with a wave, but mostly I've sighed with enormous relief because I've dodged the bullet.  We're all better now.  It's back to normal life again.  And we like normal.


But I want to be more like the one.


The difference?  Nine are grateful for the gift.  One is grateful for the Giver.  When a person is not just grateful for, but is grateful to, it changes everything.


Life can never truly go back to normal.