Faith, Hope, and Gratitude: Sermon for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, Oct. 12, 2025

-- the Rev. Leslie Barnes Scoopmire

Readings:

2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c

Psalm 111

2 Timothy 2:8-15

Luke 17:11-19

On October 1, the church's calendar of saints recognized the feast day of St. Therese of Lisieux. As I was going about my prayers that day, I did some investigation into her life, and I found this tale of an encounter with the saint:

A man from Canada spent years traveling to Europe and doing a lot of work to promote the message of Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower from France. And then, he wasn't given the credit; someone else was, instead.The saint herself appeared in a vision to the man much later, thanking him for his work. She told him, "Heaven is the essence of gratitude."As the vision prepared to depart, the man suddenly burst out, "Wait, wait, what do you do in heaven?" Therese replied, "In heaven, we love, we love, we love."

Our gospel for this week is first of all, about gratitude, what Therese identified as the essence of paradise. Anyone who has ever been ill knows that when one is fully well, there is such a deep feeling of release and relief that one feels almost reborn. The pain and suffering of the past fades into a distant memory-- this is why there is not a world of only children on the planet.

Jesus hears the cries of ten lepers from a distance, without even touching them or any special words. Lepers are outcasts in society. One of the lepers is a Samaritan, which makes him a double outcast. The crying out is also significant—lepers were supposed to cry out and warn others of their presence, since leprosy was contagious. But this time, they cry out not a warning but a plea for healing in this case means being cleansed in body as well as in soul. Kind of like the fact that when one has a wound, the first thing we do is clean it. Only after that important step do we move to stitches or staples and the knitting back together of the edges of the wound.

The cleansing itself is done matter-of-factly, and indeed, it is not the important part of the story and receives very little description. Jesus simply tells the men to go show themselves to the priests who had to verify that they are now clean of their disease and thus able to rejoin society. The cleansing takes place along the way to see the priests—the lepers are willing to set out even before they are healed. This is similar to the prophet Elisha healing Naaman the Syrian in our first reading. Naaman was asked to do a simple thing—wash in the Jordan, and had to take it on faith that this would work. The lepers have to take it on faith that they will be healed along the way to see the priests.

Jesus tells them to go and show themselves to the priests, which one only did when they were free from the disease. As they travel toward the priests, their disease leaves them.

Ten lepers are cleansed of their disease, but only one comes back to thank Jesus. And that one was a Samaritan, at that-- someone who wasn't expected to appreciate Jesus at all, given that they followed a related but separate religion- yet who often seem to be the group of people most likely to engage with Jesus.

One in ten gives thanks, assuming a position of the utmost humility and reverence. As many of us enter the season for our parish's annual pledge campaigns, this makes me think of the biblical expectation that one was to give one tenth of their income to support the Temple and the priests. One in ten makes "Eucharist," or thanksgiving-- even as that delays his being declared healed by the authorities. The faith that guided the one who turned back was entwined with his gratitude; neither faith nor gratitude exist independently of the other.

This season is the season of stewardship because it is the season of harvest and ingathering. As the seasons make the natural world around us change its vesture from green to gold and red, we are visually reminded of the incredible beauty and life all around us. Of abundance. Of a time when partisans of either winter or summer can agree that the temperatures are darn-near perfect. We can see and experience these things, if only we take the time, as a sign of God's call us to give thanks for the outrageously generous and beautiful creation all around us. And as we become aware of the gifts we receive from God, we too are healed of the fears or anxieties that may close our hearts to the awareness of God's many mercies in our lives.

Therese described heaven as being a place where gratitude reveals itself in loving and treasuring the gifts we have been given by God's grace and mercy. What is something that you can give thanks for, that reminds you of God's grace, right now? Because especially in times of trial such as we live through right now in our lives, the only thing that can help our hearts loosen their grip of grievance, bitterness, and self-centeredness is gratitude that helps us see the light that sometimes gets engulfed in the darkness.

Today's gospel gives us a reminder of the interdependence of faith and hope that is also the subject of a famous passage from the letter to the Hebrews: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Faith generally comes first, but hope builds on the foundation of faith. Faith is rooted in the past and a present conviction based on the past, while hope looks to the future with anticipation. Faith provides the trust that the hope will be fulfilled. Without hope, faith is hollow. Without faith, hope is just wishful thinking.

Faith is now; hope is future. Faith points us toward God; hope makes us steadfast. And love, binds both together into action. Likewise, healing frees us to step into a future where we restore our relationships with God and each other. Healing is where we let go of the hurts we have borne in our lives and free ourselves from the shackles that have separated us from each other and God.

How much different would our lives be if we tried to anchor every day in gratitude? Would that not help us retain a sense of perspective, strengthening our faith that comes from what we have already seen, and build up our hope, which is crippled by fear, anger, retribution, and resentment? As St. Therese remarked,

"It is the spirit of gratitude which draws down upon us the overflow of God's grace, for no sooner have we thanked God for one blessing than God hastens to send us ten additional favors in return.  Then, when we show our gratitude for these new gifts, God multiplies God's benedictions to such a degree that there seems to be a constant stream of divine grace ever coming our way."

This does not mean that God only blesses those who are grateful. We can learn that when one lives a life of gratitude, we suddenly see with new eyes and recognition all the blessings we already have. We go from scarcity to abundance, and from trying to gain the advantage out of fear to embracing, sharing, and unifying through the assurance that we are loved and cared for.

In a world filled with contention, division, and strife, may we seize upon these four axes: Having the faith in both God and ourselves and others, faith that turns hope into conviction. Seeking cleansing of all that separates us from the love of God or love of others, and seeking the healing that the grace and mercy of Jesus alone can give. Then we can engage in our thoughts and actions the work of heaven: to love, to love, to love, and to share mercy and grace with those near and dear, and those all around.

Amen.