Why Bother?

(Luke 17:11-19)

We've all felt it and had it happen to us. We do something really nice for someone, something that may be big, or even small, and have it ignored by the recipient. The word of thanks is not given, nor a card sent in the mail. We may steam, do that slow burn thing, have a few not so nice thoughts about that ungrateful person, or complain around the table with a few friends who have not violated the rule of expressing appropriate thanks for kind things done. Sometimes we are so taken back by the lack of gratitude that we contemplate just becoming less giving, and keeping our kindness to ourselves from now on. Perhaps our random acts of kindness, and those acts that are carefully thought out and planned, just are not as meaningful as we thought in our minds. So, why bother when people are so ungrateful?

Perhaps we shouldn't call it a scientific survey, but the numbers are very revealing. Would it surprise you that it has been shown that 9 out of 10 people are ungrateful? That number may astound you. Even though you know that many people have been ungrateful to you for favors and kindnesses shown, you still can remember many who have shown gratitude. That number may seem too high to you, yet you are still tempted at times to keep your kindness to yourself, and justifiably so!

Can you even imagine going beyond the call of duty to help someone, knowing ahead of time, that he will walk away after getting a great blessing from you, without even a slight nod of the head, or a quick "thank you"? Certainly not!

Throughout the wilderness, horrifying cries of pain could be heard. Behind those cries were 10 deformed faces, and withering body parts. Condemned to cold winds and soaking rain, with no family or protective cover, 10 men wandered and wondered. They wondered no longer about their future, but instead hoped for an end. Then, somehow, they heard about a Healer. Rumors spread even among the desolate hills and the rock. He would be their last hope. If only they could get close enough. If only they were allowed to approach Him for just a glance, or a word from the Healer. It would be their last and only chance.

And then they heard that He was close by. Perhaps it was the sound of the happy crowd that alerted them. He was close, and closer still. But will He be close enough? Jesus was walking in the village, but they stood huddled outside that village, as required by the Law of Moses. Somehow they must get His attention. So with desperate and pleading voices, from hollow faces, they hollered above the joyful noise of the crowd. They begged for mercy from the One they now claimed as their Master. Jesus heard their voices and their pleas. His compassionate eyes fell upon their diseased bodies. Then He simply instructed them to show themselves to the priests, according to the Laws of Moses. The priests will be the ones to declare them clean. As they went according to His word, they were healed.

Great joy must have filled their hearts! As they ran to see the priests, they must have looked at one another, and been a mirror to each other. They each saw that their skins were healed and their sunken cheeks full and flushed! Upon hearing the priests declare them clean, each of the 10 went his way. Ten lepers healed, ten lepers given their lives back, ten lepers restored to their families and friends, ten men, no longer lepers, allowed to sleep in comfort and warmth that night. But first, a word of thanks to the Great Healer, Master Jesus, must be given.

But of those ten, how many returned to fall at the feet of Jesus, to glorify God for the miracle that had just happened in their life? Only one returned; one out of ten. We shake our heads in disbelief. How could that be? Where were the other nine? Jesus asks the same question out loud.

Although Jesus knew all things, He did not try to explain or condemn the behavior of the nine. In fact, before He healed those ten men, He already knew that only one would return to give thanks. He knew this, yet He stilled preformed His work of mercy for all ten.

And He continued on working and giving. He continued His works of mercy, kindness and love. He continued to preach of the coming Kingdom. He continued to bless little children. He continued to counsel the young. He gave sight to the blind. He continued to eat with sinners. And He continued on His journey to Jerusalem where He would make a final gift of incredible mercy to an ungrateful world. He continued on, not for the thanks, but because He loved.