It’s the simplest of gifts that tend to carry the deepest of meanings for me. I love seeing that someone thought of me enough to find something that was just right and appropriate for me.
Thinking about that one leper, out of his group of friends. The story tells us that he was a foreigner, a Samaritan. Samaritan and Jews despised each other in those days. Yet, it was the commonality of disease that linked him to a community of despair. When they saw Jesus, they all begged for mercy, knowing that He had the power to heal them.
But He didn’t. Not then. Instead Jesus said to go and see the priests. As they travelled, in faith, they were healed.
Only one seemed to notice. At the moment when he realized that his body was restored, that he was no longer a social outcast, he turned back. He, the foreigner who should really avoid Jesus, ran and fell at His feet. He was so thankful, so grateful for this extension on his life that he was shouting and praising God unashamedly, despite what his upbringing and his cultural history had thought him.
This now cured leper, was given yet another gift. Jesus explained that it was his faith that healed him, both physically and spiritually. With the gift of life came many gifts:
Mercy.
Grace.
Salvation.
If he didn’t come back to say “thank you”, to acknowledge what Jesus had done for him, the restored man may have missed out on so much more.
Thank you.
