24. THE TENTH LEPER

Who knows gratitude better than one who has received more than usual kindness in a time of dire need when no help was in sight, and that kindness has touched his heart to its very core. Thus moved he does not rest, or forget, but acts with haste to show that he is truly thankful to his benefactor for what he had received.

But fallen man by nature is not grateful. Favours received leave little lasting impression, and benefits are taken for granted, soon lost in oblivion. How rare and refreshing, then, if one should find a truly grateful man, whose presence would be a credit to society.

Our Lord leaves us a precious lesson in gratitude, in the Gospel of St Luke, Luke 17:11-19 . On the way to Jerusalem, he was met by ten lepers who standing afar off, “... lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. ”

The cry was urgent and pitiful. They had heard of our Lord’s amazing power to heal. Who in all the land had not heard how Jesus healed every sickness? Indeed, no one who came to Him went away unsatisfied.

Leprosy is a fearful disease caused by the leoprosy bacterium, a microorganism which attacks and destroys nerves, tissues and organs of the body, resulting in rotting flesh and disfigurement. In Jesus’ time leprosy was a social scourge with scant hope of cure. Our Lord, ever merciful, responded immediately by sending them to the priest, not for treatment, but to be seen and certified that they had been healed of their condition. Jesus said not a word about the healing which was to follow even as the lepers acted on our Lord’s command.

As the ten men went on their way, they suddenly saw that they were miraclously cleansed and fit to be certified by the priest of their cure. Our God is ever ready to show us mercy if only we are willing to obey. If we do what we can, God will do for us what we cannot.

Then one of the ten turned back to Him who was the Author of his cure, and with a loud voice, he glorified God, lifting up his voice in praises. Then falling down at the feet of Jesus, he humbly acknowledged the amazing act of healing which had been wrought upon his body.

Now, notice our Lord’s comment: “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. ” And this grateful man was a Samaritan, whereas the nine absent men were Jews. Samaritans belonged to a despised people, looked down by Jews, treated as aliens and outsiders, strangers to the commonwealth of Israel. And yet the one who returned to give glory to God was a Samaritan. But where were the nine?

Our Lord knows the ingratitude which rules in the human heart. Many receive God’s mercies, but few return to give thanks. From the account we have read we may conclude that ten percent or fewer are truly grateful. And how often those least expected prove to be most grateful. A Samaritan, outsider and outcast, gives thanks, but the Jews, members of the household did not.

Now, let us turn our attention to the happenings of the nineteen thirties, during my early childhood. In those days of deep poverty, when the world depression cast a pall of gloom over Malaya and Singapore, were times when our faith in God was sorely tested. In the midst of our distress, we were to discover who were our real friends. These were not many, nor were they easy to find. But when Father asked, they opened not only their hearts to us, but their purses also, and help flowed freely.

Another proverb left us by Father was this:

In time of thirst, even a drop of water is as the sweet dew of heaven.

Father never forgot. Those who had come to our family’s aid were even as God’s angels, and Father and Mother were ever mindful and urgent to repay as well as express thanks.

At that time, I was only five, but those memories remain. Mother baked her best butter cakes (learnt from the English missionary ladies back in China) and roasted the best fatted chickens. Then Father made the trip to Singapore to express thanks to various benefactors. As his favoured son, I tagged along many of those trips. Knocking on doors not to beg or borrow, but to return sincere thanks. We visited various of his friends. These “Thanksgiving Missions, ” if one might call them, were great events in our parents’ lives, and they were lessons which I can never forget.

Again, Father left us an age-old Chinese saying: ”Drink water, think source” This means “ Foget not benefits received. ” Does not this remind us of Psalm 103:2 ?

On a higher plane, Father ever since his conversion under Dr John Sung’s ministry, became a life-long debtor to the bounteous grace of God. Whereever he went he would seize every opportunity to testify to God’s goodness and witness to the saving power of the Gospel.

Mother, no less than Father, was active, sharing Christ among the womenfolk.

Indeed, repaying our Gospel debt became the family’s urgent business, out of gratitude to the Saviour.

Recall the hymn by Robert Robinson (1735-1790)

“O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness like a fetter

Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee:

Prone to wander-Lord, I feel it-

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart-O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

Up until this day, the debt of gratitude continues to be repaid in the lives of five living offsprings, long years after Father and Mother have gone to their rest. Urgency is the keynote, knowing the days are evil and our time is short. By God’s abounding grace we press on, with thankful hearts, remembering Father’s words: “Gratitude is urgent--like a life debt.