By Amala William, CSC –
Readings: Wis 6:1-11; Lk 17:11-19
Readings of the day invite us ‘to seek wisdom of God and act according to it.’
In the first reading the mighty God gives instruction to his chosen ones to walk in the path of God. The Day of Judgment will be based on their holiness of life than their glorious name and possession.
The Gospel passage is of Jesus cleansing ten lepers. We see a foreigner’s expression of gratitude to Jesus for the healing that he received. Some interpretations portray that Jesus was saddened when other nine did not thank him. I believe, this was not the first time that the people did not acknowledge the power of God in Jesus. There were several instances in the Lukan Gospel itself (Lk: 4 Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth, Lk: 10 Woes to Unrepentant Cities, Lk: 9 a Samaritan village refuses the entry of Jesus) where Jesus’ words and deeds were rejected.
It reminds me of a mother’s love for her family. She does all the domestic work tirelessly from morning till the sunset. She doesn’t expect any sort of appreciation and gratitude. Yet, she continues to do the good work out of love for the family. Jesus was never disappointed when he was not recognized as the Son of God. He knew very well of his own self and the plan of God in his life.
As the followers of Christ, we chose to be at the service of God. We need to have the attitude of giving than receiving. Whether one acknowledges the good work or not, the Christian service to the people of God has to be carried on. That is what Jesus did in his life, amidst lots of opposition. I need to have the mindset of an ‘Unrewarded servant’ (Lk17:10) who considered himself as worthless and did what was expected of him. My love for God needs to be expressed in the form of grateful offering of service to his people in need. Wisdom is to know plan of God for oneself, and effectively doing the work of God in our life.