True Gratitude

FLETCHER L. WILLIAMS

In reading the story of the cleansing of the ten lepers, in the Gospel of Luke, it seemed to me that this miracle is pregnant with Truth for all Christian Scientists.

"And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off." Then Jesus instructed them "go shew yourselves unto the priests."

This command of our Lord distinctly shows that he read in their minds the wonderful faith they had in him, because with no signs of restoration as yet upon them, they were told to do that which implied they were restored, to undertake a journey which would have proved vain unless Jesus' word and promise proved true.

In their prompt obedience, there was a belief in the power of Jesus which enabled them immediately to commence their journey to the temple where the priests were, for they must have realized that they were not sent to the priests to be healed by them, as this was no part of the priests' office; they did not cleanse, but simply recognized when a person was made clean.

As this journey involved a severe trial of faith, so also it embraced a strong temptation to ingratitude, because when these ten men found that they were clean, it was very unlikely that they were still in the immediate presence of our Lord. Of course, we do not know how far they had gone, but Luke says, "As they went, they were cleansed." Now, it would require a real sense of gratitude to return and give thanks to our Lord; and the ingratitude shown by the nine is very aptly expressed by the writer who said, "We open our mouths wide, till God opens His hand; but after, we are speechless and heartless." How significant is this to us in our work. We must feel that unless our patients evidence their gratitude to God, they have not received the highest blessing of their healing. At first, the temptation of the practitioner is to feel that the physical healing is the only proof of the demonstration. But this is not so. The proof appears when the patient's mentality is raised to a higher consciousness of the omnipresence and omnipotence of God.

Again referring to our story, we find that our Lord dismissed the one man with a second blessing, and an infinitely greater blessing than that received by the nine. Nine were relieved physically, one was healed spiritually.

It is well for us to remember further that this thankful one was a Samaritan, and therefore by birth unfamiliar with the promises of God; the nine who were ungrateful were the children of Israel.

It has come to my notice that often those who have not as yet had a deep insight into Christian Science, are very grateful for benefits received. We cannot be too grateful to God, to the great Way-shower, and to our beloved Leader.

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Christian Science and the Children

August 28, 1902

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