It is easy to ask for things. It is harder to remember to say thank you when they come. We all do it. The good news arrives, and we just move on to the next worry.
There is a story about ten men who got the same gift, and the one who came back.
Ten men at the edge of town
Jesus was walking toward Jerusalem, along the border between Samaria and Galilee, two regions next to each other. As he came into a village, ten men stood far off and called to him.
They had leprosy, a skin disease that made people afraid of them. The law said they had to live apart from everyone else and stay at a distance. They could not hug their families. They could not go to the market.
They shouted, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."
Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests, which is what you did when you were healed so you could go home again. And as they walked away, their skin became clean.
The one who came back
The Gospel of Luke, one of the four accounts of Jesus's life, tells us what happened next.
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
Luke 17:15-16 · King James VersionThe original Greek
εἷς δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν, ἰδὼν ὅτι ἰάθη, ὑπέστρεψεν μετὰ φωνῆς μεγάλης δοξάζων τὸν θεόν, καὶ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον παρὰ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ εὐχαριστῶν αὐτῷ· καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν Σαμαρίτης.
Found in Papyrus 75 (about AD 200), Codex Vaticanus (about AD 325), Codex Sinaiticus (about AD 350).
He came back shouting. He fell on his face at Jesus's feet. And he was a Samaritan, an outsider. Jesus himself called him "this stranger."
Jesus asked, "Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?" Then he told the man to get up and go. His faith had made him well.
What it means for you
The nine were not bad people. They were probably running home to their families. Most of us would have done the same.
But the one who came back got something more. He got to see Jesus's face again, and hear him speak to him directly.
Gratitude does not have to be big. It can be one sentence before you fall asleep. "Thank you for today." "Thank you that my daughter called." Turning back, even for a minute, is the same thing the Samaritan did. And God is glad when you do.