The Beauty of the Lord

“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’s feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.”

In today’s reading, nine people who witnessed and experienced a miracle firsthand missed it. They missed the awe that should have come when Jesus miraculously healed them of leprosy. Maybe, they got caught up in living in their new reality—seeking the community they’d been cut off from for so long, doing things and going places they couldn’t previously do and go. Or maybe they just forgot to thank their healer.

Whatever the case, just one man—a Samaritan—came back, cast himself at the feet of Jesus, and thanked him. Only one man was sufficiently filled with the awe of Jesus’s work that he said, “there is no place I would rather be right now than at the feet of Jesus.”

If you’re like me, perhaps you ashamedly identify with the nine and desperately wish you were more like the one. Many of us began our faith journey with awe and reverence for God, seeing the miraculous hand of God early on in our faith. Maybe that awe continued for a while, and we found ourselves frequently filled with wonder at the fact that an all-powerful God was broken for our good. But somewhere along the way, including (and perhaps especially) for “professional Christians,” that awe subsided in place of long to-do lists in preparation for Sunday services, or making sure the kids were dressed and ready to go for an Easter Sunday dinner. If you’re like me, you’re constantly seeking to return to that early state of awe and reverence. But how?

For the answer to that, we can look to the one who was filled with awe. As we seek to respond to the gift of the Lenten season, we can follow in the simple footsteps of the Samaritan, turning back and responding with humble reverence and with gratitude. That simple response is a gift pleasing to God.

Holy Spirit, fill me with awe for the work of the Son on the cross, and lead me to his feet this Lenten season. Amen.

KYLE PERRY
Master of Divinity Student
Eatonville, Washington