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Why Give to the Ungrateful?
Learning to follow Jesus' model of generosity.
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My work in the church has given me a new appreciation for the story of Jesus' healing the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19). As you remember, only one of the ten bothered to thank him. This passage often becomes the basis for sermons and lessons on the importance of gratitude. That's a true interpretation, of course, but it's not necessarily the whole story. Those of us who are active in church ministry can learn something else from the model Jesus provides. When we give of ourselves, what do we expect in return? When we offer cups of cold water in Christ's name, what response do we foresee? Quenched recipients smiling shyly at us, their eyes shining with gratitude? Jesus told his disciples, "Freely you have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8). But he also said, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves" (Matt. 10:16) and "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first" (John 15:18). Do we expect a higher thankfulness ratio than Christ received? The hard realitiesA couple of years ago, a friend and I transported some used living room furniture to a local woman who had no income. As we hauled it out of my pickup truck and set it up in her home, she stood silently, watching us. Eventually she asked, "Could you get me a footstool, too? That way my guests won't put their feet on the coffee table." Several times in the ensuing months she phoned me, inquiring about the footstool, which never materialized. One day she called and announced, "I need some new furniture." When I asked why, she explained, "I moved to a different house. I left that furniture in the other place. It was old, and besides, the couch had a broken leg." I wanted to scream. Another time, a woman telephoned our church in a panic, saying her food stamps were delayed and she was going hungry. As emergency needs liaisons for our church, my friend and I filled several grocery bags with food from our own pantries and delivered them to her. Accepting the food, she asked, "Can you find me a roll-away bed? I've got nowhere to sleep but the floor." When I returned a week later, having found a bed, she watched from her window as I single-handedly carted the bed across the street in rush-hour traffic. She waited while I assembled it for her and then flatly stated, "The food you brought me was poison. I was so sick I almost died." Stunned, I asked whether she had perhaps contracted the flu, which was going around at the time. She insisted we had poisoned her. A man living in a shack needed bunk beds for his two sons, who had no bed at all. He couldn't say anything when we brought the furniture, because he lay drunk and unconscious on the floor the whole time we were there. A woman newly arrived in the United States borrowed some of my clothes till she could find a job. Then she left town, taking my clothes with her. |             | |||||||||||||||||
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