Greek to Me

Celebrating little thanksgiving every Sunday

11/28/2024

Lk 17:11-19 As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten persons with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”

On this Thanksgiving Day, it is easy to count our many blessings and feel deeply grateful to God. We have so many. At the top of my list of blessings would be my faith in Jesus, my precious family, and my loyal, loving friends. I am even grateful for my 4,522 friends on Facebook, you know, the ones who really love me.

But today I want to say a word not about the blessings we see

but the blessings we are blind to. And I will use myself as a case in point. While I was growing up I hated foreign languages. I studied French at Catholic High School in Little Rock. But French is hard to pronounce, I made lots of mistakes in grammar, and I often felt foolish and embarrassed when I tried to say something, like a toddler learning his A-B-C’s.

When I started studying at the University of Dallas, you had to complete intermediate level of a foreign language to graduate. I felt I knew enough French to take that class my freshman year, and I barely passed the course. After my freshman year, I remember shaking a defiant fist at the universe and declaring: “I will never have to study a foreign language as long as I live!” Well, never say never. Why not?

Well, the year before my ordination the bishop sent me to Mexico for an immersion program to study Spanish. Let me tell you: there is not enough Tequila in Teotihuacan to drown my sorrows that long, grueling summer. I don’t know how you feel about foreign languages, but for the longest time I was blind to what a blessing they are.

Today, however, I love foreign languages. For instance, when I visit my parents in Springdale, I try to speak to them in Malayalam, my native tongue from India. Half of the parishioners at Immaculate Conception are Spanish speakers, and I enjoy to talking to them in their native language. It makes them feel very welcome in a foreign country.

In other words, God has slowly opened my eyes to see what a blessing learning another language is, and I feel deeply grateful to him today. So, in addition to the easy-to-see blessings of faith, family, and my 4,522 Facebook friends, I would add as a fourth blessing one that I was blind to: appreciating a foreign language.

Today I would like to help you open your eyes and perhaps see blessings you are blind to by looking at the gospel through the lens of a foreign language, namely, the Greek language. We know the story well of the 10 lepers from Luke 17. Only one leper returns to give thanks to the Lord, while the other nine are like I was in high school: blind to their blessings of being cured from leprosy.

In seminary I concentrated my theology studies on Sacred Scripture. Now one requirement to complete the Master of Arts degree was proficiency in either Greek or Hebrew. Oh no, another foreign language! And I discovered why people say, “It’s all Greek to me!” But here is how Greek can do some good.

Listen to how verse 16 – where the one leper returns to give thanks – sounds in the original Greek: “Kai epesen epi prosopon para tous podas autou euchariston auto, kai autos en Samarites” meaning, “And he fell on his face at [Jesus] feet giving thanks to him, and he was a Samaritan.” Sometimes people say, "If the King James Version was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me!" Well, St. Luke wrote his gospel in Greek not in English.

But did you catch the Greek word that was translated into English as “giving thanks”? It was “euchariston” which is where we get the word “Eucharist” to describe the Mass, that is, what we do every Sunday. In other words, that recently healed leper ran back to celebrate “a little Eucharist” with Jesus. Why?

Well, because he was not blind to his blessings. Could this be one reason why so many Catholics do not go to Mass on Sunday? We are like the other nine lepers, healed and blessed in so many ways by Jesus, but we do not go back to him and celebrate “little Eucharists of thanksgiving” with him. We mistakenly think there is nothing to thank him for.

My friends, today, do not just thank God for the obvious, in-your-grill blessings. But think back over your life to blessings you were blind to: trying to learn a foreign language in high school, a teacher who was tough on you but who taught you a lot, a failed relationship where you grew in humility and grace, a lost job that taught you patience and perseverance, an illness that gave you a new appreciation for life, etc.

Here in the United States Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. But as Roman Catholics do you when we celebrate Thanksgiving? Every Sunday when we run back to Jesus like the one leper “kai epesen epi prosopon para tous podas autou euchariston auto,” meaning “we fall on our face at the feet of Jesus giving thanks to him.” That is, unless we are blind to our blessings.

Praised be Jesus Christ!