Pentecost 18C (Luke 17:11-19)

​Today’s gospel lesson highlights the profound importance of gratitude toward God—not merely as a polite virtue but as an essential spiritual attitude that shapes healing and wholeness. Despite his marginalized status as a Samaritan, a foreigner, an outsider excluded from Israel’s social and religious circles, he alone returns to give thanks, recognizing and honoring the true source of his healing. While this depiction of gratitude is often regarded as straightforward, its spiritual depth goes beyond mere thankfulness; indeed, gratitude is frequently linked by researchers to mental and emotional well-being.

Jesus’ question underscores this deeper expectation: “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none found to return and give praise except this foreigner?” His response to the Samaritan, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well,” draws an important distinction between cure and healing. The nine were physically cured—their skin disease removed—but only the Samaritan is truly healed, made whole and holy through faith rooted in gratitude.

This returning figure evokes the philosophical notion of the ‘second naivete,’ a concept developed by French philosopher Paul Ricoeur. It signifies a post-critical stage of faith achieved after wrestling with doubt and skepticism. This second naivete is not a naive innocence but a mature stance that embraces ambiguity and integrates complexity, creating meaningful understanding from it.

We can see this second naiveté embodied in the Samaritan’s journey. He complies with Jesus’ instructions, presenting himself to the priests for ritual examination—a recognition not only of his physical cure but also a reintegration into the religious and social community, where his skin disease had marked him as impure and sinful. Yet, crucially, the Samaritan returns not merely to the community but to Jesus himself—the source of his healing.

Jesus’ commendation and sending him on his way signify empowerment: the Samaritan is entrusted to live out his restored life in faith and gratitude. This return is grounded in realism, not naive optimism. Though cured, he remains mortal and vulnerable to illness and death. Like Lazarus, who experienced resuscitation, not resurrection to be clear, yet faced eventual death anew, the Samaritan’s faith is one of mature hope—shaped by the ‘second naivete’—that acknowledges life’s fragility while affirming wholeness through faith.

In our own spiritual practices—whether in contemplation, silent prayer, or meditation through mindful breathing—we return to Jesus again and again: second, third, and countless times, facing life’s hardships with faith rooted in gratitude and hope, continually embracing life as lived in the spirit of the nth naiveté.