Jesus and 10 Lepers - Learning not to expect gratitude!

During my boyhood days, I used to hear stories from my uncle - my father's elder brother. Most of the stories told by him were based on the Biblical stories for the children. The stories contain very good morals and in fact, most the good qualities I possess, were due to the influence of those stories.

And one such story provided me solace when a hurting incident took place at my native place Porayar in Nagapattinam district two days ago.

First, let me explain the story and then the incident:

During the times of Jesus Christ, leprosy was a terrible disease and lepers had to live outside the towns/villages. One day, Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem and 10 lepers came on his way. They prayed: "Jesus, have mercy on us!". When Jesus touched them one-by-one, all the 10 lepers were perfectly cured.

Once cured, only one out of the ten came back to Jesus to say "Thank You". Other nine had simply went away without even showing the bare minimum gratitute. They did not even thank Jesus. But, Jesus did not care about them as he did not expect others to remain thankful to him.

What does this story indicate? Nine out of 10 in the world are thankless and ungrateful. If we ever receive some help from others, we must be like the 10th leper who got back to thank Jesus. And if we help others, we must prepare ourselves not to expect gratitude.

Now, coming to the incident:

A man, friend of my uncle, was struggling to maintain his family with his meagre income. He often turned to my uncle for financial help. A few years ago, I happened to help him, which proved to be the turning point for his family. Now, they are well off and I am very happy that a positive change had happened to them.

Two days back, at my native place, when I was standing on the street showing stray cattle to my son, that man happened to pass through in a bicycle. He looked at me profoundly, but did not even utter a word or a smile. For a moment, my mind went back a few years. The very man was standing at my doorsteps seeking that help from me with all politeness and humility. Today, the same man does not even care to give a smile.

I felt terribly hurt. When I conveyed this to my uncle, he quietly asked: "Don't you remember the Jesus and 10 lepers story I told you years ago?. World is full of ungrateful people, but we should just ignore them. Learn not to expect gratitude".

That calmed my mind. I don't bear any grudge against that man. I will help him again, if he were to approach me for something; but, I will do that without expecting gratitude!