Father Koch: Taking God for granted closes us off from him
October 10, 2025 at 8:00 a.m.
A heart disposed to faith and eyes open to the action of God within the world, and especially in one’s own life, impacts the way in which we see the world. Naaman, a Syrian general afflicted with leprosy, sought healing from Elisha the prophet and a God that he did not know. Although he questioned the prophet’s instruction, he received the gift he desired and offered a perpetual thanksgiving to God. Jesus cured 10 lepers and only the Samaritan was moved to offer thanksgiving, while the others went their way. We take for granted what we expect, failing to see God in all aspects of our lives.
Naaman was completely alien to the way of life and the religious practices of the Israelite people. Afflicted with leprosy and unable to find any healing or relief from the priests of his own religious cult, he was advised to seek the intercession of the God of the Israelites. This was a humbling step, and one that brought some suspicion and danger. These two people were more often than not at war with one another than they were at peace. The king sent Naaman to Elisha the prophet of God who offered a strangely simple remedy: bathe in the Jordan River. Naaman was inclined to refuse, thinking that this was an odd direction given the insignificance of the river and the lack of any spells or potions to assist. Finally convinced, Naaman found the healing he desired.
As leprosy would have ended his career and notoriety as a general, leaving him among the outcasts of society, Naaman experienced a deep sense of gratitude to the prophet and also to the God who brought him the healing. While Elisha refused any gift for himself, Naaman then made a request that to us sounds strange: he wanted two loads of dirt to take with him.
The dirt becomes the most important part of the story. Naaman would lay out this dirt and then build a shrine on it so that he could offer thanksgiving to the God who saved him. In his understanding of the spiritual world, the gods were all tied to the land of their people, therefore bringing dirt from Israel meant that he had a tangible way to encounter God.
Of the 10 lepers who ask Jesus for healing, only one, the Samaritan, offers thanksgiving to Jesus for his healing. To some, the very fact that Jesus even healed the Samaritan would have been unsettling, yet we have come to expect the unexpected from Jesus. That it was only this Samaritan who returned to offer thanksgiving to Jesus then becomes an ironic twist, making him a good foil for Jesus to use in instructing his followers.
The Samaritan, like Naaman, experienced the fullness of healing as their hearts were filled with gratitude and they each were blessed with the gift of faith in their response to their healing.
It can be very easy to lose a sense of gratitude, even in the face of the miraculous. All too often we miss the steady hand of the presence of God in our lives, resulting in a failure to offer thanksgiving.
Each and every day of our lives is a blessing, even on those days when we might not feel particularly blessed. Each day provides us the opportunity to express thanksgiving to God for the many gifts we have received.
We are challenged to see God in all of the aspects of our lives, and to be grateful for the many small blessings we receive each and every day.
We all know from personal experience that when the people around us fail to be grateful to us, that we begin to lose something in that relationship. We can grow resentful and feel that we have been used and unappreciated for our work, love, attention, or thoughtfulness. Often repeated in a relationship we grow less enthusiastic in exercising kindness to that person, to the point where we might stop doing much for them at all.
While God does not grow resentful, our failure to give him thanks and praise, has an impact on our relationship with him, and certainly on our spiritual growth.
Those who argue that God is apathetic are often themselves first ungrateful, failing to acknowledge the goodness of God in each moment of our lives.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.
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A heart disposed to faith and eyes open to the action of God within the world, and especially in one’s own life, impacts the way in which we see the world. Naaman, a Syrian general afflicted with leprosy, sought healing from Elisha the prophet and a God that he did not know. Although he questioned the prophet’s instruction, he received the gift he desired and offered a perpetual thanksgiving to God. Jesus cured 10 lepers and only the Samaritan was moved to offer thanksgiving, while the others went their way. We take for granted what we expect, failing to see God in all aspects of our lives.
Naaman was completely alien to the way of life and the religious practices of the Israelite people. Afflicted with leprosy and unable to find any healing or relief from the priests of his own religious cult, he was advised to seek the intercession of the God of the Israelites. This was a humbling step, and one that brought some suspicion and danger. These two people were more often than not at war with one another than they were at peace. The king sent Naaman to Elisha the prophet of God who offered a strangely simple remedy: bathe in the Jordan River. Naaman was inclined to refuse, thinking that this was an odd direction given the insignificance of the river and the lack of any spells or potions to assist. Finally convinced, Naaman found the healing he desired.
As leprosy would have ended his career and notoriety as a general, leaving him among the outcasts of society, Naaman experienced a deep sense of gratitude to the prophet and also to the God who brought him the healing. While Elisha refused any gift for himself, Naaman then made a request that to us sounds strange: he wanted two loads of dirt to take with him.
The dirt becomes the most important part of the story. Naaman would lay out this dirt and then build a shrine on it so that he could offer thanksgiving to the God who saved him. In his understanding of the spiritual world, the gods were all tied to the land of their people, therefore bringing dirt from Israel meant that he had a tangible way to encounter God.
Of the 10 lepers who ask Jesus for healing, only one, the Samaritan, offers thanksgiving to Jesus for his healing. To some, the very fact that Jesus even healed the Samaritan would have been unsettling, yet we have come to expect the unexpected from Jesus. That it was only this Samaritan who returned to offer thanksgiving to Jesus then becomes an ironic twist, making him a good foil for Jesus to use in instructing his followers.
The Samaritan, like Naaman, experienced the fullness of healing as their hearts were filled with gratitude and they each were blessed with the gift of faith in their response to their healing.
It can be very easy to lose a sense of gratitude, even in the face of the miraculous. All too often we miss the steady hand of the presence of God in our lives, resulting in a failure to offer thanksgiving.
Each and every day of our lives is a blessing, even on those days when we might not feel particularly blessed. Each day provides us the opportunity to express thanksgiving to God for the many gifts we have received.
We are challenged to see God in all of the aspects of our lives, and to be grateful for the many small blessings we receive each and every day.
We all know from personal experience that when the people around us fail to be grateful to us, that we begin to lose something in that relationship. We can grow resentful and feel that we have been used and unappreciated for our work, love, attention, or thoughtfulness. Often repeated in a relationship we grow less enthusiastic in exercising kindness to that person, to the point where we might stop doing much for them at all.
While God does not grow resentful, our failure to give him thanks and praise, has an impact on our relationship with him, and certainly on our spiritual growth.
Those who argue that God is apathetic are often themselves first ungrateful, failing to acknowledge the goodness of God in each moment of our lives.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.