Doing Thanksgiving Right

Jesus met ten anonymous people in our story today, we are never told their names. All ten men were soon to die and all ten men were miraculously healed. Only one of the ten came back to thank Jesus. I wonder, if you were one of these ten, would you be a part of the nine who didn’t return to give thanks? Or would you be the one to return and give God praise?

If you have a copy of God’s Word, find Luke 17:11-19 with me.

Thanksgiving

The official Thanksgiving Day goes all the way back to 1789 when George Washington, the first President of the United States, proclaimed November 26th as a day of Thanksgiving. After that, Thanksgiving Day continued to be celebrated on different days in different states until finally, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a White House proclamation calling on “the whole American people to observe a special day of Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November of every year.” But you don’t have to wait until the end of November to be thankful. You and I need to be grateful for God’s daily goodness and mercy.

Today’s Scripture

On the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:11-19).

What is Leprosy? While you can still find leprosy in underdeveloped nations of the world, but it’s largely forgotten. Leprosy was a disease of despair where few could help. The term for leprosy in the Bible can be a wide range of skin conditions in modern medical terminology. Seeing these men were to see walking lesions, swollen areas of the skin, or untold nerve damage. It’s been years ago now, but I remember when I was traveling in India, and I was told that we were going to visit a leper’s colony. A small amount of fear enveloped me at that moment at just the thought of visiting lepers. Seeing the ten men from our story was essentially like seeing ten men climbing out of their very own graves. You could call these men, Dead Men Walking.

Jesus really is amazing. It would be a tremendous thing for Jesus to heal one man of leprosy. Indeed, this would be a crowning life achievement for anyone other than Jesus to heal just one person. Yet, Jesus healed ten men at once. Of course, when you pause to really consider it, had Jesus encountered 10,000 lepers, it would have been nothing for Him to heal all of them at once. Such is the power of Jesus.

I hope that young and old will learn three lessons ahead of Thanksgiving.

Lesson #1: Know that More Receive from the Lord than Praise the Lord.

Lesson #2: Know that More Believe the Lord than Praise the Lord.

Lesson #3: Be the One Who Knows Where the True Temple Is.

1. Know that More Receive from the Lord than Praise the Lord

“Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?’” (Luke 17:17).

Again, here’s the first lesson we can learn: Know that More Receive from the Lord than Praise the Lord.

1.1 Where are the Nine?

Nine men were healed, and they went to the priests as instructed. But we never hear of their return. They just drop out of the story altogether. They received a life-changing miracle, and they go on their way, never to be heard from again. Don’t you marvel at that?

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Isn’t that something?

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What do you make of that?

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1.2 Common Grace vs. Saving Grace

I wonder, do you and I have any idea just how much we owe to God and His grace? Are you cognizant of the wide spectrum of God’s rich goodness and grace toward us? No matter who we are and what has happened in our personal lives, do our brain cells devote time to drink in all of God’s grace to us? Jesus said: “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). Again, Jesus said on another occasion: “…for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil” (Luke 6:35b). Jesus spoke of common mercy or mercy everyone receives no matter who they are or what they have done. The Bible teaches us that God has two kinds of grace for people: common grace and saving grace. Common grace is His kindness to all people. Common grace is His love for all people.