ONE LEPER GAVE THANKS - Luke 17:11-19
It is just as true today as it was in the time of Jesus that not everyone is grateful for life and life’s blessings. You would think that, if ten victims of serious illness were healed, all of them would at least express thanks to the One who healed them. But such was not the case when Jesus healed ten lepers.
All ten of them rejoiced because they had been cured, and it meant that they would never again have to shout “unclean, unclean!” whenever someone came near them; but only one of ten took the time to thank Jesus
What we see in this story of the ten lepers is a sad case of ingratitude. It is good that one of them thanked Jesus, but unfortunately, the fact that the other nine got what they wanted and then hurried off without thanking Him is so typical of far too many folks in our society in this day and time.
Whether we realize it or not, God has looked upon many of us with His favor, but so few in this nation of privilege ever give God the glory for the blessings we enjoy. Yes, we have our worries, but our provisions are far greater than our problems.
No nation on earth has been blessed the way ours has; yet there seems to be a large segment of society so dissatisfied with their lifestyle that oftentimes all we hear is complaining about what we do NOT have rather than giving thanks for what we DO have.
Too many of us worry about too many things – and I do mean things.
The Bible teaches us that happiness is not found in the abundance of our possessions. Yes, possessions are essential to certain aspects of well-being.
We should be glad to have beds to sleep in, chairs to sit in, wheel chairs to roll around in if necessary, a house to live in, a car to drive, knives and forks to eat with, glasses to drink water out of, cups for drinking coffee.
Yet, our Lord speaks a word of caution about our excessive reliance upon material things beyond that which we need, and the rampant desire on the part of some to get more in order to be “happy”. Question: “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but lose his soul?”
Recently I read an article that featured the lives of those who had won big money in the lottery of their states. Bottom line of the report was that not one of them was any happier years after they won the money than they were before. If anything, it was suggested, those who had thought their winnings would solve their problems encountered greater problems.
The one thing all of them had in common was none of them could honestly say that they were grateful that they won; and, if they had known then what they know now, they never would have accepted the huge check presented to them.
I suppose none of us nor any of our friends have ever won the sweepstakes; but I imagine that many of us have subscribed to magazines we never intended to read because we thought it might increase our chances of having someone knock on our door and shout, “Surprise, surprise!”
What I am sure of is this: All of us have been surprised from time to time by the abundance of God’s blessings that He has showered upon us; we have truly enjoyed our share of His bountiful goodness; without doubt we can say as did the song writer:
“When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed;
When you are discouraged thinking, all is lost;
Count your many blessings, name them one by one;
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”
This past week we watched via television the tragedy of fires burning throughout Southern California – as a million residents had to flee for safety and thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed.
As folks could return to their homes after the fires had roared beyond their neighborhoods, there seemed to be very little to be grateful for; but one of the images fixed in my mind this morning is the sight I saw on television news of one family standing in a circle, holding hands, with heads bowed, as they voiced a prayer of thanks to God for the most precious of their belongings that were left – each other.
For each family who gave thanks for something, we can only imagine that there might have been nine who either did not feel like giving thanks or perhaps felt angry toward God for allowing the disaster to happen.
Of the ten lepers who were cleansed, only one returned to give thanks, while the others either did not feel the need to give thanks or they were still angry with God for allowing their bodies to be ravaged by that dreaded disease of leprosy.
Anger is one of the emotions that most of us have had to deal with at some time or other during a long illness, whether of our own or of a relative whose pain and suffering we witnessed for a long period of time.
Most of us have been there, done that, and hope we never must go through it again. It takes time for the emotional wounds to heal; and although we may never get over it, we must learn to cope with it, and go on with our lives despite it.
A constant prayer of mine is that those who have had their lives turned upside down by disease or death will be able to work through their grief and progress to the point at which they can say: “I am grateful for the joy that was mine . . . the comfort God gave me during my time of trouble . . . the blessed assurance that He is mine and I am His . . . the hope that He will be with me every step of the way.”
My concern is that there are so many folks who, when they get what they want, never come back to the place of prayer where they were when they cried out to God for help. God helps them, even though His help is not always the exact way they wanted Him to, then they take leave of God – that is, until another crisis comes along.
As it was with nine lepers who got what they wanted, then failed to give thanks, there are those today who get what they want but are ungrateful.
Often children are ungrateful to their parents. It is so easy to grow to adulthood, leave home, and forget the years when we were dependent on our parents for literally everything. Yet, the day comes when an aging parent is looked upon as an inconvenience, or a nuisance. I pray to God that such will never be the case with any of you. Be grateful for your parents.
Often, we are ungrateful to family and friends. There are few of us who have not at some time in our lives owed a great deal to someone in our lives who helped us in some way. Be grateful for your friends - teacher, doctor, minister, son, daughter, employer, caregiver, or whoever it might have been that did something for you – something which is impossible to repay but, at the same time, deserves at least a “thank you.”
Often, we are ungrateful to God. It is hard to imagine that there are people in the world who never give thanks to God, not even at meal time, certainly not at bedtime, or any other time for that matter.
Surely, we at least pause to thank God; but if we don’t pause, what would be wrong with simply saying a word of thanks while on the go? We are without excuse for being so ungrateful to God that we never say so.
No, not everyone gives thanks to God or anyone else; but I want you and me to be different; I want us to be folks filled with gratitude – for loved ones . . . friends . . . God.
As we go about our everyday routine and activities, I want us to be the kind of folks who never take anything for granted, but give thanks to God in everything, even if our thanksgiving is nothing more than this simple quote from the psalmist:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy
Name; bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not His benefits.” Amen.
