“Thanks Giving”
Luke 17:11-19
I am guessing that each of you sat down on Thanksgiving Day with people that you love and you likely began your meal by expressing thanks. Someone said this past week that Thanksgiving is perhaps the purest of all of the holidays in that no one is giving gifts or expecting anything in return, we’re just bowing our heads and saying thanks and then of course we eat until we can’t even move and then we watch football all day. We watched 3 games on Thanksgiving Day. We are very thankful we could spend Thanksgiving Day with our son Ross and his wife Brittany in Texas. And we’re very thankful the Dallas Cowboys beat the Redskins.
Families often hold hands and pray before every meal. My wife and I have since the day we got married. If you don’t let me encourage you to start this tradition today at lunch. When we bow for prayer we often referring to it as saying grace. We use the word grace in a variety of ways.
• When someone is kind we say we are grateful.
• When we receive good news we are gratified.
• If someone is a good host we say they are gracious.
• If we go out to eat and we receive good service we leave a gratuity.
Grace and thankfulness go hand in hand.
According to many psychologists the act of expressing thanks makes an incredible difference. People who are thankful and express their gratitude are less likely to experience depression. Bottom line, you and I need to learn to be more thankful.
So here’s the question, what does it take to become a truly thankful person? How can we do that for ourselves and how can we help others … become more thankful?
In this passage of scripture we find 10 people Jesus was dealing with ... 10. He healed every one of them of a very difficult disease, a very painful disease but get this ….. only one of them bothered to come back and say thank you. When I meet people who seem to have developed what we might call an attitude of gratitude I often wonder where does that come from; why is it some people are truly grateful while others never bother to say thank you for anything at all? I think….
* some follow the example of their parents. Their home of origin. They saw it in them and they emulated their behavior.
* some have gone through a very difficult trial and they came out of it as a much better person. It made them more thankful
* others may have learned to observe those who are less fortunate. Then we realize just how blessed we are.
In this passage Jesus is traveling along the border of Samaria and Galilee. These are two of the largest cities in Palestine which is where Jesus grew up. In that day without a doubt leprosy was the most feared disease anyone could have. We are told that it was extremely but the physical pain may not have been the worst part. The worst part was the isolation that someone with this disease must have felt. They were shut off from their family. They were shut off from their friends. They were shut off from the church. And because of the position that the church took, they felt they were shut off from God as well.
We notice verse 12 says the lepers stood at a distance from Jesus. This was not out of choice, society forced them to do so. They didn’t realize they could actually approach Jesus. Lepers weren’t allowed to associate with anyone who did not also have leprosy. They were forced to live in caves or out in the wilderness....later they were placed in colonies, their own little city so that they could have no contact with the outside world. Most had absolutely no one who was willing to help. If for any reason they needed to go into town they had to ring a bell that they wore around their necks and they were required to announce that they were coming into town by ringing the bell and shout very loudly, “I am unclean, unclean!” so that people could move away. Can you imagine how that must have felt? Dr. William Barclay tells us that if the wind was blowing in the direction of a healthy person a leper had to stand at least 150 feet away. There is no way to adequately describe the pain and isolation they must have felt. To compound all of this those who had leprosy were taught that they had leprosy because of their sin. In other words not only did they have the most dreaded disease a person could have; they were being taught by the church that it was their fault. This was common thinking in that day and it has spilled over into today’s theology as well.
Some of you will recall the story when the disciples encountered a man who was blind and had been since birth...they asked Jesus, why is he this way? Who sinned, him or his parents? Jesus of course told them clearly that neither of them had sinned. His blindness was not the result of sin. Those suffering from terrible disease were considered to be unclean ….. incapable of having a relationship with God. Society failed these people and so did the church. And in many cases we still fail the sick.
But you and I don’t have leprosy, you and I have friends, we have family, we have our faith but I imagine that all of us still feel isolated at times. We feel alone. We think no one understands. This is how we can become more thankful. We become more thankful when we realize how desperate our situation was before we met Jesus. Look at verses 13-14. The lepers kept their distance, they followed the rules like the law told them to; they kept their distance but they realized they just couldn’t keep quiet anymore. Because there in the distance ….. was someone who offered them hope. Real hope. So they spoke up. They were not asking for something they deserved; they were just asking for mercy.
Now the OT law required that a person who was healed of leprosy was to go to the priest who would inspect them....look carefully at their condition and then if they were well, he would pronounce them as clean. So they were obedient and made their way to the priest. It was a demonstration of their faith in the words Jesus had just spoken. No doubt they had faith in Jesus because they had already cried out to Him for help.
We don’t know how they thought this healing might take place ….. but no doubt they had heard of his extraordinary power to heal. But can you imagine how they must have felt when they were walking away from Jesus and toward the priest and it says that “as they went” they were cleansed ... before they ever even made it to the priest. This disease they had suffered with, been ridiculed for and isolated by, suddenly left their bodies, never to return. I can’t imagine. Luke describes a similar event when a man who was crippled from birth was healed and he says he jumped to his feet and began to walk, then he went into the temple and it was like a track event ….I’m gonna, walk, now I’m gonna jump, now I’m gonna praise, now I’m gonna do all 3. It’s like he was testing out his new legs. But Luke doesn’t tell us how he felt except to let us know that he was very thankful. He says the man threw himself at the feet of Jesus and thanked Him-and then he says on top of that, he was a Samaritan. Remember Jews and Samaritans didn’t mix; they hated each other. We become more thankful when we realize how desperate our situation was before we met Jesus.
2. We become thankful when we realize that what we have gained is much greater than what we have lost. We become more thankful when we count our blessings.
Look at verses 14b-16. When I was studying this passage of scripture one of the questions I wrote down was why does Luke bother to tell us that this man was a Samaritan? The answer is found in the story of the good Samaritan, a story also related to us by Luke. Remember a man was severely beaten, lying by the road..... a priest comes by, doesn’t stop...a Levite comes by and he passes by on the other side; both of these were religious men. A Samaritan then passes by and even though this man was a Jew ....they despised/hated one another, Jews considered the Samaritans to be unclean but he went to him anyway.
Here in this story a leper who is a Samaritan steps over the barrier and comes to Jesus who was Jewish of course and he comes to Him for one reason.... to simply say thank you!
3. We become thankful when we realize that what was done for us could not have been done by us. This is the good news. God has done something through His Son, Jesus Christ that you and I could not do for ourselves. I still wonder what were the other nine thinking? I think some thought
• I’ll wait and make sure this is real. After all it may not last.
• another one thought, I’ll do it later
• at least one of them probably said hmmm I’m well I guess I never had leprosy after all
• one of them probably went and thanked the priest.
• another one probably said “I knew I was getting better.” I must be living a good life.
You have likely used the expression before that our days are numbered. And it’s true. We don’t know the number and in many ways there is not a lot we can do to control it. Our days here on earth are numbered. But our days in eternity with Jesus are unlimited. In other words there is no number placed on them. My daughter and I used to play a game when she was younger where I would say I love you and she would say I love you for infinity and I would say I love you for infinity plus one and it would just go back and forth like that. Each of us trying to outdo the other one. Let me tell you. You cannot outdo God. No one can exceed his love. No one can exceed his mercy. The best we can do is to just give up and say Thank you.
Thank you Jesus because you have stepped in on our behalf and done for us what no one else could do.
Several years ago when Tyler Sullivan was just 11 years old, he skipped class one day. Played hooky. But not to hang out with his friends or go fishing. He played hooky to hang out with the president of the United States. Barack Obama was visiting his little town that day and Tyler’s dad was schedule to introduce the president at a special event that day. After the event when Tyler met the President Obama realized that Tyler was missing school. So he asked one of his aides to get him a piece of letterhead. He asked for the name of Tyler’s teacher. He then wrote this note: “Please excuse Tyler. He was with me. Barack Obama, the president.
I’m thinking the teacher likely excused his absence. I mean it’s not every day that the president speaks up on behalf of a kid. But let me tell you, every single day, Jesus speaks up for you and me. Every day. The writer of Hebrews says this: “He (Jesus) always lives to pray for us.” He lives for it. Aren’t you thankful? Pray with me.
