“Learning to be Thankful”
Luke 17: 11-19
Robert Fulghum wrote an interesting book titled, “All I ever really needed to know about life, I learned in kindergarten.” The book kind of intrigued me because when I was five years old, kindergarten wasn’t required – so I didn’t go. And if the title is true then you think “what if I missed something?” Here are some things that he says that he learned in kindergarten. Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life-learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
Now just think what a better world it would be if all-the whole world had cookies and milk at about three o’clock every afternoon? And then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if our government had a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and clean up their own mess. Listen no matter how old you are when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together. Now there is a lot in there for sure. A lot to learn and a lot to practice. All of those are things we need to learn for sure …… But for me, there is at least one thing missing and it is this. Be thankful. Practice gratitude.
• Just think, what if all of us learned to be more thankful.
• What if we expressed more gratitude for what we have instead of always looking for the next thing that somebody can give us?
• Or what if instead, we would think of the next thing we could give instead of the next thing we could receive?
In my mind, gratitude has become a lost art. In fact, it is almost nonexistent and the older I grow the more I realize it is almost gone. Basically, there are 3 stages to gratitude. (1) Acknowledge what you are grateful for. (2) Tell someone. Say it out loud. (3) Make it a habit. In other words, count your blessings. Learn to be thankful. It is a fact that we do not simply grow up being thankful. It doesn’t come naturally. Think about it babies are not naturally thankful. Babies just really want their needs met. And unfortunately, adults can be the same way. The word thanks, comes from an old German word meaning “to think.” I can understand that.
Thinking comes before thanking.
It’s not something we grow up; it is learned behavior. And this is how that works. In the gospel of Luke, we find an interesting story. And here’s the deal.
• We learn to be thankful when we think about how desperate life would be without Jesus. Vv. 11-12.
Leprosy was one of the most dreaded diseases of the day. It was also one of the most misunderstood. In this passage Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem. As he comes into the village, he’s greeted by these 10 men who all had leprosy. Now Luke points out to us that to get to Jerusalem, Jesus had to pass between Samaria and Galilee, and he does that it seems for a very specific reason. Jews did not deal with the Samaritans and the Samaritans did not deal with the Jews. There was a huge racial divide between them. A cultural wall. Yet Jesus, a Jew walks right through the area because to him there is no difference. As Paul said, “there is neither Jew nor Greek for you are all one in Christ.” And in this group of lepers we quickly find out that at least one of them was a Samaritan. And even though Samaritans and Jews didn’t mix in that day, there was Jesus. In all their differences they realized they now share something in common—a terrible disease--- and they somehow forgot they were Jews, and they were Samaritans--- they were just all people in need. The same need.
The lepers stood at a distance. They were required to do so. Upper would enter a city it was required to wear a bell around his neck, like a necklace and must ring the bell and shout out unclean, unclean so that others would know to stay away from them. One law stated they could not get within 150 feet of a healthy person. The only ones they could get close to were those with the same disease. Not even their family. I can’t help but notice here that they had to raise their voices to be heard. But remember they couldn’t get close to anyone. And they’re all shouting “Jesus, Master have mercy on us.” They shared a common need for and there was a common solution ---- Jesus.
The truth is doctors didn’t even know how to treat leprosy in that day. You were just told to stay away from them, and they were told to stay away from you. Completely isolated. Every time Jesus is confronted with a need: blindness, sickness, lame, even death, he met the need. In fact, Jesus upset every funeral he ever attended. Because the dead just got up and walked away. (pause) Now look what he does here – he sends all of them to the priest. This may sound unusual, but we realize here that while they were going, they were cleansed. For Jesus it was important that they do something.
• Jesus came across a man who was born blind. To heal him, Jesus spit on the ground, then made it into mud, and then spread it on the man’s eyes then told him to go and wash it out.
• At the pool of Bethesda mentioned in the gospels, there were always a great multitude of people who were there in hopes that they could be healed. They believed that an angel would often visit and stir the waters and when he did, if you could get into the pool, you would be healed. But this man said, Jesus there is never anyone here who offers to put me in the pool…. Instead, they get in ahead of me. Jesus approached this man …. He had been going there every day for 38 years. Jesus said, well pick up your mat and walk. Simple. And he did.
• Jesus tells a man with a withered hand … stretch out your hand and be healed. He did and he was.
• A woman with a blood issue, with everyone pressi9ng in the crowd and making it difficult for Jesus to even move, she crawled through the crowd and touched the hem of his garment, and she basically stole a miracle. Over and over, we see men and women who did one simple thing Jesus told them to do, and they were healed.
But know this also, Jesus healed at times without any physical contact, at times he was in one town and healed people in another. That’s our Jesus.
• (Then) We learn to be thankful when we THINK about what we have gained. Vv. 13-14.
These men Kept their distance just as the law told them they certainly didn’t keep quiet. In verse 13 we are told, “they lifted up their voices and said Jesus, Master have mercy on us!” And He did. Then in v. 14, “he looked at them and said, “go show yourselves to the priests and as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. We learn to be thankful when we think about what we have gained. Think about it for a few moments. What have you gained by knowing Jesus?
Salvation/ Heaven. Perhaps healing. Purpose. Real hope. Real forgiveness. Strength. Freedom. The list goes on and on.
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We learn to be thankful when we realize that what has been done FOR us could not have been done BY us. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father. It’s all from Him. Vv. 14b-16. Notice the order of events here. (1) Jesus sends them to the priest. (2) They are healed BEFORE they even get there. (3) The priest says, yep, looks clean to me.
Now there is a beautiful thing that happens in this passage. One of the men, just one, comes back to Jesus and with a loud voice, praises God for his healing. And he falls at the feet of Jesus and thanks Him for what He has done. Luke makes an effort to tell us here that this man was a Samaritan. Jesus was a Jew. Remember they didn’t mingle with one another. This man was different. He was grateful.
• We learn to be thankful when recognize that a lack of gratitude grieves the heart of God. Vv. 17-18.
While this one man stops to express his gratitude, we hear Jesus speaking up to ask a question … were there not ten who were healed … where are the nine? Maybe ONE just wanted to see if the healing would last. To see if it was real. Or was it too good to be true? Maybe ONE said, “I’ll thank Him later. I’m sure I’ll see him again.” ONE, thought, hmm, I guess I didn’t have leprosy after all. I mean I think I was already getting well. ONE just gave glory to the priest.
It has been said that “when we stop praising God, we start forgetting God. And when we forget the kind of God we have, we start taking matters into our own hands and we get impatient and maybe even depressed … we get discouraged … we begin to panic. But the more you rain yourself to give praise to God, the less regrets we will have. When we choose to forget all that God has done for us, we are the one who loses. In verse 16 We have already pointed out that this was a Samaritan who had a problem with Jews, yet he was so thankful that the differences were suddenly of no consequence, and he just falls at the feet of Jesus and simply says, thank you. I don’t think for a moment that Jesus healed someone so they would say thank you. I mean didn’t your mom ever tell you to mind your manners and remember to say thank you? I’m guessing that if this guy’s mother were anywhere close by, she would have been proud that day because her son had learned to say thank you. And Jesus takes note that he is the only one who does. And then in v. 17 Luke lets us know again that this person is a Samaritan. The rest went on their way. It’s hard to imagine. Maybe they just thought well I’ve got other things that are more important. Or I gotta go tell my family. Got to go show my friends. But the passage focuses on the one who was thankful.
And here is the amazing thing and we often overlook it in this passage. Jesus says to him “Stand up and go, your faith has healed you.” Now all the lepers believed in the possibility of healing, or they wouldn’t have asked. They all believed, or they would not have done what Jesus told them to do. So why was the Samaritan the only one to whom Jesus said, “your faith has made you well.” Faith involves belief but it also involves more than that. Faith involves belief but it’s more than just the belief that a miracle can happen. Faith involves gratitude. Nine were healed but in their selfishness, they didn’t even stop to say thank you. Maybe they thought they deserved it.
At some point we must realize and admit that what we are receiving we did not deserve. And that is GRATITUDE. Only one recognized that Jesus was the source of their healing. The other nine were physically healed but they were just plain selfish. One recognized it was the source of his healing …. Jesus! And I suspect He told everyone.
A medical missionary who worked in India for many years served in a region where people had a condition that was known as progressive blindness. People would be born with normal eyesight but eventually they would lose their sight, completely as they grew older. The missionary developed a treatment that worked and stopped this problem. So, people would come to him and after he had performed the treatment, they would realize that their sight had been saved and they had been healed. But he said not one of them ever said thank you.
But there was a simple reason. The phrase/words “thank you” were not in their dialect. Not in their language. Instead, they spoke a word that simply meant “I-will -tell-your-name.” And wherever they went they would tell the name of the missionary who had cured them. And we must do the same. Everywhere we go, tell the name of the one who cured us from the disease of sin and saved us.
It’s amazing how many times we can come up with a reason not to be thankful and we missed the many reasons we must actually say thank you. Pastor Jack Hinton was on a mission trip and was leading worship in a leper colony on the island of Tobago. They were closing the service one evening and he had time for one more song. A woman who had been facing away from the pulpit turned around. He said it was a terrible sight to see what leprosy had done to her face. Her nose and her ears were completely gone. Her lips were destroyed as well. Lifted her hand in the air, all her fingers missing and she asked, “for our last song could we sing count your many blessings?” Jack Hinton was so overcome with emotion he had to lead the service. Friends followed him and said Jack I guess you’ll never be able to sing that song again. He said, “yes but I’ll never sing it the same way again.” It’s called perspective. It is when we see things through a different pair of glasses/lens. It is when we see the bigger picture and understand that our gratitude belongs to Jesus. It’s when we stop and count our blessings and understand that a man named Jesus went to the cross for you and me so that we could spend all of eternity in heaven with Him. It is when we stop and find the good in the things we deal with daily. All of us have these trials and sickness and pain … it just comes in different forms.
Youn may feel like one young man who had reached the end of his rope. Seeing no way out, he dropped to his knees in prayer. ”Lord, I can`t go on,” he said. ”I have too heavy a cross to bear.” The Lord replied, ”My son, if you can`t bear its weight, just place your cross inside this room. Then open that other door and pick out any cross you wish. The man was filled with relief. ”Thank you, Lord,” he sighed, and he did as he was told. Upon entering the other door he saw many crosses, some so large the tops were not visible. Then he spotted a tiny cross leaning against a far wall. ”I`d like that one, Lord,” he whispered. And the Lord replied, “that is the cross you just brought in.”
