Thanksgiving Day – Luke 17:11-17
– November 27th, 2014
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
There are moments, things in life, that just amuse me –
that I find ironic and funny and yet also off.
And one of those strange quirks is just how many churches, how many
congregations don’t have service today on Thanksgiving. And then we get this Gospel lesson – “Where
are the nine?” It just sort of
stands out to me as ironic. And I’ll talk
with guys, and the reasons are familiar – folks are traveling to see family,
and there’s all the busy cooking to be done, and now there’s even shopping
tonight to get ready for (although people tend to be embarrassed telling a
pastor that). And all of this I
understand – I’ll do all of it today too.
But it does give background, insight into our text and also into the
whole idea of thankfulness. This text is
not “good people give thanks, bad people don’t, aren’t you glad you are a good
person” – rather, it shows how easily we can be so absorbed by the blessings
God has given us that we forget God, more or less.
“On the way to Jerusalem [Jesus] was
passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as He
entered a village, He was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted
up their voices saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’” As background again – remember, if you were a
leper in the ancient world, you were banished from the cities. You had a contagious skin disease, and for
everyone’s good, you had to go. You were
consigned to a life of isolation and solitude – unless you banded together with
a bunch of other lepers. It was horrific
– you are banished and also sick, and sick in a somewhat gross and disgusting
fashion. And so when Jesus comes, these
folks call out to Him – have mercy. Heal
us! Help us! Precisely what they ought to do.
And Jesus responds. “When
He saw them, He said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priest.’ And as they went they were cleansed.” One of the things that always, always amazes
on this text is that every leper starts walking to show themselves to the
priest while they are still sick and full of leprosy. There is no better picture of what our lives
are like, of what faith is, of what is walking by faith and not by sight. When they look down, they see nothing us
sickness, but Jesus has said, “Go” – and so they go. Go show yourself to the priest, show yourself
to be healed – because that’s what you had to do to get back into the
community. If the priest found that you
were clean, you could come home. And
even as they see the sores still upon them – they go at Jesus’ word. Now, consider this. You see and know your own sin. You are a sinner – that’s just reality. And let’s face, there are times when that
reality, that truth, the horror of our own sin stands out and smacks us right
between the eyes. But what has Christ
Jesus said to you? You are baptized, and
washed clean by Me. Father, forgive
them. Take and eat, take and drink, shed
for your for the forgiveness of sin.
This is what He has declared… and yet, day in and day out, we see our sin. But at Christ’s word we believe, and we know
that we are clean before the Father in heaven.
It’s a powerful depiction, a powerful image of faith. And it is true – “And as they went they were
cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw
that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on
his face at Jesus’ feet, giving thanks.
Now, he was a Samaritan.” And
they get healed. The word of the Lord
rings true. And here we move to the crux
of this text – only one returns and gives thanks. And so often it becomes the finger wag – you
better be thankful, unlike those lousy 9 lepers. But that’s not quite what Jesus would have
us ponder. “Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not
ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to
God except this foreigner?” Did
you hear it? We don’t have Jesus
condemning the nine – we don’t hear “And Jesus called down fire from heaven and
smote those ungrateful jerks.” No, Jesus
asks a question. Where’s the nine? Why didn’t they return and give… praise. It’s not really a question about
thankfulness, but rather, praise.
I’m sure the 9 lepers were quite happy that they were
healed. I’m sure they weren’t
indifferent or shrugging things off. In
fact, I’m sure they were quite enjoying the blessing that Jesus had given them. I know that if I were suddenly healed and
able to see and hug and hold my wife and kids for the first time in months, in
years, I’d be quite happy. Just as the
folks who are traveling to see family or busily cooking or plotting out their
shopping runs are delighting in blessings that God has given them. But here’s where the rubber meets the
road. When you are focused on the blessings
you have received, it can be easy to in your joy forget to where those blessings
came from. We rejoice in family – but
how often do we remember the words “What God has joined together… let not man
put asunder.” We rejoice in our food –
but how often do we remember that this is the daily bread that God has
provided? How often do we say the common
table prayer at record speed? And of
course, even with the shopping and sales, how often do we pause and think, “Ah,
yes, this is how God wondrously and fantastically has provided for me, how He
has clothed me and sheltered me and supported me in ways that Solomon in all
his splendor couldn’t have imagined?”
“Was no one found to return and give praise to God….” That is the question. To praise God is to declare what *He* has
done, and so often we can view the things in our lives forgetting that they
come from God. We can say “my family, my
wife, my kids” – forgetting that they belong to God and He has give me to them
in order to serve them. We can open up
our wallet when paying for the turkey or that great sale and think about how
hard we worked in the office, in the fields, and forget that it is God’s own bounty
that has provided for us, that has given us time, talent, treasure, skills,
opportunity. And again, this isn’t
finger wagging. When I went shopping for
Thanksgiving, I wasn’t thinking, “Oh, look at how blessed I am” – I was
thinking, “Good night, turkeys are expensive this year.” It is just the reality of being sinners in a
sinful world that we are not always aware of what God has done, that these
truths that we know are not always first and foremost in our mind. This is part
of the reason why it is good to pause, to return to God in His Presence in His
House and give praise. Because here
together we are pulled away from that rat race out there and made to think
about God, made to praise Him together in our worship.
But more than just that.
The key point of worship isn’t the praise we give. That isn’t the highlight, isn’t the
focus. The text doesn’t end simply with
Christ’s question about the 9. It
continues. “And [Jesus] said to him, ‘Rise
and go your way; your faith has made you well.’” In the end,what’s the difference between the
1 and the 9? They all get to go on their
way, they all get healed, they all get the blessings – indeed, they all had
faith in what Christ Jesus had told them and received the benefits He
promised! But the Samaritan gets to be
in the presence of Jesus, gets to be in Christ Jesus’ presence and hear Jesus
speak directly, personally, closely to Him.
They had only heard Jesus at a distance – now this Samaratian hears,
sees face to face as it were. And that
is what Church is. The fellow who
gruffly says, “Well, I can think about God while I’m fishing on Sunday morning
– I can be thankful while I’m on the golf course” – they are right. You can.
But it is here, in this service, where God is present for you, where God
comes to you and blesses you directly.
It is here where you hear His Word proclaimed, here where He comes to
you in His Holy Supper, here where God Himself is Present for you. And that doesn’t happen golfing or fishing or
shopping or cooking or in any of those other first article blessings. It is where two or three are gathered in His
Name that He has promised to be – bring love and mercy and forgiveness. Where He has promised to say to you, “see,
you are made well, your sins are forgiven.”
It is here were we are refreshed and prepared to rightly enjoy the
blessings of both body and soul that He richly and freely provides for us.
Dear friends, God has been gracious to you, and this grace
rests not upon you, upon how great or how thankful you are. Rather, it rests upon His love, His steadfast
love for you that endures forever. And
He is faithful and just, and whenever you are gathered into His house, He will
see that His love is proclaimed again to you – all thanks and praise be to
Christ Jesus our Redeemer, who has gifted us with the Holy Spirit and restored
us to the Father. In the Name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
+ Amen.
1 comment:
"... this grace rests not upon you, upon how great or how thankful you are. "
Spot on, Rev!
Thanks for that STRONG WORD of love and forgiveness…outside of ourselves.
Post a Comment