Thanksgiving
Day, 2016 – Luke 17:11-19
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 – 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 walking by faith and
not by sight actually is. When they look down, they see nothing but
sickness, yet 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
declared 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 it, 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. Peace be with you.
Take and eat, take and drink, shed for you for the forgiveness of
your 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 here comes 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 are the
nine? Why didn’t they return and give… praise. It’s really
not even 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. It's not thanks, it's praise. 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 town, my church” – 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 He has
given us time, talent, and treasure, skills and opportunity. And
again, this isn’t some holier-than-though finger wagging. When I
go shopping, I generally don't, “Oh, look at how blessed I am” –
I think, “Did I get everything on the list?” 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 to offer up 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
physical 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. Before they had only heard Jesus at a distance – now this
Samaritan hears, sees Jesus 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
wonderful first article blessings. It is where two or three are
gathered in His Name that He has promised to be – bringing 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, not 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.
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