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THANKSGIVING, 11/27/2008
Sermon on Luke 17:11-19, by Jennifer Gold
11On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" 14When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. 15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." NRSV
THANKSGIVING IS GIVING THANKS
Thank You
There is a story that is told about a man whose wife had left him.
He was completely depressed.
He had lost faith in himself, in God, and in other people.
One cold and wet dreary morning, he went to have breakfast in the small neighborhood restaurant.
Although several people were at the diner, no one was speaking to anyone else - so it was eerily quiet.
And this man who had lost faith in himself, in God, and in other people, was lost in his own misery as he hunched over the counter, stirring his coffee with a spoon.
And in one of the small booths along the window there was a young mother with a little girl.
They had just been served their food when the little girl broke the sad silence by what seemed like shouting, "Mommy, aren't we going to pray before we eat? How come we don't pray here?"
The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around and said, "Sure, honey, we can pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?"
And she turned and looked at the rest of the people in the restaurant and said, "Now bow your heads."
And surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down.
The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, and said, (and if you know this prayer, you can pray it with me), "God is great. God is good, and we thank him for our food. Amen."
That simple prayer changed the entire atmosphere.
People began to talk with one another.
The waitress said, "We should do this every morning."
From that moment on, this man who was lost in his own misery realized that his whole frame of mind started to improve.
From that little girl's example, he started to thank God for all that he did have and stopped dwelling on the things that he didn't have.
Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for what we do have.
Saying "Thank you" is one of the first things that we teach our children in life.
When someone gives something to Zane, our two year old, it's an instinctual thing for me to tell him "Say thank you!" even though he can't talk yet.
Or if someone gives something to Zachary, our 4 year old, now that he's older, I always tell him, "Zachary, what do you say?"
Even when I can tell he's not so thrilled about or thankful for the gift he's received, I still say "What do you say?"
And depending on the mood he's in, he will mutter quietly or sometimes blurt out "Thank you!"
We teach our children from an early age how to say "Thank you."
Because certainly as adults, we know what it feels like to be thanked for something, and we can appreciate that, or in some cases we know what it feels like not to be thanked for something and how that can hurt.
In today's Gospel story of Jesus healing the ten lepers and only the one returned to give thanks, we see how Jesus knows exactly how we feel.
Jesus and His Disciples Are On the Move
The story begins with Jesus and his disciples on the move.
They're traveling through the region between Samaria and Galilee, and this is significant because it tells us that this event took place in a racially mixed area that consisted of both Jews and Samaritans who absolutely despised one another.
And it prepares us so that we will be ready for the punch line at the end of the story.
Ten Lonely Lepers Cry for Mercy and Are Healed
Just before Jesus and his disciples enter this village, ten men who had leprosy met him.
There are two things to notice here:
•(1) Jesus is just outside the village and (2) he meets a group of lepers.
In the first century, the term leprosy covered a variety of gross skin conditions.
It was the most dreaded of all ancient diseases because it ate away at the body and left its victims maimed and disfigured, and for most there was no hope for a cure or for a life for that matter.
These ten men walked the earth.
They breathed and ate.
They had hopes and aspirations just like you and me.
Yet, there was a tragic sense that they were already dead.
In their hopes for a family life, a useful occupation, plans for the future - they were dead men walking.
They had to live in the hell of loneliness.
Because other people obviously didn't want to contract the disease, according to Jewish law (Lev. 13:45-46) lepers were expelled from the community, forced to live outside of the village, to wear distinctive dress and to shout "unclean, unclean!" so people knew to avoid them.
They were excluded from worship in the synagogue because they might infect others and because they were deemed by the priest to be ritually unclean.
In that day, if you were afflicted with an ailment, then it was presumed to be God's punishment for some sin the person or parents had committed.
Not only were you presumed to be physically contagious, but also you were seen as morally and spiritually inferior - as someone cursed by God.
So to protect the community from physical contagion, but also from moral or spiritual corruption as well, you were cut off from virtually all human contact and dependent on family members or those from inside the village to have mercy on you.
Keeping their distance from Jesus, these ten lepers cried out to him saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" (vs.13)
Did you notice, they don't ask for healing, but for mercy, for whatever Jesus could give them - food, clothing, shelter - because they were absolutely dependent upon the mercy of others to provide for even their most basic needs.
They know Jesus' reputation for compassion, but do they really ask for and expect a physical healing?
It's not indicated in the story - they ask for mercy.
And when Jesus saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests."
And as they went, they were made clean (vs.14).
Now the significance of the priests in Jesus' instruction is that only priests, according to Jewish law (Lev. 14), can declare a person healed of leprosy and therefore deemed clean to re-enter society.
As they went to see the priests, along the way all ten men were made clean - were healed.
The Thankful Samaritan
But only one of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back, praising God with a loud voice. He threw himself at the feet of Jesus and thanked him and then- here's the punch line - he was a Samaritan" (vs. 15-16).
Notice the thankful leper's response.
While all ten lepers had called out loudly to ask for mercy, only this one leper, the Samaritan, the outcast, offers loud thanksgiving and praise to God.
This leper throws himself at Jesus' feet as a sign of utter humility.
The one who had been untouchable no doubt touches Jesus, and Jesus does not prevent him.
Jesus receives his thanks graciously.
The leper responds giving glory to God and thanks to Jesus.
Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" (vs. 17-18)
The surprise ending to this story comes when the only thankful one is the outcast, the foreigner, the non-Jew who gives glory to God and thanks to a Jewish Jesus.
The Samaritan puts to shame the other nine Jewish lepers who had been healed but who didn't say "thank you."
Now none of them were any less cured, but the story implies that the other nine were certainly less grateful.
Only the outsider, the foreigner, gives glory to God putting to shame the other nine who were Jews and whose very name reminded them to praise God because the word "Judah," from which Jews receive their name, in Hebrew means "praise."
In this story, the nine ex-lepers can hardly be condemned by us for being less grateful - because how often do we fail to give praise and glory to God and say "thank you" to Jesus for everything?
The ingratitude of the other nine was a worse leprosy than the physical disease itself.
But the Samaritan, who gave praise to God and thanks to Jesus was made well in body and in soul when Jesus said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well. (vs.19).
Thanksgiving is about Giving Thanks
Let us learn from the one - the Samaritan - the outcast - that the Thanksgiving holiday is about more than just filling our stomachs, it can fill our souls as well.
Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for everything that we do have.
In Christian faith, we know that everything we have is a gift from God.
The English word for thankful is derived from the Latin word "gratia", meaning gift.
Everything we have is a gift, and we are the recipients not only of the gifts from God, but we are the recipients of the central Gift, who is God.
Meister Eckhart wrote, "If we never say any other prayer than ‘thanks,' we have prayed fully."
Let us pray:
Generous God, like the Samaritan leper, we praise you and we throw ourselves at Jesus' feet to say thank you for everything we have.
Thank you, God. Thank you, Lord.
Amen.