Luke 17:11-19

Thanksgiving | November 23, 2023 | Luke 17:11-19 | Judson F Merrell |

On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance ¹³ and lifted up their voices, saying, „Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.“ ¹⁴ When he saw them he said to them, „Go and show yourselves to the priests.“ And as they went they were cleansed. ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at Jesus‘ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷Then Jesus answered, „Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?

¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?“ ¹⁹ And he said to him, „Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.“ (Luke 17:11-19 ESV)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

A young seminary intern walked into the office of the congregation he was serving the Monday before Thanksgiving.  It had been a busy few weeks at the church and he was looking forward to the office being closed towards the end of the week.  As he sat down to get the morning going the senior pastor stuck his head in.  “By the way”, he said “You know that interdenominational community thanksgiving service we have tomorrow night?  “Yes” said the intern.  “You have to preach it” said the Senior Pastor.  So the intern got to work.  Later that afternoon he finally had a sermon ready.  Tuesday night rolled around and the intern entered the pulpit.  He decided to do something he normally didn’t do.  He asked a non-rhetorical question of those that had gathered.  “What are you thankful for?” He asked.  Followed by “Please speak up so everyone can hear.”  The typical answers were given.  Family, friends, good health, food, shelter, clothing.  The list went on.  It started to get quiet when the Senior Pastor, now sitting in a pew a few rows back, called out “I’m thankful you are up there instead of me!”  The whole place started laughing.  The intern just kind of hung his head a minute, feeling a little defeated and knowing that he had not expected such an answer.  The laughter subsided, and then intern leaned over the pulpit closer to the microphone and said in a slightly softer voice “me too.”

Today as the church we celebrate Thanksgiving.  We might find ourselves asking the question “What are we thankful for?”  Perhaps many of the answers will be like those given at that community service.  Food, family, health, shelter.  But how many of us would say that we were thankful for faith?  Think about it…we talk about our faith.  We say that we live out our faith.  But are we thankful for our faith?  Looking at our text today Jesus tells this Samaritan that his faith has made him well.  It wasn’t Jesus saying “be healed”.  It wasn’t the Samaritan washing in the pool of Siloam or Jesus casting out a demon.  All Jesus actually does here according to the text is tell the Lepers to go and show themselves to the priests.  Nothing else is said.  As the 10 go on their way, Luke tells us that one of them saw that he was healed and turned back to Jesus.  Luke then tells us this 1 is a Samaritan.  What’s interesting here is that even though the Samaritan starts on the path to see the priest, he actually could not have followed through with Jesus’ instruction.  Samaritans were a race of people who were only half Jewish and they didn’t consider Jerusalem to be the center of worship nor did they consider the High Priests to be legitimate.  The feud between Samaritans and Jews goes all the way back to the Babylonian Exile in 587 BC.  The hatred between the groups is so strong I’m surprised this Samaritan was even able to live among Jewish lepers.  This Samaritan, with no priest to go see, is the only one who turns back, praises God and prostrates himself before Jesus and gives him his thanks.  Richard A. Jenson, in a commentary on this text writes “as this story defines it, faith is the recognition of the One who has made us well.  Faith returns to Jesus and accepts, praises, and gives thanks for what the Savior has done.”[1]  The Samaritan, who did not share the full Jewish faith and customs, is the one who is made well by his faith.  He is the only one that seems thankful.  Therein lies a common misconception about this text.  It is easy to assume the other nine lepers were not thankful because they, unlike the Samaritan, didn’t return to the Jesus.  We don’t know that they weren’t thankful and there is nothing in the text to suggest that.  Instead, it appears they apparently go and do exactly what Jesus tells them to do.  As good Jews, they go to the priests and show that they are clean.  They did their religious duty and surely they were thankful.  Afterall, by being clean they are no longer shunned from the community.  For all we know they are back to being active members of society.  A word of caution though….as we read and reflect on this text, we must take care to not confuse their religious duty with their faith.  Surely they had faith that Jesus was someone special.  Otherwise they too would not have called out to him for help.  But there’s just something different about these 9.  Or perhaps there is just something different about that Samaritan.  That difference is being hungry for faith vs content in faith.  The Samaritan was hungry, he was searching, he wanted more, a deeper relationship with the God that he worshiped.  That is the faith that we are thankful for.

If we truly want to live into and live out our faith, we have to recognize the hunger for it that we have.  In his explanation to the 3^rd article of the creed Luther explains that we cannot even come to believe in God, except that the Spirit calls us through the Gospel and enlightens us with his gifts, making us holy and keeping us in the true faith.  If this truly is the work of the Spirit, then we cannot ever be content in our faith.  We are always seeking and searching for that deeper relationship of the one who made us and calls us his own.  This is the gift of the Spirit we receive at baptism; it is the gift we receive every time we come to the Lord’s Table.  This is the gift that comes from the one we believe sits at the right hand of the Father and reigns as King of the universe forever.  It is the gift of faith.

This coming week I imagine the majority of you will gather with family or friends.  You will probably eat too much, laugh a lot, tell good stories, and watch the most important football game of the year.  If you get the moment, I invite you to contemplate on the question “What am I thankful for?”   As faithful people, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how God helps you answer that question.  In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Judson F Merrell, STS

[1] Preaching Luke’s Gospel 186