"The challenge of giving thanks" Luke 17:11-19

A sermon by Dean Keith Joyce

¹¹ On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, ¹³ they called out, 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 made clean. ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. ¹⁶ He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus asked, 'Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? ¹⁸ Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?' ¹⁹ Then he said to him, 'Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.'

The ten lepers keep their distance. Leprosy is a dirty disease. It defiles. It's against the law for a leper go into town. They come as close as they dare. Even so they have to shout to be heard by Jesus. Interestingly they don't ask to be healed. They ask for pity, for mercy. Naturally, they want Christ's mercy for their leprosy.

How does Jesus answer them? Is it: "Oh, don't bother me! Go to the priests for pity." or is it a kinder, gentler response? Ironically, his answer, in fact, is part of the healing process. It's the end portion of it. When a person is thought to be healed, he or she is to go to the priest to have it verified. In the case of leprosy, it would be especially important since it's such a dreaded disease with significant social implications. People known to have leprosy would be taking a huge risk if they were to pronounce themselves free of the illness and proceed to join society again.

Jesus doesn't come to the lepers nor does he ask them to come to him. He simply responds by telling them to go the priest. He does not say, "You are cured." There's no promise of future healing. He doesn't approach them, he doesn't touch them. He does nothing to lead them to think they might get better.

This simple statement, 'Go and show yourselves to the priests' by Jesus puts these men to the test. It's a test of their faith. Will they go or not? Do they believe that healing will take place? All we see is that they go. And in the going they notice they're healed. We read, "As they went they were made clean."

Their response is interesting. Amongst the ten lepers there is one who is exuberant. He doesn't wait for the priest's certification of his healing. He turns around and returns to Jesus. He's praising God and his praises were heard by all and sundry. Loud calls for mercy have now turned to shouts of praise. In this praising the leper shows that he realises where this merciful act of Jesus comes from. It comes from the very heart of God. His praise goes in the right direction. He acknowledges God as the source of his healing and he recognizes Jesus as the vehicle of that healing.

When he returns to Jesus his gratitude is full of humility as he prostrates himself before Jesus. And he was the only one. But because Jews and Samaritans historically have nothing to do with each other, this Samaritan man is the last one anyone would have expected to come back and thank this Jewish healer.

Now Jesus sends this healed leper off with a word of encouragement. He tells him to get up and go on his way because his faith has made him well. But there is something more profound here than simply a statement of healing. This Samaritan has faith and gratitude. Jesus is telling him that not only is he cured but he is also healed at a deeper level. It is now well with his soul because Jesus seems to recognize in this man an attitude that enables salvation to come to him. His gratitude reveals he has taken in the full work of Jesus Christ and not just the work of physical healing.

The fully healed leper does the unexpected. He runs the risk of rejection by this Jewish healer. But his thankfulness overrides his fear and he returns to enemy territory. He goes where good sense would say, no, don't go. Sometimes giving thanks does fly in the face of what is safe. Why should I say be thankful when I hurt so much or when I recall past wounded-ness, or I'm stuck in a demanding and thankless job, or - we each can have our own list.

I find this one of the hardest things to ponder and preach about because being thankful in hard and difficult times seems both senseless and certainly impossible. Yet the Scripture does say, "⁴Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. ⁶Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:4-7)

When I hurt I cannot say thank you for that pain. But in the midst of it, when someone does me a good deed or a kind act, even a simple thing like one of my children getting me a cold drink, I then can choose to allow the pain to dictate my thoughts and therefore dictate what I do, or I can scratch out a feeble "thanks." The moment I have said "thanks" a drop of goodness that is not controlled or prevented by my misery enters into the situation, into my life and I am changed for the better. And the pain is not the greater thing. For a moment something other than the discomfort has won the day. Perhaps it is also a living experience of the closeness of the Lord as promised in that same passage from Philippians.

As strange as it seems, while one is saying thank you it is difficult for other sentiments to share that moment. It's hard to be angry at someone while at the same time saying thank you for something they have done. The gratitude, no matter how fleeting, counters the negative thought. And even if only lightly and briefly, the peace of God does enter into one's heart and mind. That's part of God's promise. That same passage says, "⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

This takes practice. It does not come naturally to us. That's why Paul encourages his readers that "in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." And the end result is God's peace. It is worth the effort, it is worth bending our will towards God and his ways, because it is always best for us in the long run even if the process is somewhat bumpy.

As we go that way, God's way, may our calls for mercy turn into great shouts of praise, praise of God and of Jesus Christ our Saviour.