Atom“Doing Thanks”
Luke 17:11-19
"On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him...they called out: "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" Luke 17:11-12
They say that “misery loves company.” I suppose that’s true even when the company isn’t the sort that you would usually hang out with. Samaritans didn’t usually hang out with Jews. They didn’t like each other. In fact, they pretty much hated each other…some old family enmity about who were the true people of Israel and who worshipped God in the proper way. But misery has a way of breaking down even the most formidable barriers and that is how the Samaritan leper found himself keeping company with Jewish lepers. Both knew not only the awful discomfort of their disease, but also the excruciating pain of being excluded from family and society because of their disease. And it was probably this latter pain that was the worst.
The Samaritan looked around at his companions gathered around the small fire they had lit on the outskirts of the village. They all huddled together for warmth, each of their bodies in varying degrees of decay, their sores wrapped to protect against further injury and to hide the ugliness. For most of them the lesions had started small and they had tried to hide them, fearing what they meant, but soon they had spread to the face and then there was no hiding their sickness from the community and community law was clear. Anyone who contracted leprosy was forced to leave the community – family, friends, all of it – and stay well clear of the healthy. They were even compelled to announce themselves whenever they come within shouting distance of the non-leprous. It was humiliating…it was unfair…it was incredibly lonely.
And it was the loneliness and the common misery that brought them to each other. They came from different economic backgrounds…some had been quite settled, with good trades…others had lived on the edge of poverty. The Samaritan? Well, he was a different breed altogether. Ordinarily they would not have given him a second look, but somehow the leprosy caused the others to look past his questionable racial and religious background and they welcomed him to their little gathering, to draw near the fire and to share in the bits of food thrown to them by family members or gleaned from the fields. Thank God for even small favors.
As they huddled around the fire, they saw a group heading into the village. They all watched, sullenly, envious of these who could so freely come and go. And then one of his fellows called out… “Hey, that one is the teacher, the rabbi, the one who heals people!” They stood as one and started toward him, but then, remembering who they were, they called out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” The Samaritan didn’t really know this Jesus. Jesus was Jewish after all. But he joined in their shout. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
And…Jesus stopped…he and his whole crowd…and he looked directly at them, unlike the multitudes who passed by every day, averting their eyes. And he started toward them…just a step or two…and called back. “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Go and show yourself to the priests? The priests, of course, were the ones who declared folks clean or unclean. They were the ones that could ban one from society. They were the ones that could declare that one was clean and whole and fit to rejoin society. But that could only happen if their leprosy was healed. What was Jesus saying? Could it be? They looked at each other, eyes wide. What did they have to lose? And then they all began to move at once, to run…toward the city…toward the priests…toward wholeness. And as they ran, they felt the change begin to happen, the flesh to close up and the skin to become smooth and soft. They all felt it happening…they all knew that something miraculous had occurred…and their spirits – their hearts – began to sing as they hurried on toward life!
Now…I want to pause here in the story for a few moments…and invite you to reflect with me. The lepers in the story received a gift…a gift that they could never have imagined…healing…wholeness…a new lease on life…a return to community. Once again they could gather with friends and family around a table filled with good foods. Once again they could take a baby into their arms or throw a hug around a friend. One can only image all the things that they were blessed with at that moment. What I want to invite you to do for a moment, is to reflect on the blessings you have received…whatever they might be…big, wonderful things you have experienced in the past year…or small, daily blessings that you might easily take for granted if someone did not ask you to pause to reflect. Put a few on one side of the sheet that is inserted in your bulletin. We’ll take few moments…while the music plays…
The Samaritan also felt the warmth that spread through his body…the warmth of well-being and the sensation of feeling that returned to his fingers and toes. It was so wonderful that he stopped right where he was and began to explore his once broken body. He pulled the bandages away and saw fingers and toes that were again whole and strong with skin that was clear and smooth. He couldn’t see his face of course, but as his fingertips searched he found ears and nose that had returned to proper form, that were again sensitive to his touch. He turned then and looked back in the direction from which he had come. There was the healer, Jesus, still standing and watching…a small smile of satisfaction playing across his lips, crinkling the corners of his eyes.
And suddenly the Samaritan found himself running again. Only this time he was running toward Jesus…shouting his thanks to God…running to the One who had made him whole. Breathless now, he fell at Jesus feet. And Jesus said, “Were there not ten who were made clean? Where are the other nine? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Indeed. 10 were healed. Ten received a wonderful gift. I can even imagine that all 10 were thankful for the gift. But only one returned thanks. In only one did the thankfulness of the heart overflow in the actions of the life.
So here is the second part of tonight’s reflection. How does thankfulness overflow into our lives? How do we show what we feel? We each have a list of things for which we are thankful. How then do we live thankfully? To be sure, we gather here tonight. We set aside time. We pray and sing. We share an offering with the hungry. These are good. They are a good start toward thankful living. I would like to think that there are other ways to live thankfully.
When Holly and I were in the Samoan Islands, the people there had a strange tradition. When a young person turned 21, they had a party and invited all their friends and family to celebrate, and at the party…the 21-year-old – the new adult – expressed his or her thanks and then…made a pledge of renewed commitment…to support and care for and honor their parents in thankfulness. Can you imagine? Many of us feel thankful…but how do we act out that thankfulness? That is part of the challenge of this lesson tonight.
So…I want you to look at your lists again of the things for which you are thankful. And then I want you to turn the paper over and on the back side, jot down a few ways in which you can and will live this thankfulness. Maybe there are already ways you are doing this. But consider…how do I live differently…as a Christian…in thanksgiving for the gifts that God has given to me.
I again ask our musicians to play as we consider how God might be calling us to respond…
I thought about having each place their sheet of thankfulness and commitment in the offering plate, but I change my mind. What I would like you to do is to take your sheet of paper…fold it…and tuck it into a safe place. And if you will, when you get home, put it in a place to serve as a reminder…perhaps on your bedside table or in your devotional book or maybe in your planner…if you want…and let it be a reminder of the gift…and of the Giver…and of your own commitment to live thankfully. Let’s pray…
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