Luke 17:11-19 * Thanksgiving 2006 * Pastor Leyrer

Dear Friends in Christ,

I’m not sure why, but I remember reading a letter in a popular newspaper advice column many years ago (some of you may remember the name Ann Landers). The woman who wrote it was upset because of an incident that had taken place on her vacation.

While traveling along the highway they found a suitcase on the side of the road. It had obviously fallen off the top of someone’s car. Being Good Samaritans, they picked it up. Having found some identification on it, they then went to great lengths and some expense to return it by mail to the rightful owners, accompanied by a note explaining the whole situation.

Well the long and the short of it is that they never heard from these people, even after they were sure the suitcase had reached its destination. No letter of acknowledgement. No card of thanks. No grateful phone call. Nothing. And this is what had this woman upset. Her help was neither recognized or appreciated.

The story itself may be somewhat trivial, but it deals with a subject that strikes a nerve in each one of us. Maybe you’ve experienced a variation on that theme. There are perhaps few things we dislike more than ingratitude. Or the feeling that we’ve been taken for granted. Or believing that our efforts are being neither recognized nor appreciated.

In the text before us today, Jesus is the victim of all these things. In fact, this account is perhaps the classic Biblical illustration on the subject of ingratitude. Many of us have heard it before. We know that out of the ten men Jesus helped (and we mean really helped), only one returned to thank Him. We’re well aware of how a staggering 90% felt it unnecessary to offer even a verbal thank-you for the biggest break they would ever receive in their earthly lives. And we shake our heads at their lack of appreciation.

However, on this Thanksgiving celebration we’re not going to spend our time castigating the nine for what they didn’t do. Rather, we’d like to concentrate on what the one did do. We’d like to take this approach with the intention of learning from him and imitating him; and with the sincere prayer that Jesus never be the victim of ingratitude in our lives. So let us devote our time to

THE EXAMINATION OF A GRATEFUL LIFE

In condensed form, the account we have before us goes like this: On His way from the north country to the southern city of Jerusalem, Jesus and His disciples are approached by ten men described as having “leprosy.” (For many of us the term “leprosy” brings a pretty specific visual image to mind, but we should know that the original word can mean any number of diseases that affect the skin, some of which were contagious.)

Whatever the exact malady may have been, it was serious enough to place these men outside the mainstream of society. Separation of those with infectious diseases for the safety of others was a provision of Old Testament law. So we find these men standing at a distance from Jesus. Calling out to Him in a loud voice, they ask for His mercy.

And Jesus responds. He heals them all. He then directs them to show themselves to the priests, who would declare them to no longer be “unclean” and allow them to reenter the mainstream. So off they went. And as they made their way we are told that new health and vitality began coursing through their bodies, replacing the disease they had only moments ago.

We’ll note that to this point all ten men were alike. All had evidently heard of Jesus and knew what He could do. All appealed to Christ, acknowledging Him as their “Master.” All, in obedience to the Christ’s command, proceeded to the priests. And all were healed. Here is where the group now makes a split between one and nine.

The Lord notes that only one man, a Samaritan, returned. You can almost hear the sadness in his voice. The fact that his nationality is mentioned is significant. While the common bond of leprosy brought these men together, normally Samaritans and Jews despised each other. There was great ethnic hostility between these two groups. Yet it was this man who came back to thank and praise Christ, while Jesus’ own countrymen just kept walking. And Jesus held him up alone as a man of faith and understanding.

This then, is the historical incident. What are the Thanksgiving Day lessons we can apply to ourselves? We see a grateful life that played itself out in thankfulness and praise. Let’s examine this life in light of our own.

If you were to do a little investigating in our Christian Worship hymnal, you’d find that the author of three hymns is an early church father by the name of Ambrose of Milan. He was a very important and influential figure in the early Christian Church. He is also credited with making this telling remark. Of Christians, he said, “No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.” Ambrose understood that the foundational component of the Christian life is thankfulness.

As we reflect on his situation, the reason for the healed leper’s thankfulness is quite obvious. Socially he went from being an outcast to a member of the mainstream. Emotionally he went from despair to euphoria. Physically he went – literally – from death to life. And spiritually, his faith in Jesus as the Son of God and Savior was solidified in a concrete, unable-to-be-misunderstood kind of way. He had a lot to be thankful for. He had much for which he owed Jesus praise.

So do we. If we allow ourselves to use the account in our text as the framework for teaching us some deep spiritual truths, we’ll find that a number of interesting parallels can be drawn between that leper and us. For example…

Just as this man was covered with an incurable disease that made him an outcast in the eyes of society, so we are born infected with the fatal disease called “sin.” This condition makes us outcasts in the eyes of a holy and sinless God.

Just as the leper could not cure himself, but needed help and turned to Christ for healing, so we cannot save ourselves from sin. We need to look to a power and a solution outside of ourselves. That power and solution is found only in Jesus Christ.

And just as Christ healed him, Christ heals us. How? By taking the punishment those sins deserve upon Himself. On the cross of Calvary the sins of the world rested on His sacred shoulders. And when He died, so did the power of sin to damn us eternally. While sin has not been erased from our lives (we still have a sinful nature and because of this we daily struggle with sin and its effect in our lives), the guilt of sin has been removed. The forgiveness of sins means, in the words of Jesus, that we have “crossed over from death to life.” Eternal life.

As a result, we come to this final parallel: Just as the healed man reacted in thankfulness and praise, so will we. If we honestly understand what we have been delivered from and what we look forward to, we have no other choice nor any other desire. In Psalm 103, that great Psalm of praise, the inspired author King David lists the things for which we must “praise the Lord, O my soul.” And what is at the top of the list? “He forgives all my sins.” And that is at the top of our list as well.

Because in the end, that is the only thing that matters. As Americans we are physically and materially blessed. A “modest” living in our country is far beyond the wildest dreams of the great majority in the rest of the world. And as grateful as we are for all these blessings, we know that they don’t constitute our real treasure.

Because we know that the moment we close our eyes on this earth for the final time it won’t matter how much we have in our bank account or how many achievements we have attained or whether or not our names will make it into the history books. None of those things will open the door to heaven. The key to unlock the gate of eternity is the forgiveness of our sins. And thanks be to Jesus Christ, we’ve got it. “Praise the Lord, O my soul” is right.

Consequently, the life of thankfulness and praise modeled by the healed leper is the hallmark of the Christian life. Ambrose had it right. No duty is more urgent – and more natural – than that of returning thanks. Regardless of any and all outward circumstances.

Does this mean we be thankful people even if things aren’t going our way? Even when our loved ones are ill or dying? Even when our own personal health is starting to deteriorate? When relationships are going sour? When everything seems to be conspiring against us in what appears to be a calculated plot to make our lives miserable?

Can we still praise God then? And the answer is, yes. Because all these things – as hard as they may be and with no intention on my or anyone else’s part to minimize them – are, in the end, temporary. It may seem that they will last forever, but they won’t. The only thing that will last forever is life with Jesus in heaven through the forgiveness of sins He provides. And that knowledge trumps every earthly circumstance.

Let me provide a real life example of this.

Martin Rinckart was a Lutheran minister in a small town in Germany in the 17^th century. Most of his ministry took place during a difficult period of European history which we now call the “Thirty Years War.” The town he lived in, Eilenberg, was a walled city, and all kinds of people sought shelter in it from the terrors of war. With overcrowding came famine, then sickness, then the Plague.

It is hard for us to imagine what life was like then. One account reports the conditions were so extreme that on any given day you could find people fighting in the streets over a dead cat or crow. Most of the other clergy either died or left, leaving Rinckart essentially alone to console, counsel, baptize and bury. In the year 1637 he conducted over four thousand funerals, at times doing up to 50 a day. We know this because he kept a record.

Despite this, Martin Rinckart’s spirit was not broken. He faithfully carried out his calling. He continued to remind the people that God would never leave them or forsake them and urged them toward a life of trust and confidence. Towards the end of his life, when the hope of peace was finally dawning for his country, he composed the hymn sung by our choir earlier in this service: “Now Thank We All Our God.”

Given his situation, we might wonder how he could write such marvelous and grateful words. The reason is because Martin Rinckart understood that a life of thanksgiving is not tied to things or circumstances or what is commonly called “good fortune;” thanksgiving resides in the hearts of those who know Jesus and who know what He has and will eternally provide for us through the forgiveness of our sins.

Returning to the account in our text, today we saw ten men healed. One man returned. 90% did not. May we simply be reminded on this Thanksgiving Day to imitate the one life we examined rather than the nine we didn’t.

And as we focus on the glorious blessing and spiritual healing we have in Christ, as did that one man, we won’t really have to be encouraged or directed to imitate his spirit of thanksgiving and praise. It will just happen naturally.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Now thank we all our God. Amen.