Be Thankful Sunday
Mike Bowler
2 Timothy 2:8-15, Luke 17:11-19
May my words and our thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord. Amen
A tale.
A large dog walks into a butcher shop carrying a purse in its mouth. He puts the purse down and sits in front of the counter. "What is it, boy?" the butcher jokingly asks. "Want to buy some meat?" "Woof!" barks the dog. "Hmm," says the butcher. "What kind? Liver, bacon, steak ..." "Woof!" interrupts the dog. "And how much steak? Half a pound, one pound ..." "Woof!" The amazed butcher wraps up the meat and finds the money in the dog's purse.
As the dog leaves he decides to follow. The dog enters an apartment house, climbs to the third floor and begins scratching at a door. With that, the door swings open and an angry man starts shouting at the dog. "Stop!" yells the butcher. "He's the most intelligent animal I've ever seen!" "Intelligent?" says the man. "This is the third time this week he's forgotten his key."
We heard today from Luke’s gospel about the story of the 10 men healed of leprosy.
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by a baccilus. It affects the skin, peripheral nerves, upper respiratory tract and eyes. It is often associated with poverty and is not particularly easy to contract. Today it is treatable with antibiotics and other medications. However, in historical times, having leprosy had a very different outcome. It is referred to many times in the bible, and the sufferer would suffer from social isolation and separation from their families. It would also lead to spiritual isolation. Its reference may have included may other skin diseases that could have left some disfigurement.
We have in this story, 10 men who have leprosy. They would have possibly been living in a colony, socially outcast, poor and shunned. In a time that was harsh and hard for most people, these men would have been particularly destitute. However, they still had a faith. They probably knew who Jesus was and what he could do. They kept their distance. The world knew then about social distancing. They shouted to Jesus to have pity on them. Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests.
The priests in old testament times and later had the job of diagnosing skin diseases and declaring the sufferer ceremonially unclean and prescribing required periods of isolation. Conversely, when the sufferer had recovered from their affliction, they were also required to report to the priests to be ceremonially cleansed. Full details of the requirements can be found in the book of Leviticus. Reading those passages might appear similar to reading one of Dr Bloomfield’s memos on dealing with recent issues in public health.
Jesus had somewhat simply told them to report to the priests, who would then be able to declare the men healed of disease. The miracle of their cure was far more than just the removal of unsightly skin lesions and injuries, and the restoring of nerves. It was also the removal of the barrier between themselves and the rest of society. The men would be able to lead normal lives back with their families and friends. No longer be shunned by society.
10 men were healed, but only one man, a Samaritan, turned back to praise God and threw himself at Jesus’s feet, thanking him. I am sure the others were also shouting for joy, having the life changing disease lifted from them, but only one turned back to thank Jesus and show gratitude. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he says “always giving thanks to God the father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).
We know that God is the giver of all things. Our lives, our homes, our family, the beautiful country we live in, the person we are sitting next to today. And we are told to give thanks for all of that. Indeed in our communion service, we have the Great Thanksgiving, where we hear “Lets us give thanks to the Lord our God….It is right indeed, it is our joy and salvation, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, at all times and in all places to give you thanks and praise through Christ your only Son.” (NZPB pg 421)
We are taught as children to remember our P’s and Q’s. Now as we have our own children, grandchildren or great grandchildren, that lesson continues. It is not just a lesson in politeness, a quaint and old- fashioned etiquette. Teaching a child helps their development of their awareness of others which educators may refer to as the learning of ‘pro-social behaviour’. “This is defined as an action which is taken to benefit another person, with no expectation of reward. Children on the journey of developing their pro-social behaviour will move from being entirely self-focused and self-serving in their actions, to being gradually more aware and, finally, to genuinely caring for others, as their pro-social reasoning grows. This will be displayed through increasing acts of kindness, generosity and helpfulness.
What can we learn from this story and where can our Christian gratitude be shown?
Be thankful despite difficulties.
Life is not perfect and perhaps there is always something that can be better. Those 10 lepers had a faith that they would be healed, but they still had to embark on the journey to the priests whilst still bearing the affliction of their disease. They had to start walking that journey in faith before their circumstances had changed one tiny bit. We can’t put conditions on God. We can’t say I will do this for you Lord, only if you do that for me. A missionary shouldn’t say “Lord, as soon as there's enough money, I will follow your instructions."
A modern medical specialist is said to have offered his leprosy patients the “gift” of pain through their treatment. That may sound odd, but the ability to feel pain in their extremities, rather than numbness was so important in reducing the horrendous injuries associated with leprosy, such as burns.
I’m sure that folk in the bombed areas of the Ukraine are grateful to go through just one night without shelling. Their hardship journey hasn’t finished but they are thankful even for small mercies.
Yes we need to be prepared to show a faith before anything has changed. God might say, "Love me despite the disease. Obey me despite the lack of talent, or the lack of resources. Follow me now, despite the depression. Say no to the temptation, while it still is difficult. Praise me in the darkest of nights, and in the worst of circumstances."
So often in our modern colloquial language, we will use the word BUT. It may be used positively such as “he stumbled but didn’t fall”. Sadly it is also used to imply something that we do have that could be better. “I have a nice car but I don’t like the colour.”
Let us be grateful for blessings we do have, and not be wanting blessings we don’t have.
Let us worship God by being thankful.
The Samaritan returned to thank Jesus, even before he had journeyed home to be re united with his family. Let us always remember to thank God for his mercies. When we get up in the morning, we have opportunities ahead of us. We have been given another day. In the book of Lamentations it is written “Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail, They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23). We need to be grateful to the Lord always. In our prayer time, at work and at home, at meal times, sharing with family and friends, as we make journeys and as we enjoy God’s creations and our life here in Aoteroa. Let us be loud in our thankfulness.
Thankfulness and action
The one man returned to thank Jesus. He didn’t get immersed in the celebration of his own good outcome, without first making the journey back to Jesus to thank him. It wasn’t a pre requisite that thankfulness was needed before healing was assured. The other nine men were also healed. Let us show our thankfulness through action, by helping others, by being aware of the situation’s others may be in that is worse than our own. Let us use our Thankfulness in Action to be God’s hands and feet in this world. Let the moment of thankfulness last longer an a flippant “Thanks” and actually be a lasting action.
The Samaritan man who had been suffering from leprosy, now cured, had returned to Jesus’s feet in thanks. Jesus said, “arise and go, your faith has made you well.” It wasn’t only Jesus divine powers that had healed this man. The man’s faith had healed him so it is also a story of faith. This man was dead and is now alive. We see this later in Luke in the story of the sick woman “Daughter, your faith has healed you, Go in peace.” (Luke 8:48)
So let us not be like the 9 men who, though healed of their leprosy, didn’t give the praise and thanks to God, but got caught up in their own joy of being released from the bondage of the disease. Be like the one man, the Samaritan, who showed his gratitude even before sharing his joy with his family.
Amen.