Thankfulness Is Returning to Jesus

14th Sunday after Trinity

August 28, 2016

Luke 17:11-19

Thankfulness Is Returning to Jesus

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Lepers fall apart after a while. And after some time, a leper can't speak, let alone yell. So these lepers who met Jesus and called out to Him weren't too far gone. But they knew where they were going. Leprosy had no cure and it was a bad and slow way to go. So these ten lepers were desperate.

These lepers had no where else to turn. Jesus was their last hope. And so they got as close they were allowed and yelled, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us! Have mercy on us! Give us the opposite of what we deserve!”

And Jesus did. He healed them, all ten of them. He knew that only one would come back, yet He still healed all of them. And in this act, Jesus' mercy shines. He gives gifts even to those who don't say thank. He gives gifts even to those who don't believe in Him.

Sometimes we might be too quickly pile on in our view of the nine who didn't come back. We might hear Jesus' “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?” as a disappointed parent after throwing a great birthday party . . . or college.

The nine did exactly what Jesus had told them to do. The real issue wasn't their failure to act thankful; it was their lack of saving faith. Jesus wasn't disappointed simply that they hadn't come back and bowed down to Him. We might think so if we picture Jesus as a bitter grandma who never gets thank-you letters after giving little Junior the latest smartphone.

The nine lepers heading to the Temple and its priests in Jerusalem actually would be making sacrifices to God. They would soon be saying thank you to God with offerings of birds and lambs.

The real issue wasn't their failure to act thankful; it was their lack of saving faith. The leper who came back did return because he was the type of person who loved writing thank you notes; he came back because he trusted that Jesus was the promised Savior from his sinful self-centeredness.

When you become seriously ill, it's difficult to not have your small world begin to revolve around you. Your family's schedule has to adjust to your needs; most conversations have to do with your sickness. People call to see how you are doing—if they remember, they'll ask about your spouse and kids.

Yesterday's leprosy isn't treated like today's auto-immune diseases. Lepers had no family support because they were sent away. They were outcasts. Yet still the temptation to self-pity must have been enormous. The desire to help other lepers in the leper colony must have been under attack: why help someone who will soon be falling apart and can't help you? Paying it forward doesn't work where everyone is disintegrating.

We don't know this leper's story before or after he met Jesus. But we do know that he was a sinner who was very sick. And Jesus cured both his body and his soul on that blessed day.

The former leper knew who Jesus is because there is only one who can speak and make it so: his Lord and his God. And from that day forward this blessed Samaritan used his voice doubtless to praise his Savior who spoke and saved him.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Alleluia! Amen!