THANKSGIVING
Luke 17:11-19
Illustration: Our Daily Bread, February 20, 1994 carried this article,
“Thankfulness seems to be a lost art today. Warren Wiersby illustrated this
problem in his commentary on Colossians. He told about a ministerial student in
Evanston, Illinois, who was part of a life-saving squad. In 1860, a ship went
aground on the shore of Lake Michigan near Evanston, and Edward Spencer waded
again and again into the frigid waters to rescue 17 passengers. But those lives weren’t saved without a cost. In
the process, his health was permanently damaged. Some years later at his funeral,
it was noted that not “one of the people he rescued ever thanked him.”
Mitt Romney was recorded in a
private conversation during his bid for the presidency: “there are 47
percent…who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who
believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that
they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That’s
an entitlement. (and they believe) the government should give it to them.”
Mitt Romney mildly put it at 47
percent of people being entitled in the US, however there might be more people
than we realize feel entitled. Many seem to remain on the receiving end, seldom
displaying an attitude of gratitude. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving
shortly. Thanksgiving is not all about, turkey dinners and pumpkin pie socials.
It is an occasion to show our thankfulness to God, family, and friends. Does it
mean that we are grateful only once a year, how about the rest of the year? For
a child of God every moment and every day is an opportunity to be thankful,
however so often we forget to be thankful.
Who do you need to thank today? This
morning I want to address this crucial attitude, called, “THANKSGIVING.” We
will see why God considers thanksgiving important, how Jesus encountered the attitude
of ungratefulness, and an attitude check. Luke 17:11-19
I WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THANKSGIVING?
In every culture people tend to appreciate
those who are thankful and resent those who feel entitled, grumble and
complain. Here are a few quotes on thanksgiving: “It’s not happy people who are thankful, but it is thankful people
who are happy.” “The best way to show my
gratitude to God is to accept everything, even my problems with Joy,” Mother
Teresa.
Why God considers thanksgiving
important? Thanksgiving is instituted and commanded by God. After leading the
people out from their bondage in Egypt, God gave commandments, established
laws, rituals, and offerings of sacrifices. We often misunderstand freedom to not
having laws or boundaries, but true freedom comes when we abide by what God
requires of us. Among many offerings,
fellowship or thank offering was one God required by his people. Leviticus
7:11-12 “This is the ritual of the sacrifice of the offering of well-being that
one may offer to the Lord. If you offer it for thanksgiving, you shall offer
with the thank offering unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers
spread with oil, and cakes of choice flour well soaked in oil.” (NRSV) In the
OT rituals, giving thanks to God was just not a verbal declaration, simply
saying, “thanks” but it costed something. People were instructed to bring an
offering to show their thankfulness to God for all he had done for them and for
their family.
I grew up in a church where we were
taught to bring an offering to God whenever we were blessed with a job,
promotion, were healed of a sickness, passed an exam or celebrated a birthday
or a wedding anniversary. Every Sunday the ushers used to receive a special
offering called, “Thank Offerings,” along with the regular offerings.
Thank offering moment was a joyful
occasion for the rest of the body of believers to join with those who are
rejoicing and testifying of what God has done for them and for their families.
Gratefulness replaces grumbling and complaining and breads peace and
contentment. What are you grateful to God today?
Thanksgiving was not optional but a command
from God. It was highly encouraged by prophets, and religiously practiced by
the Israelites. Thanksgiving was a prominent feature in temple worship. Consider
the following scriptures: “Enter his gates
with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his
name.” Psalm 105:4
When the Ark of the Covenant was
returned to Jerusalem, David pitched a tent and placed the Ark in the tent and
offered, “the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being. He appointed some of the Levites to
minister before the ark of the Lord, to extol (to invoke),
thank, and praise the Lord, the God of Israel: I Chron 16. In Psalm 107:1-3, we read, “O give thanks to the
Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so, those he redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the
lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.”
These and
many other scriptures indicate, why giving thanks and praise to God is so
important for God’s people. But unfortunately, many of us fail to give thanks
to God, even after receiving so many blessings from God. Why such apathy when
it comes to thanking God? Why such an attitude of ingratitude? In the scripture
portion that was read from Luke 17:11-19, we come across a group of ten desperate
lepers who cried out to Jesus for a miracle. Jesus heals all ten of them, but
only one returned to give praise and thanks to Jesus. Why the rest of the nine
did not come back to thank Jesus?
II. AN ATTITUDE OF
UNGREATFULNESS.
In the
story we read, Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, passing along between Samaria
and Galilee. History tells us that both Jews and Samaritans hated each other. Jews hated Samaritans for their rejection of the
history of Israel. Samaritans likewise hated Jerusalem’s temple and often
heckled Galilean pilgrims who passed through Samaria on their way to the
festival, sometimes even causing bloodshed.
Luke did not
explain why Jesus took such a longer route to Jerusalem, than a direct way. Normally
Jews did not associate with Samaritans but leprosy broke down those social
barriers. As he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers who stood in a
distance calling out in one voice.
“Jesus,
Master, have pity on us.” In the
ancient times Lepers were social outcasts. These men were ceremonially defiled
and forced to live outside the village.
In Leviticus 13:46 “He shall remain unclean as long as he has the
disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the
camp.” These lepers were required to stand at a distance, so they shouted, to
get Jesus’ attention.
Jesus took a
good look at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” They went, and
while still on their way, became clean. One of them when he realized that he
was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying
God. He fell at the feet of Jesus, so grateful. He couldn’t thank him enough,
and he was a Samaritan. Jesus’ asks him surprisingly, “were not ten healed”?
Where are the nine? Can no one be found to come back and give glory to God
except this foreigner(outsider)?
Then he commended the Samaritan’s faith, “Get up! On your
way! Your faith has healed and saved you.”
What can we
learn from this story? Out of ten lepers, nine may have been Jewish. Jesus’
sending the lepers to show themselves to the priest suggests that they were
Jewish. One was a Smartian. This Smartian
may have been permitted to associate with them since they were all ceremonially
unclean. Jesus healed all of them but only a Samaritan returned to give thanks
and praise to Jesus for his miracle. The other nine were, eager to be declared
clean so that they could return to normal life in society, evidently continued
on to the priest, forgetting to give thanks.
Though all
the ten were together in their uncleanness but in their healing, they did not
share the Samaritan’s deep gratitude. The Samaritan’s attitude of gratitude was
reminiscent of the conduct of the Syrian Commander Naaman the Leper who was
told by the prophet Elisha to dip in the river Jordan seven times. Do you remember
that story? Though initially he was angry and reluctant to do so, but when he
finally did it, his skin was restored and became clean like that of a young
boy. (2 Kin. 5:15).
After
experiencing that miracle Naaman worshipped the God of Israel and gave gifts.
We see some similarities between Naaman and the Samaritan. They both were
foreigners (outsiders), they both were lepers, God not only healed both of them
of their physical sickness but restored their soul. When they were healed, they
did not hold back in expressing their gratitude.
Whereas in
the case of the nine lepers, though they have experienced a miracle of healing,
they were ungrateful to return to Jesus, in the process their miracle was only
limited to a mere physical healing. The Samaritan man, recognized his source of
healing, he took time to return to Jesus with gratitude, therefore Jesus
granted him what I would call a “Double Miracle.” Jesus not only healed his
physical sickness but also restored his soul. That is the blessing of being
thankful to God.
We see this
type of scenario playing out all the time. There are many who cry out to God
for help when they are sick or in trouble. God heals their sickness and
provides a way out of their trouble. But they just like those nine lepers go on
their way forgetting to give thanks to God who has healed them. There only a
handful like Naaman the Syrian or the Samaritan, who after receiving healing pause
and recognize where it came from and return to God praising and thanking. These
are the ones who receives a “Double Miracle,” of physical healing and soul
restoration. During this thanksgiving season, which one are you? Are you like
those nine ungrateful lepers? Or like Naaman the Syrian and the Samaritan?
III. AN ATTITUDE CHECK
In
warfare, many times it becomes necessary for soldiers to go through an
“attitude check” before a battle.
Winston Churchill once noted, “Attitude is a little thing, but makes a
big difference.” For Christians, who are continuously engaged in a spiritual
warfare it is absolutely necessary from time to time to go through an attitude
check. During this thanksgiving season, let’s pause and take an attitude check.
I don’t know about you, but there are times I move towards grumbling and
complaining about things. Those are the moments I need to grab myself, and
begin to pray or journal out all that I have been blessed by Jesus in my life.
As I focus on God for who He is and what He is done, slowly but surely my heart
begins to be filled with gratitude and contentment. Thanksgiving is not
something we celebrate once a year, but it should become a daily practice of a
healthy disciple of Christ. The antidote for entitlement, and discontentment, is
a radical attitude of gratitude.
Paul,
writing to the Thessalonian believers reminds them that being thankful equals
to doing the will of God. In other words when we are ungrateful we are living
outside of God’s will. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in
all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I Thess 5:16-18
Giving
thanks to God sets us free from greed and entitlement. It also liberates us
from anger and resentment. Henry Nouwen notes, “The opposite of resentment is
gratitude (from the Latin gratia = favor). Gratitude is the attitude that
enables us to let go of anger, receive the hidden gifts of those we want to
serve.”[1] The Apostle Paul, cultivated this habit of
thanking God for everyone, including the ones that were difficult. “I thank my
God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my
prayers for all of you,” Phil 1:3-4 Writing to the Ephesians 1:16 “I do not
cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.”
What
a difference that would make in our relationships, when we begin to thank God
for all those who cause trouble to us, and remember them in our prayers. I
believe for one that kind of prayers will definitely change our heart attitude
towards difficult people.
My
prayer for all of us during this thanksgiving season is that we will have an
attitude check and see if there is any ungratefulness, complaining and
entitlement and cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Let me close with this powerful reminder from the apostle
Paul: “I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by
fine-sounding arguments. So then, just as you
received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and
built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing
with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:6-7. Amen
