Luke 17:11-19
Well, it’s Thanksgiving week and it’s a time for people to travel—or, more accurately, it’s time for people to get stuck in airports during what is always one of the busiest and most expensive times of the year.
Traveling like that seems to always involve interruptions, especially if you’re making connecting flights in Chicago or Atlanta. We Methodists don’t believe in purgatory, but O’Hare and Hartsfield airports might make one think it’s an essential doctrine. If purgatory is the place between heaven and earth, as some Christian traditions have professed—a place of nothingness and suffering where sins get purged before one gets to heaven—then airports are the practical equivalent. They are the nowhere between two somewheres, a place where we suffer bad food and high prices, endless waiting, and apocalyptic boredom.
Of course, if you’re paying attention, you can also encounter some interesting people and situations that will actually make you a little thankful. In 2006 I was in the UK for two weeks on a study trip, and the day before I was to fly home was when the plot to bomb aircraft with explosives contained in toothpaste tubes was discovered and foiled. When I got to Gatwick airport the next day, they weren’t letting anyone on the plane with any carryons whatsoever. This, of course, backed things up to the point that I missed my connecting flight in Atlanta and had to spend the night in the airport with absolutely nothing (most of the shops were closed when we got there). I went to the Delta ticket counter to see what was happening and it was an absolute madhouse. People yelling, angrily dialing their cell phones, cussing out the Delta desk people. As I stood in the hostile service line I saw one of the gate attendants looking very depressed and on the verge of tears. She had had just about enough abuse for one human to take.
I stepped out of the line and walked up to her—and if you know me well you know this is unusual for me, call it a movement of the Spirit, or maybe a temporary insanity caused by lack of sleep—and I said to her, “You look like you could use a hug.” She started to cry and gave me a long hug. And after a minute she said, “Come with me.” I followed her to an empty gate where she reached in a storage locker and pulled out a health kit and two extra blankets. “I know you’ll be spending the night here,” she said, “and this might help.” It was an act of kindness and grace in the midst of a rough night for both of us. I was never more thankful than I was right then. Even there in the midst of purgatory, there was a chance to count a blessing.
In today’s passage from Luke, Jesus is on a road trip, moving between Samaria and Galilee on his way to Jerusalem. As he enters a village, 10 lepers approach him and call out from a distance, raising their voices in unison, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (Luke 17:13). They are like a line of upset travelers looking for some relief. They are desperate for healing, but as unclean people they don’t dare rush up to Jesus. They know that they are supposed to keep their distance, and live outside the community.
Jesus sees them and feels a desire to be merciful toward them. Then he gives them a rather unusual command: “Go and show yourselves to the priests” (v. 14). To us, these words sound odd, but in the time of Jesus a leper who was fortunate enough to be healed had to show himself to a priest. Only a priest could certify that a person was truly clean and able to return to the community.
Something is going on here, something wonderful and mysterious and tingling with the healing power of God. As the lepers make their way toward the priests, they are miraculously cleansed, and one of them, Leper No. 10, turns on his heels and races back to Jesus, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrates himself at Jesus’ feet and thanks him profusely (vv. 14-16).
Only one gives thanks. One out of 10. “Were not ten made clean?” asks Jesus, sounding miffed. “But the other nine, where are they?” (v. 17). Only one takes the time to count his blessings. Only one bothers to come back to Jesus and say thanks.
A 10 percent return. That’s pretty pathetic. But are we doing any better today? I have a friend who works as a gate agent for the airline industry, and he will tell you that you have to have nerves of steel to do that work. Most people who come up to the desk are very demanding, and a very few actually say a simple “Thank you.” They get the instructions to do what they need to do to get a new flight and then they just leave to go show themselves at the next gate. They don’t even turn to look back.
Keep in mind that the other nine lepers did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They were obedient. They followed instructions. They were doing the will of God. Can’t fault them for that.
But gratitude and thanksgiving move us beyond the standard, the acceptable, the ordinary. A gracious attitude and lifestyle make one extraordinary, unusual, blessed, a cut above the rest.
New research is showing that people who count their blessings may find themselves sleeping better, exercising more and caring more about others. People who remind themselves of the things they are grateful for — people who count their blessings one by one, consciously, every day — show significant improvements in mental health, and even in some aspects of physical health. And these results appear to be true whether you are a healthy college student or an older person with an incurable disease, according to research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
It doesn’t seem to matter what you are grateful for, as long as you count your blessings. You can be appreciative of green grass, or generous friends, or loving family members, or pleasant elevator conversations. You can be thankful for the ability to fly home for Thanksgiving and get there safely, even if the trip becomes an adventure. Even in the midst of suffering, thankfulness is a primary source of healing.
In the story of the 10 lepers in Luke 17:11-19, the biggest surprise is that Leper No. 10 is revealed to be a Samaritan. This comes as a shock to most of Jesus’ followers, because they see Samaritans as low-life losers, second-class citizens, members of the wrong race, region and religion. The Samaritan is not a respectable member of the community at all.
He is the only one to count his blessings. And that, according to Jesus, makes all the difference. It showed Jesus that while the others had experienced the healing of their bodies, this fellow had found healing in his soul.
“Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” asks Jesus. Then he says to the Samaritan, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well” (vv. 18-19). Jesus slams the nine perfectly respectable lepers who went on their way without so much as a thank-you, the nine ungrateful lepers who felt that they somehow deserved to be healed, the nine self-centered lepers who had so much to do that they couldn’t take a nanosecond to return to Jesus and express their gratitude.
Charles L. Brown speculates on why only one cleansed leper return to thank Jesus:
One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy.
One said he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, “O, well, Jesus didn’t really do anything.”
One said, “Any rabbi could have done it.”
One said, “I was already much improved.”
“Your faith has made you well,” says Jesus to Leper No. 10. It’s not so much about the faith that asked for healing, but for the faith that returned to give thanks. After all, it’s a grateful faith — not a gimme faith — that saves us.
Leper No. 10 wanted some soul-healing, and it’s no doubt what most of us need today, and we’re not going to find it until we’re able to count our blessings.
So, what have you forgotten to say “thank-you” for today?
In this time of Thanksgiving, our challenge is to count our blessings — large and small, significant and silly — and to be grateful to the One who is the source of every good and gracious gift. We don’t deserve a thing, whether it’s green grass or mischievous kids or caring co-workers or healthy hearts, so our attitude toward each day should be absolutely thick with thanksgiving.
A recent Barna Research poll revealed that despite international tensions and domestic economic problems, nine out of 10 Americans are happy with their lives and say that their religious faith has a lot to do with it. Nine out of 10 Americans are happy, and they credit their faith. That’s an impressive statistic, but does it mean that nine out of 10 regularly turn to God and give thanks? Probably not. We may feel good about our lives, but we don’t always give credit where credit is due.
If we can remember to be grateful, we’ll find ourselves even healthier in body, mind and spirit. We’ll feel better about our lives, more optimistic about our prospects and more helpful toward people around us. After all, Jesus proclaimed it, and modern research confirms it — a grateful faith can make us well.
So, if you’re traveling for Thanksgiving—remember to be thankful on your way to and from the table. Every journey is an opportunity to express thanks to people we encounter. And even if you’re staying home, practice thankfulness as a spiritual discipline. I encourage you to take some time this week to thank the people in your family for what they mean to you. My guess is that your dinner will be a lot more thankful as a result!
But even more so, I encourage you to take some time to thank God. He’s the one who ultimately gives us everything. Without him, we’re going nowhere.
Source:
“Leper No. 10.” Homiletics. November 27, 2003.