Giving Thanks to God

October 14, 2007
Luke 17:11-19

Jesus asked "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

Jesus asks that question as if he was surprised, as if he had expected them all to return and give thanks. "Where are they? Why didn't they come back to me and say thank you?" Jesus had indeed healed all ten lepers by his almighty power, but the one who returned was completely healed in body and soul, because of his faith. He was the one who saw in Jesus something very special and had faith that Jesus was the Savior.

Why didn't the others return? They were Jews who believed in God, but they took their religion completely different, as if God was their servant, rather than they being servants of God. It is like when we go to the bank to get money out of the ATM machine. It is our money in the bank. When the ATM gives us our money we do not say "thank you" to the machine. After all, it was our money that we received, therefore no gratitude is shown to the machine. The nine lepers were the same. They thought that Jesus was just like a device to give out healing. God owed this mercy to them. Jesus was like a machine to dispense healing. They could go to the priests and show themselves, they would say the ritual prayers with the priests to thank God for the healing. But they did not thank Jesus because they did not have faith in him as the Messiah. They did not show any gratitude to Jesus because they thought that the healing was what God owed them. They saw no mercy. They did not see the love of God. They took their religion mechanically. God was just their machine to dispense health and money and happiness.

You and I are not lepers with deadly sin diseases. But we are not all well. We have our sicknesses of body and mind and soul. Like the lepers, we cry out to Jesus, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" We pray for healing and help. We call upon the Name of the Lord our God in the time of trouble. But after we are healed, do we give thanks? Do we think that Jesus had to heal us? Do we forget that we are sinners that deserve no mercy? Are we so forgetful that we forget our old problems and the One who helped us? Yes.

We are all like children who forget how much we needed our parents when we were little. We forget how they took care of us and raised us. We feel that our parents did what they were obliged to do. Then when we get older we think of our parents as a nuisance. Likewise, we forget how God has created us and given us life. We forget how he has blessed us and given us our daily bread and all that we need for this life. Then in our sinfulness, we think God is a nuisance that is trying to destroy our fun. We either forget about God or we forget to give him thanks for life. Or we think that it is the duty of God to give us what we demand as if he were a machine. Our prayers are like an unlimited debit card. We feel that God is obligated to give what we want, and like a machine, no gratitude is necessary.

People had no gratitude for Jesus. He spoke the Good News. He comforted the sad people, he healed the sick, he even raised the dead. But most people had no gratitude. It came to the point that they arrested him and hung him on the cross. Now Jesus was the one who needed mercy. He cried out to his Father in heaven, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? My God, My God, why have your forsaken me?" He became worse than a leper, he became the greatest sinner in the world, with all the sin of the world upon himself. He cried out for salvation, not just for himself, but for us, too. "God have mercy!" And God did have mercy. It was through the death and resurrection of Jesus that God had mercy on us, forgiving our sin and giving us salvation.

Easter joy is the joy of gratitude. We thank God that Jesus arose and we thank God that we too shall rise. Our thanksgiving becomes thanks-living as we live in gratitude towards God. In other words, we live a life of faith that knows where our health and salvation come from.

The one leper who returned was the Samaritan. We are like him. We are not Jews, but foreigners. And maybe this is why our praise and thanksgiving are so great. We know that God is not obligated to help us. We know that it is by pure mercy and grace and love that God saves us. In Baptism we are washed of our sin. In the Lord's Supper we remember our salvation and give thanks and praise for that salvation.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church