Sermon archive

This blog contains sermons listed by date, Bible passage and title

Name:
Location: Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States

Sunday, October 14, 2007

20th Sunday after Pentecost 1014/07 Text: Luke 17:11-19 Title: Gratitude=blessings

20th Sunday after Pentecost
10/14/2007
Text: Luke 17:11-19
Title: Gratitude=Blessings

When you read the Gospel lesson for this morning the main focus of the story appears to be on the lepers and their response to Jesus healing them. We are happy that at least one came back while at the same time we are not too happy with the response of the other 9 ungrateful ex-lepers.
We all have this natural sinful tendency to look down our self-righteous noses, for none of us would have done what they did. To have such a dreadful disease that cuts you off from your family, from society itself is terrible and then to not thank the one that healed you. Well it is just unthinkable. We certainly would not have done what they did.
You would think that, but how many times have you really stopped in your busy life to thank Jesus. How many Sundays have I stood in front of you at the beginning of the worship service, where we have come together as a community to hear his words to us, to take part in his supper, to sing hymns, and, yes, to thank him for all we have done, and not gotten one request to thank God for something he had done during the week?
You see deep down we are much more like those 9 ex-lepers than the 1 grateful ex-leper. Let us look at the story and see what we can learn from it, for the focus is not on the lepers, but Jesus. We see that Jesus healed them and then told them to go show themselves to the priest. This had to be done, for it was the only way for them to be declared clean. It was a religious law and had to be followed for them to be allowed back into society.
We are told that 9 of the ex-lepers did not return to thank Jesus. That sounds pretty bad but think for a moment what you would do if you had a terrible disease and a person told you that if you went to a certain doctor you would be healed and you were. What would you do? Would you go back first to thank the person who recommended the doctor or would you rush home to tell your family and friends you were healed, or would you try to find the person that recommended the doctor before you went home?
I would wager that you would head for home first with the intention of thanking the person later. I don’t think the 9 ex-lepers were any different, for their disease had literally separated them from their loved ones. I think they would be more inclined to go home first than we would. You also need to remember that Jesus did not tell them to come back. They just did what he told them.
We will never know in our lifetime why they did not come back, but we can look at ourselves to see why we do not thank Jesus as we should. You would think we would thank Jesus more, for we are taught from a very early age certain basic courtesies. We are taught to say “please” when we ask for something and “thank you” when we receive something.
As time goes on, these practices become so much a part of our daily routine that we do them without thinking about them. Someone opens a door for us and we mutter “Thanks” as we rush by. A server in a restaurant brings us a second cup of coffee and we smile and say, “Thank you.” A coworker shares some homemade brownies with everyone in the office and we all say without thinking, “Thank you.”
But there is no place for that type of thank you in the act of worship, for saying “Thank you” in worship takes on a far more profound meaning. In worship the words are addressed to God, and their purpose is to express gratitude for life itself.
Beyond any particular blessing or gift we think we may have received from God, our very existence is God’s gift. And our proper response to him is to always give thanks to him for that gift.
When you go to the end of our reading, that part where we are told in verse 19 Jesus said, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” it can be confusing, for it appears that there is a strong possibility that the other 9 lepers got their disease back, but then again remember, they did what Jesus told them to do. He did not tell them to come back, but to only show themselves to the priest. So it cannot be that.
Now at first glance after reading the last 3 verses of the text you would think that the ex-leper’s healing depended on his coming back to thank Jesus. It makes sense, for Jesus did not declare him well until he thanked him, so it must have had something to do with his thank you.
But that is not right for what Jesus said to him in verse 17 in the Greek does not mean physical healing as it did in the earlier verses. The word that we translate in English as “your faith has made you well” is actually, “The faith that I have given you has saved you from the hostile spirits,” or as we might say saved you from the devil. Jesus told the ex-leper you are now completely healed, both physically and spiritually.
It was not the ex-leper’s coming back that was the cause of Jesus healing him, for God’s gift of grace on behalf of Jesus is not in response to any particular exercise of faith.
All, and it is an important all, the lone ex-leper’s expression of gratitude did was to bring him back to where he could receive an additional healing, the healing of his soul. He was now, for the first time in his life, made whole.
You might be thinking, “That is well and good for the ex-leper, but I do not have leprosy. I have “whatever”. Put what it is that you are suffering from in the whatever. What can I learn from this reading of God’s holy words so that I too can experience this whole healing?”
Well that is a good question and one that needs to be answered, for there is no doubt in my mind that we miss much of the blessings that God wants to give us, in fact has given us, because we are as a rule not a thankful people.
Let me tell you what I mean by that. I am afraid that too many times we only focus on the life after death part of the Gospel, and since we are dead yet, we frankly have a hard time seeing the benefit of Jesus’ saving work in our immediate lives. It does not really grab us.
And in doing so we miss what his wonderful gift of salvation means to us not only in terms of life after death, but also life in the face of death. In other words, the gift of Jesus in our lives creates for us an opportunity to become whole human beings while we live on this earth.
The grace of God at work in the presence of Christ provides an opportunity for us to overcome whatever scars or baggage we may be carrying. There are many things that come to us as human beings that have the power to bruise our souls; betrayals, disappointments, failures, injuries, and life threatening diseases. All of those things have the power to marginalize us, just like the lepers, to one degree or another.
The message of God’s love as it is presented in the life of Jesus, and in this particular story is an invitation from Jesus to have those bruises healed and have our lives made whole.
And while our gratitude, our thanksgiving does not cause God to have mercy on us, it does put us into the position of receiving God’s complete healing of body and soul. Whatever difficulty or suffering or failure you may have endured, or are enduring, the awareness that Jesus on that bloody cross has made you whole should provoke in you deep feelings of thanksgiving.
This recognition of God’s goodness even in the midst of pain and alienation may come in a worship service or in a moment of private devotion. It might come at the hand of a friend who reaches out to you in care and love. It might happen as you make yourself to someone else in need. It may come in a still small voice in the dark of night.
However it happens, when it happens, when you have truly come to the realization of God’s love for you and his desire for you to be whole and healed, your response will be one of gratitude.
Unlike the basic courtesy of saying “thank you” when someone does some act of kindness, gratitude expressed to God becomes part of the process of healing us and making us whole, for it is then and only then that we know who we are. That leads us to make those changes in our life that God desires.
Don’t be like those nine ungrateful ex-lepers who, might have, as this poem states, missed out on the complete healing that God so wants to give you.
The Remorse of Nine Ungrateful Lepers
Luke 17:11–19
“I meant to go back, but you may guess
I was filled with amazement I cannot express
To think that after those horrible years,
That passion of loathing and passion of fears,
By sores unendurable—eaten, defiled—
My flesh was as smooth as the flesh of a child.
I was drunken with joy; I was crazy with glee;
I scarcely could walk and I scarcely could see,
For the dazzle of sunshine where all had been black;
But I meant to go back, Oh, I meant to go back!
I had thought to return, when my people came out,
There were tears of rejoicing and laughter and shout;
My cup was so full I seemed nothing to lack—
But I meant to go back, Oh, I meant to go back!”

Praise be to God, the Father who created us, the Son who redeemed us,
the Holy Spirit who keeps us in the faith. Amen

Osbeck, K. W. (1982). 101 hymn stories. Includes music and index. (56). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications.