A story from Luke 17.
Some people are ungrateful. This past week on the "X-Factor", many people thought Astro was ungrateful. The 15-year-old was so upset to be in the bottom two, he at first refused to sing. He was lectured by Simon Cowell about being ungrateful for the opportunities the show afforded him. But was Astro really ungrateful?
Writer Paul Westervelt retells a familiar story from
Luke 17 that happened as Jesus neared Jerusalem, as the time of his crucifixion was drawing near.
Each one of the ten had a tale of personal horror to tell, but the stories were all the same. The nightmare had crept slowly across their bodies: white patches, lumps in the skin. Then the numbness had crawled up their limbs, stealing the strength from muscles and the feeling from fingers and toes. Finally, their faces had grown disfigured beyond recognition, their hands had stiffened into claws, and all that remained of their feet were crippled nubs.
Worst of all were the jeers from the children whenever the men passed too near a village. "Lepers!" they screamed, spitting the word like a curse. "Come too close, and we'll stone your ugly faces!"
So long ago, these ten had been young and handsome, healthy and well-to-do, full of desires and dreams. But that seemed like another world, another lifetime. Now they were the walking dead.
One morning, as they approached yet another village to beg, they heard the children shouting once more. But this time there were no jeers. Instead the crowds were cheering the name that for months had spread like a whispered wildfire through the leper colony. "Jesus."
The leper-healer from Nazareth stood by the village well, not far from the twisted outcasts. And he was looking their way. All at once, ten hoarse voices erupted in unison saying, "Jesus! Master! Have pity on us!"
Jesus smiled-- the first smile turned in their direction for many years-- and said simply, "Go show yourselves to the priests."
He hadn't come close, hadn't even touched them. The ten examined one another. Clearly, nothing had changed. Were they once again the butt of a cruel joke? One of them, a Samaritan, turned back to the road, set his face toward Jerusalem and the temple, and motioned for his comrades to join him. "If the priests throw me out," he said, "then let the crowds stone me. What's left to live for?"
He hobbled down the dusty path, his crutch making holes in the scorched clay. And as the others followed, less in faith than in desperation, the miracle came. They were cleansed. Suddenly. Totally. Unconditionally.
Nine men shouted and raced down the road like boys in a game, peeling off their rags to welcome the sunshine on their now childlike skin. They never even looked back, never saw again the face whose light had dawned on their darkness and ended their nightmare. But one man-- the Samaritan-- spun around, ran to Jesus, and flung himself at his feet. Tears spilled down cleansed cheeks. He looked up, trembling, and whispered two words.
"Thank you." (Source: Paul Westervelt, pages (1993; 2006). Discipleship Journal, Issue 78 (November/December 1993). NavPress.)
Luke 17 is a story of thanksgiving.
This is such a compelling story, but is this story about ingratitude? And were the nine other lepers really ungrateful? Before you say yes, consider this. Author Oscar Smith describes the lepers' condition.
They were homeless outcasts who were forced to live in an isolated camp outside the village. Lepers were required by law to stay at least one hundred paces, 200-300 feet, away from all others. When people walked by, they had to cry out, "Unclean, unclean!"
Depending on how long they'd had leprosy, some had lost fingers, toes, ears, teeth, arms, and noses. Their flesh was raw and rotting. The the stench and sight was unbearable. These men begged, scrounged, and ate food that others would not even look at. They probably lived out of the garbage dumps.
Yet what had to torment these outcasts most of all was the haunting memories of loved ones they had to leave behind when the priest pronounced them lepers. They lost loving wives and laughing, adoring children who once romped with them. They lost homes, careers, respect, and all hope of usefulness.
Yet now they were camped outside this unnamed village, leading a bleak, lonely existence of unspeakable shame and sorrow. (Continue reading on Examiner.com Chaplain Oscar Asks Where Are The Nine? - Nashville home safety | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/home-safety-in-nashville/chaplain-oscar-asks-where-are-the-nine#ixzz1eDaKrVYP)
I'll bet that if you tracked down those nine lepers and asked them if they were grateful for what Jesus had done, they would have said, "You bet we are!"
In his book "Following Christ", R.C. Sproul points out that the issue in the story is not one of gratitude, but of thanksgiving. "It is one thing to feel grateful; it is another thing to express it. Lepers were cut off from family and friends. Instant cleansing meant release from exile. We can imagine them deliriously happy, rushing home to embrace their wives and children, to announce their healing. Who would not be grateful? But only one of them postponed his return home and took time to give thanks." (Source: Sproul, R. (1996). Following Christ. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.)
Only one of the lepers came back to give thanks.
Notice how
Luke 17:15-16 (NIV) reads.
"One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him-- and he was a Samaritan."
And notice Jesus' response in
Luke 17:17-19 (NIV).
"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.' "
The nine were sure enough grateful, but in their gratitude they didn't come back, they didn't praise God, they didn't throw themselves at the feet of Jesus, and they didn't give thanks. This is the problem with our Thanksgiving celebrations. We're grateful, but do we give thanks? Do we return to God? Do we celebrate his grace? Do we verbally praise God before others? Do we throw ourselves at Christ's feet, acknowledging him as the source of life?
I'll bet that if you went out this morning and interviewed people on the street about whether they were grateful this Thanksgiving, you would hear a resounding, "Yes!" But gratitude isn't the issue. Giving thanks is the issue. Giving praise is the issue.
We need to praise and glorify God.
When Paul explains the nature of godlessness and wickedness in
Romans 1:21 he describes that although people know God, they neither glorify him as God nor give thanks to him. But instead, their thinking becomes futile and in
Romans 1:25 they worship and serve created things rather than their creator, who is forever praised.
How quickly the nine busied themselves with the stuff of life after being healed. They never returned to the one who made that life possible. Such is the essence of godlessness. It's gratitude without repentance, without worship, without praise, and without embracing God as the creator, giver, and sustainer of life!
There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, "If I could only see the world, I will marry you."
One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend. He asked her, "Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?" The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at those eyes the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.
Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying, "Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine."
The whole premise of thanksgiving is giving thanks. It's acknowledging the gift. It's giving praise. When I told Lara that story, she asked me if it was a true story. I told her that of course, it is not true. I mean, what guy is going to have his eyes cut out for some chick? Right? Just keeping it real here.
Jesus gave up his life to save your life and mine.
But I will tell you what is true. When Jesus healed the ten lepers he was well on his way to Jerusalem, where he would be betrayed by his friend Judas, be handed over to the chief priests, and appointed to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus didn't just give up his eyes, he gave up his very life to save our your life and mine. Are we grateful? Probably. But here is the question. Have we returned to Christ? Do we now exist for the praise of his glory? With loud voices, do we shout thanks to our creator for all to hear?
Galatians 2:20 (NIV) says,
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Ephesians 5:1-2 (NIV) says,
"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
Titus 2:11-14 (NIV) says,
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-- the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."
Remember a few weeks ago when I told the story of Jonah? Look what Jonah says to God in Jonah 2:7-9 (NIV) when he is saved from death. "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."
What is your response to God's gift?
What is your response to God's gift? There are many, perhaps it's 90% of folks, who gaze upon Christ's broken body and shed blood and resolve never to return to him for salvation. They resolve to never believe.
But what will your response be? The earliest believers didn't practice communion. They practiced thanksgiving. And they did it every time they gathered. They wanted to be like that one leper. They returned to honor Christ with their thanks.
1 Corinthians 10:16 (NIV) asks,
"Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?"
2 Corinthians 4:15 (NIV) says,
"All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God."