Luke 17:11-19
As soon as we got through Halloween, the Christmas decorations came out, right? Where are all the shelves and shelves of decorations for Thanksgiving Day? Deer Day gets more press than Thanksgiving! We don’t exactly skip Thanksgiving. Most of us will spend the day with family and extended family. We’ll have a good time talking and eating and maybe watching football on TV. But how much of that time will really be focused sincerely on giving thanks to the Father God? Our Bible says, in James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
We owe him everything. And he gives us everything we need, all freely from his gracious hand, without obligation and knowing we can’t pay him back because anything we would offer to him came from him. The only thing we really have to offer him is our gratitude, expressed in worship of him and obedience to him.
When we come together for Thanksgiving, it is pretty typical that, during our time of prayer, we offer up prayers for the blessings that we enjoy in our lives. There are many prayers giving thanks for family, health, and love, but especially family relationships where love is obvious. Humans were designed by God to thrive in loving relationships, otherwise known as healthy community. Our community is the main source from which we draw our support and encouragement. When we are suffering, we turn to our community for comfort. Our celebrations are best when as many of the members of our community as possible can celebrate with us. When we grieve over loss, we bear it better when community comes along side and cries with us. That’s what makes a wake before a funeral so important. We aren’t attending the wake, or the funeral for that matter, for the person who has died, we attend for those who are still alive, who support us and see us through to another day, or maybe they need our support.
When we have children, we take pictures and we just can’t wait to show the latest addition off to everyone that we care about. And we hope that they care! We know that they will care and share our joy. Yes, we were made for community. Most of what we give thanks for focuses on community. And yet, even though we do correctly give thanks when we think about these things on Thanksgiving Day, on most days we tend to take these blessings for granted, as common place. As the saying goes, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” We don’t fully appreciate what we have here, because these things are never gone, never even can be, or so we think.
What if all of the life of community was stripped away? What if it was completely gone and you were forced to spend the rest of your life separated from all you love and care about? What if you never received another hug? What if you were never able to have another job? What if the only food that you received was something that was left in a certain spot, for you to retrieve only after your loved one was safely gone a distance away? What if you never felt the touch of another human being again in your entire life? There are people who have experienced it. This is the life of the leper of Jesus’ day.
Lepers had to stay separate from the community. Their disease was a serious one. Leprosy slowly destroys the nervous system of its victim so that the leper no longer has the sense of touch. The leper is no longer able to protect him or herself because he or she does not feel the pain of an injury. When they are burned, they don’t pull away. When their eyes are dry, they don’t blink. Thus, slowly, they lose their sight, their skin, their dignity and even their humanity. They had to be kept separate from the community so that no one else would catch this most dreaded disease.
In Jesus’ day, lepers would often carry a bell that they would ring when they saw other people approaching. They were required by law to call out, “unclean, unclean.” It was a selfless act of love expressed to protect a community that could no longer embrace them back.
In our story today, we meet not just one leper, but ten, who had obviously formed what little community they could among themselves. Interestingly enough, we learn that other barriers that may have been so important when they were healthy, such as whether they were Samaritan or Jew, were gone now. Leprosy is the great equalizer. They were together, on the fringe of society when Jesus happened along.
Can we do a little demo to make this story come alive perhaps? I would like ten volunteers to please come forward and stand in a row for me. Can I get any volunteers? Thank you. Let these perfectly healthy people represent the ten lepers for us. Let’s count and make sure we got ‘em. Just stand there for a while, please.
You have to wonder if they talked it over before they called out to Jesus. Were some of them doubting that Jesus would even care, while others had faith to at least ask? Did just one impulsive character call out to Jesus while the rest just, kind of, waited to see what would happen next? We will never know. God must not have thought that it was relevant to His story. What we do know is, Jesus was called upon.
He was addressed as, “Master!” This was a good start. They were being humble. And yet, what choice did they have, really? “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” They pegged it right. A life like theirs could only be pitied.
In answer, Jesus replied, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” But wait, Jesus didn’t do anything. In fact, it reads like he just sent them away. Brushed them off like anybody else would do. But there was probably some indication of his mercy and grace in the way he said it. I wish we had a recording. There can be so much meaning conveyed by the tone of voice. I mean, I can’t imagine Jesus spoke in an angry, disgusted tone. So, I believe they must have heard his compassion.
But still, no promises. No indication of anything like, “If you go to show yourselves to the priests, you will be healed by the time you get there.” That would have been nice and clear. But perhaps something about the way he said it conveyed to them that they should have faith that they would be healed by the time they got to the priests for the official pronouncement of their cleansing. Or, the command “Go show yourselves to the priests,” was Jesus’ pronouncement of their healing, because when a leper believed he was healed the law required him or her to go show the priests. So, in a way Jesus may have been saying, “You are already healed. Go show yourselves to the priests. The priestly examination would make it official.” Or perhaps they really did turn away feeling rejected. We don’t even know if when they turned to go they had decided to head for the priests.
We are not given any details about how the miracle took place. Did they walk along and get better and better, as they drew closer to Jerusalem? Did it happen all of a sudden? Did they notice the health of their companions and then look down at themselves and discover healthy skin where soars and blisters had made them ugly? Did they jump up and down for joy, slapping each other on their backs? We don’t know. They all walked away. Ok friends, you may go back to your seats now. We only know about one man, who suddenly realized that he had regained his health and his life and his community! This man turned and went back to present himself to the true high priest. (Here one of my ten volunteers, who was prepped before the service, did indeed come back and offer thanks.)
Jesus seemed amazed that only one person came back. He was disappointed, not because He wanted to bask in the glow of men groveling at his feet and thanking him profusely for the gift of life that had been given. No, he was sorry that there would be so little praise given up to God. “Were not all ten healed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” They had all evidently been cured, but only one praised God for the blessing that he had received. And being a Samaritan, he was the last one anyone in Jesus’ audience would have expected to do so well.
Then Jesus, the true high priest said to Him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” That was a priestly pronouncement. Jesus himself declared the man cleansed of his leprosy. And it shows too the role that gratitude plays in our spiritual health. We are not told what became of the other nine. Some traditions speculate that their leprosy returned to them again because they did not return to praise Jesus and give thanks. But we don’t know. What we do know is that the one who was filled with gratitude was said to be made well by his faith. But think of wellness not just in terms of physical health. Everything about him was now well and good. In wellness of spirit, he expressed his faith in Jesus when he gave thanks to Jesus for the work that God had done in healing him.
It’s good that we spend time, thanking God for all that we have received. The Lord inhabits the praises of His people. He enjoys us enjoying Him. It is His grief that more people don’t take the time to thank Him for all that we have received. Too many in this world are like the nine who are glad for what they have received for themselves, life such as it is without God, but they miss out on the fellowship with God. They may have healthy bodies, but they are still dead in spirit. They trudge back to the dullness of the law, hoping to earn their way to heaven through good works and religion. Or they ignore such things all together, convincing themselves they have only themselves to thank. They think that they’ve earned it all themselves and they have received what they deserve. Their thanks is shallow. They do not fully understand how blessed they truly are.
The Samaritan leper shows us the right way. “When he saw he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.” Have you seen that you are healed? The truth is, each of us before we met Christ to be cleansed by his blood, was actually much worse off than these lepers. They suffered a skin disease. But sinners suffer a disease that goes deep into the heart of human existence. And at the root of all sin is the root of ingratitude. Just imagine Adam and Eve in the Garden being grateful for all that God had given. If so, they would never have been tempted by the forbidden fruit. But the beginning of their temptation was when they stopped being grateful for what they already had and started wanting something more.
And still our sinful nature is so deeply ingrained in us that the Bible says, in Ecclesiastes 7:20, “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.” And as for our efforts to do good works apart from faith, the Bible says, in Isaiah 64:6, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”
Jesus came to cure us of that spiritual leprosy that otherwise keeps us far from God, who must put so great a distance between himself and sin that it must go as far as the east is from the west. If you will not be separated from your sins, then you must go with them, away from God! But thanks be to God, who through Jesus Christ has made a way for us to be set free from sin so that we can stay close to God, and in fact be drawn into his loving arms.
I hope you do remember that you were once in more trouble than any leper whose skin is rotting off. For you used to be rotten with sin, completely incurable, until by faith you accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior and he healed you of all your iniquity. Now, in that humble remembrance, give thanks to God for your bountiful blessings. Have you seen that you are healed? Worship the Lord, who healed you.
The Samaritan leper shows us the right way. Praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. Have you ever praised God in a loud voice? I mean besides singing the hymns or songs in worship, was there ever a moment in your life in which you really, deeply realized what God has done for you in Christ so that you could not contain your joy and gratitude? This salvation and spiritual healing you have received from Jesus is bigger than winning the biggest lottery! You can’t spend it away and it will last forever! It’s bigger than being cured of cancer and finding that you have the cure for cancer in a form that you can share for free with other cancer victims. What you actually have in Jesus Christ is way bigger than the cure for cancer. It is the cure for death! Honestly, is it that important to you? Can you fully realize that what I am saying about forgiveness and grace is absolutely true for you? How do you show your appreciation? Thank you Jesus!
Or are you more like the other nine lepers. They were healed too, cured of their disease. And we have good reason to believe that they were amazed and delighted at their new found health and freedom to return to normal society. But why didn’t they react the same way the one Samaritan leper did? Why didn’t they all run back together to praise God in a loud voice, throw themselves at Jesus feet and wordship him? What can explain the difference between the one and the other nine? Where is their enthusiasm? Where is there joy?
Could it be that they were congratulating themselves for finally getting their health back by asking the right person? Could it be that they were giving themselves some credit for the way they were asking? Maybe they were caught up with the idea that it’s about time that God got around to giving them what they deserved?
You see, those are ways that I believe a lot of Christians fail to realize just how much Jesus has done for them on the cross. We imagine that we are good enough or pretty good people and Jesus just cleans up the rest that we can’t take care of on our own. But we don’t think we need much salvation, just a little help. Or we have tried hard for a long time to be good Christians and so we give ourselves some credit for why Jesus would want to save us. We kind of think we deserve it, at least a little. Or, it’s even possible to take forgiveness for granted. Of course God forgives. It’s easy for him. So we can easily imagine that everybody gets saved eventually because God is too loving and kind to actually send anyone to hell. But that’s not what the Bible teaches.
In fact, I want to share with you a couple more verses out of Luke. These come right before the story of the Ten Lepers, and I think they add another important note of perspective. "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, `Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, `Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So, you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, `We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'"
God is our master. We are his servants. And it is true that God has no reason to thank us, for we not only are merely his unworthy servants. We also do not even do all that we are told to do. And yet, God our Heavenly Father has prepared a table for us. In the 23rd Psalm we are told that he prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. At the Lord’s Supper, Jesus does say `Come along now and sit down to eat'! He has done more to serve us than we ever can do for him! He, the master, also speaks as a servant saying, “Ask and you shall receive.” It ought to cause us to wonder how we can live for even a moment without feeling gratitude, for we are more than servants! We are the children of God! As it says in 1 John 3:1, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
The grateful Samaritan shows us the way. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. If you have any confidence that you will go to heaven when you die, any assurance of salvation, throw yourself at Jesus’ feet for it is the who has accomplished this for us! If today you are doubting your salvation, wonder if God is near, think maybe you have messed up and seem to be too far from God, throw yourself at Jesus’ feet! You are just one step away from his loving arms, for he is with you always.
As we give thanks this season perhaps it would be good for us to consider that compared to the glory, holiness and righteousness of God, we are all lepers, dead in our sins, diseased and separated from God by that disease. We can’t heal ourselves and get back into a right relationship with God. But God, through Jesus, is willing to offer us healing and life, to make us well, inside and out, body, soul and spirit. He loves us and is willing to heal us.
What we need to see is that when Jesus came to save us, we don’t really get the picture if we think of ourselves as drowning in sin but that Jesus throws us a life preserver to cling to. That’s not it. What Jesus has really done is to dive down to the depths of the ocean, drag a dead body out of the muck and mire, bring you to the dry land, breathe new life into you and command you to live! If we believe in what Jesus has done for us on the cross, if we believe that through Jesus we are granted eternal life with the forgiveness of sins, may God find us eternally grateful to him for such great grace. Amen.
As soon as we got through Halloween, the Christmas decorations came out, right? Where are all the shelves and shelves of decorations for Thanksgiving Day? Deer Day gets more press than Thanksgiving! We don’t exactly skip Thanksgiving. Most of us will spend the day with family and extended family. We’ll have a good time talking and eating and maybe watching football on TV. But how much of that time will really be focused sincerely on giving thanks to the Father God? Our Bible says, in James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
We owe him everything. And he gives us everything we need, all freely from his gracious hand, without obligation and knowing we can’t pay him back because anything we would offer to him came from him. The only thing we really have to offer him is our gratitude, expressed in worship of him and obedience to him.
When we come together for Thanksgiving, it is pretty typical that, during our time of prayer, we offer up prayers for the blessings that we enjoy in our lives. There are many prayers giving thanks for family, health, and love, but especially family relationships where love is obvious. Humans were designed by God to thrive in loving relationships, otherwise known as healthy community. Our community is the main source from which we draw our support and encouragement. When we are suffering, we turn to our community for comfort. Our celebrations are best when as many of the members of our community as possible can celebrate with us. When we grieve over loss, we bear it better when community comes along side and cries with us. That’s what makes a wake before a funeral so important. We aren’t attending the wake, or the funeral for that matter, for the person who has died, we attend for those who are still alive, who support us and see us through to another day, or maybe they need our support.
When we have children, we take pictures and we just can’t wait to show the latest addition off to everyone that we care about. And we hope that they care! We know that they will care and share our joy. Yes, we were made for community. Most of what we give thanks for focuses on community. And yet, even though we do correctly give thanks when we think about these things on Thanksgiving Day, on most days we tend to take these blessings for granted, as common place. As the saying goes, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” We don’t fully appreciate what we have here, because these things are never gone, never even can be, or so we think.
What if all of the life of community was stripped away? What if it was completely gone and you were forced to spend the rest of your life separated from all you love and care about? What if you never received another hug? What if you were never able to have another job? What if the only food that you received was something that was left in a certain spot, for you to retrieve only after your loved one was safely gone a distance away? What if you never felt the touch of another human being again in your entire life? There are people who have experienced it. This is the life of the leper of Jesus’ day.
Lepers had to stay separate from the community. Their disease was a serious one. Leprosy slowly destroys the nervous system of its victim so that the leper no longer has the sense of touch. The leper is no longer able to protect him or herself because he or she does not feel the pain of an injury. When they are burned, they don’t pull away. When their eyes are dry, they don’t blink. Thus, slowly, they lose their sight, their skin, their dignity and even their humanity. They had to be kept separate from the community so that no one else would catch this most dreaded disease.
In Jesus’ day, lepers would often carry a bell that they would ring when they saw other people approaching. They were required by law to call out, “unclean, unclean.” It was a selfless act of love expressed to protect a community that could no longer embrace them back.
In our story today, we meet not just one leper, but ten, who had obviously formed what little community they could among themselves. Interestingly enough, we learn that other barriers that may have been so important when they were healthy, such as whether they were Samaritan or Jew, were gone now. Leprosy is the great equalizer. They were together, on the fringe of society when Jesus happened along.
Can we do a little demo to make this story come alive perhaps? I would like ten volunteers to please come forward and stand in a row for me. Can I get any volunteers? Thank you. Let these perfectly healthy people represent the ten lepers for us. Let’s count and make sure we got ‘em. Just stand there for a while, please.
You have to wonder if they talked it over before they called out to Jesus. Were some of them doubting that Jesus would even care, while others had faith to at least ask? Did just one impulsive character call out to Jesus while the rest just, kind of, waited to see what would happen next? We will never know. God must not have thought that it was relevant to His story. What we do know is, Jesus was called upon.
He was addressed as, “Master!” This was a good start. They were being humble. And yet, what choice did they have, really? “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” They pegged it right. A life like theirs could only be pitied.
In answer, Jesus replied, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” But wait, Jesus didn’t do anything. In fact, it reads like he just sent them away. Brushed them off like anybody else would do. But there was probably some indication of his mercy and grace in the way he said it. I wish we had a recording. There can be so much meaning conveyed by the tone of voice. I mean, I can’t imagine Jesus spoke in an angry, disgusted tone. So, I believe they must have heard his compassion.
But still, no promises. No indication of anything like, “If you go to show yourselves to the priests, you will be healed by the time you get there.” That would have been nice and clear. But perhaps something about the way he said it conveyed to them that they should have faith that they would be healed by the time they got to the priests for the official pronouncement of their cleansing. Or, the command “Go show yourselves to the priests,” was Jesus’ pronouncement of their healing, because when a leper believed he was healed the law required him or her to go show the priests. So, in a way Jesus may have been saying, “You are already healed. Go show yourselves to the priests. The priestly examination would make it official.” Or perhaps they really did turn away feeling rejected. We don’t even know if when they turned to go they had decided to head for the priests.
We are not given any details about how the miracle took place. Did they walk along and get better and better, as they drew closer to Jerusalem? Did it happen all of a sudden? Did they notice the health of their companions and then look down at themselves and discover healthy skin where soars and blisters had made them ugly? Did they jump up and down for joy, slapping each other on their backs? We don’t know. They all walked away. Ok friends, you may go back to your seats now. We only know about one man, who suddenly realized that he had regained his health and his life and his community! This man turned and went back to present himself to the true high priest. (Here one of my ten volunteers, who was prepped before the service, did indeed come back and offer thanks.)
Jesus seemed amazed that only one person came back. He was disappointed, not because He wanted to bask in the glow of men groveling at his feet and thanking him profusely for the gift of life that had been given. No, he was sorry that there would be so little praise given up to God. “Were not all ten healed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” They had all evidently been cured, but only one praised God for the blessing that he had received. And being a Samaritan, he was the last one anyone in Jesus’ audience would have expected to do so well.
Then Jesus, the true high priest said to Him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” That was a priestly pronouncement. Jesus himself declared the man cleansed of his leprosy. And it shows too the role that gratitude plays in our spiritual health. We are not told what became of the other nine. Some traditions speculate that their leprosy returned to them again because they did not return to praise Jesus and give thanks. But we don’t know. What we do know is that the one who was filled with gratitude was said to be made well by his faith. But think of wellness not just in terms of physical health. Everything about him was now well and good. In wellness of spirit, he expressed his faith in Jesus when he gave thanks to Jesus for the work that God had done in healing him.
It’s good that we spend time, thanking God for all that we have received. The Lord inhabits the praises of His people. He enjoys us enjoying Him. It is His grief that more people don’t take the time to thank Him for all that we have received. Too many in this world are like the nine who are glad for what they have received for themselves, life such as it is without God, but they miss out on the fellowship with God. They may have healthy bodies, but they are still dead in spirit. They trudge back to the dullness of the law, hoping to earn their way to heaven through good works and religion. Or they ignore such things all together, convincing themselves they have only themselves to thank. They think that they’ve earned it all themselves and they have received what they deserve. Their thanks is shallow. They do not fully understand how blessed they truly are.
The Samaritan leper shows us the right way. “When he saw he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.” Have you seen that you are healed? The truth is, each of us before we met Christ to be cleansed by his blood, was actually much worse off than these lepers. They suffered a skin disease. But sinners suffer a disease that goes deep into the heart of human existence. And at the root of all sin is the root of ingratitude. Just imagine Adam and Eve in the Garden being grateful for all that God had given. If so, they would never have been tempted by the forbidden fruit. But the beginning of their temptation was when they stopped being grateful for what they already had and started wanting something more.
And still our sinful nature is so deeply ingrained in us that the Bible says, in Ecclesiastes 7:20, “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.” And as for our efforts to do good works apart from faith, the Bible says, in Isaiah 64:6, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”
Jesus came to cure us of that spiritual leprosy that otherwise keeps us far from God, who must put so great a distance between himself and sin that it must go as far as the east is from the west. If you will not be separated from your sins, then you must go with them, away from God! But thanks be to God, who through Jesus Christ has made a way for us to be set free from sin so that we can stay close to God, and in fact be drawn into his loving arms.
I hope you do remember that you were once in more trouble than any leper whose skin is rotting off. For you used to be rotten with sin, completely incurable, until by faith you accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior and he healed you of all your iniquity. Now, in that humble remembrance, give thanks to God for your bountiful blessings. Have you seen that you are healed? Worship the Lord, who healed you.
The Samaritan leper shows us the right way. Praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. Have you ever praised God in a loud voice? I mean besides singing the hymns or songs in worship, was there ever a moment in your life in which you really, deeply realized what God has done for you in Christ so that you could not contain your joy and gratitude? This salvation and spiritual healing you have received from Jesus is bigger than winning the biggest lottery! You can’t spend it away and it will last forever! It’s bigger than being cured of cancer and finding that you have the cure for cancer in a form that you can share for free with other cancer victims. What you actually have in Jesus Christ is way bigger than the cure for cancer. It is the cure for death! Honestly, is it that important to you? Can you fully realize that what I am saying about forgiveness and grace is absolutely true for you? How do you show your appreciation? Thank you Jesus!
Or are you more like the other nine lepers. They were healed too, cured of their disease. And we have good reason to believe that they were amazed and delighted at their new found health and freedom to return to normal society. But why didn’t they react the same way the one Samaritan leper did? Why didn’t they all run back together to praise God in a loud voice, throw themselves at Jesus feet and wordship him? What can explain the difference between the one and the other nine? Where is their enthusiasm? Where is there joy?
Could it be that they were congratulating themselves for finally getting their health back by asking the right person? Could it be that they were giving themselves some credit for the way they were asking? Maybe they were caught up with the idea that it’s about time that God got around to giving them what they deserved?
You see, those are ways that I believe a lot of Christians fail to realize just how much Jesus has done for them on the cross. We imagine that we are good enough or pretty good people and Jesus just cleans up the rest that we can’t take care of on our own. But we don’t think we need much salvation, just a little help. Or we have tried hard for a long time to be good Christians and so we give ourselves some credit for why Jesus would want to save us. We kind of think we deserve it, at least a little. Or, it’s even possible to take forgiveness for granted. Of course God forgives. It’s easy for him. So we can easily imagine that everybody gets saved eventually because God is too loving and kind to actually send anyone to hell. But that’s not what the Bible teaches.
In fact, I want to share with you a couple more verses out of Luke. These come right before the story of the Ten Lepers, and I think they add another important note of perspective. "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, `Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, `Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So, you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, `We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'"
God is our master. We are his servants. And it is true that God has no reason to thank us, for we not only are merely his unworthy servants. We also do not even do all that we are told to do. And yet, God our Heavenly Father has prepared a table for us. In the 23rd Psalm we are told that he prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. At the Lord’s Supper, Jesus does say `Come along now and sit down to eat'! He has done more to serve us than we ever can do for him! He, the master, also speaks as a servant saying, “Ask and you shall receive.” It ought to cause us to wonder how we can live for even a moment without feeling gratitude, for we are more than servants! We are the children of God! As it says in 1 John 3:1, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
The grateful Samaritan shows us the way. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. If you have any confidence that you will go to heaven when you die, any assurance of salvation, throw yourself at Jesus’ feet for it is the who has accomplished this for us! If today you are doubting your salvation, wonder if God is near, think maybe you have messed up and seem to be too far from God, throw yourself at Jesus’ feet! You are just one step away from his loving arms, for he is with you always.
As we give thanks this season perhaps it would be good for us to consider that compared to the glory, holiness and righteousness of God, we are all lepers, dead in our sins, diseased and separated from God by that disease. We can’t heal ourselves and get back into a right relationship with God. But God, through Jesus, is willing to offer us healing and life, to make us well, inside and out, body, soul and spirit. He loves us and is willing to heal us.
What we need to see is that when Jesus came to save us, we don’t really get the picture if we think of ourselves as drowning in sin but that Jesus throws us a life preserver to cling to. That’s not it. What Jesus has really done is to dive down to the depths of the ocean, drag a dead body out of the muck and mire, bring you to the dry land, breathe new life into you and command you to live! If we believe in what Jesus has done for us on the cross, if we believe that through Jesus we are granted eternal life with the forgiveness of sins, may God find us eternally grateful to him for such great grace. Amen.
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