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Have you ever been tempted to, or yielded to the
temptation to send someone a card intended for a different purpose?
For instance, have you ever sent a sympathy card to someone
celebrating that 40th birthday? I have to admit, on more
than one occasion I have been known to cross out the “Happy Birthday”
and write something else. If I like the card and it seems
appropriate, the occasion just needs to be altered.
This morning we begin a series of sermons entitled, Giving
Thanks. It goes along with our Stewardship Theme for 2008.
In these weeks we will talk about thank you cards, thank you notes,
and thank you gifts. The series is designed to remind us of the
importance of rendering thanks to God. But as I was looking through
the scriptures for today, I felt the need to shop for a card in a
different section of the greeting cards. Listen to this passage found
in Luke 17:11-19 and see what kind of card seems most appropriate to
you. Hear now the Word of the Lord:
11On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the
region between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he entered a
village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13they
called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show
yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean.
15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned
back, praising God with a loud voice. 16He prostrated
himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.
17Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the
other nine, where are they? 18Was none of them found to
return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19Then
he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you
well.”
The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to
God. In this passage Luke reported to his readers the life
changing power of gratitude.
Imagine searching for the right Thank You card
related to this passage of scripture. That’s what I started to do in
preparation for this sermon. However, the more I looked at this
story, the more I found myself in the section of Get Well
cards. So I begin this series of sermons on Giving Thanks by saying,
“Get Well Soon.”
All Who Are Hurting – Get Well Soon
These ten lepers were hurting and had been hurting for
quite some time. Leprosy was a blanket diagnosis given to everyone
who needed a dermatologist. Today’s eczema was yesterday’s leprosy.
Most of the time the leprosy of the Bible days was less severe and
life threatening than were the social and spiritual ramifications.
Those who were marked as lepers had to live outside of the community
and cry aloud, “Unclean! Unclean!” wherever they went. People were
afraid of them and afraid of the isolation that was only one contact
away. They were in deep need and while keeping the necessary distance
from Jesus and his entourage cried out, “Have mercy! Please have
mercy.” Virtus Gideon, a New Testament scholar, wrote in his
commentary that the cry “was like an animal might howl because of the
light of the moon.” Their hurt was deep and their need was great.
Last week I spoke to you about some of the adventures that 24 of us
had a couple of weeks ago in Tamazunchale, Mexico. One of the amazing
experiences was distributing food, clothing, and toys to the remote
mountain villages. Walking up to Huichapa we had the feeling that we
were the only ones on the mountain, but when we began to address needs
by carrying bags of food, handfuls of toys, and arms of clothing we
saw the mountain come alive with people. Their needs were great and
they extended hands to receive that which we were able to bring. Two
days later over two hundred children lined up in Tenextitla to receive
one toy per person.
The needs were great, but one doesn’t have to travel to the remote
mountains of central Mexico to discover the breadth and depth of human
needs. Physical and material needs can be seen in our own communities
and counties. Every month we receive more calls for financial
assistance than we have funds to provide for these real needs. There
are other needs that are more difficult to identify: The need for
community by the outsider (like the Samaritan we meet in this story),
the need for meaning from the ones drifting through life with
unexpressed questions, the need for forgiveness. There are so many
who come into this sanctuary hurting every Sunday and no one even
knows. I invite you to breathe the prayer that these ten cried out,
“”Jesus, Master, have mercy.” I say to all who are hurting –
get well soon.
All Who Are Healed – Get Well Soon
Jesus had mercy on the ten. He sent them to
the priests where their healing would be certified and they would be
allowed to return to their communities. The priests did not have the
power to heal, but they did have the authority to diagnose someone as
clean or unclean. So the ten went on their way, and they were
healed. Every one of them was cured of their leprosy, but only one of
them sought Jesus out to say, “Thank you.” Apparently he did not even
make it to the priest. Somewhere along the journey he looked down and
saw the splotchy, discolored skin return to a smooth, even texture.
He raced back to Jesus, threw himself at Jesus’ feet, and said, “Thank
you.” I have often wondered about the other nine. They seemed to
treat this miracle as casually as one responds to a coffee refill at
the Kettle.
I am a huge fan of the Kettle. Zac and I go
there for a late breakfast every Saturday that we get the chance. One
of the challenges I have at a restaurant like that is to see if I can
drink an entire cup of coffee before someone comes by to refill my
cup. It seldom happens. I have a theory about wait staff. The
cheaper the restaurant the more attentive the waitresses and waiters
tend to be. The waitress at the Kettle is asking, “Do you need more
coffee, sugar? Can I refill your water, hon? Can I get you anything,
babe?” I never get that at the fancier restaurants. In fact, I
usually have to get their attention and begin by saying, “I’m sorry to
be a bother, but could I get a sip of water for my parched throat?”
In either case I try to say thank you to those who refill my water,
get me more coffee, or tend to any of my numerous needs and wants.
But I am not always quick enough. Sometimes I am in the middle of a
story or was looking elsewhere. This is what seems to be happening in
this story, except it is not a warm up of their coffee that they just
experienced. It is physical healing, it is a divine miracle, and they
just seem to go right on with their story. Leon Morris wrote,
“Apparently the nine were so absorbed in their new happiness that they
could not spare a thought for its source.”
This is not as uncommon as one would think. I wonder
how many times God has done something extraordinary in our lives and
we become so accustomed to God’s goodness that we barely even remember
it in our prayers at the end of the day. I can’t even begin to tell
you how many times God has met a need in my life at just the right
moment, but it has happened a lot. Leon Morris wrote, “If people do
not give thanks quickly, they usually do not do so at all.” Such was
the case with the other nine, and I am afraid it has been the case
with me more than once. What about you? Do you thank God for all
that God has done for you? This is why I say to all who are healed –
get well soon.
All Who Want to be Whole – Get Well Soon
Look at the words Luke used for what happened on this
road somewhere between Galilee and Samaria. He begins with the word,
clean. Verse 14 reads, “And as they went, they were made clean.”
Then he used the word, healed. Verse 15 says, “Then one of them,
when he saw that he was healed.” Finally, and only to the one who
had returned to give thanks, he used the word, well. Jesus said to
the man in verse 19, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has
made you well.” Have you ever thought about this? He was already
cleansed from his leprosy. All ten of them had experienced that. He
was already healed. That is what caused him to turn around. He did
not need to wait for it to be certified by a priest. Yet, it wasn’t
until he found himself at the feet of Jesus, that he was declared
“well”. The King James Version reads, “thy faith hath made thee
whole”. One scholar wrote, “This man was not merely cured of his
bodily sickness, but saved in the fullest sense of the word.” Another
wrote, “He was saved from the worse leprosy of thanklessness and
superstitious ignorance.”
Two weeks ago as I was preaching in Tamazunchale, we
had a prayer time after the service. A young couple came forward for
prayer and Katie Shannon and I began to pray for them as Jodie Singer
translated for us. Praying through an interpreter was harder for me
than preaching through one. Yet, after the prayer I looked up and saw
Melani weeping with tears streaming down her face. I did not ask her
about what was going on. However, two nights later she shared her
story with Katie. She had been coming to church for a while and a few
months ago she really got it. She found herself wanting to know this
Jesus about whom everyone was singing. She said ever since that
prayer she finds herself often weeping in worship. Her cup is
overflowing, her heart is full, her soul is being made whole. That is
what I saw in her eyes - a longing to be made whole and the Savior
once again answering her prayer. The more she thanks him, the more
her heart is filled.
Nothing binds one more closely to Christ than sincere
gratitude. On the other hand, Virtus Gideon wrote, “Nothing does more
to frustrate one’s stewardship of life than the sin of ingratitude.
The question, ‘Where are the other nine?’ remains pertinent of our
society.”
So we begin this series on Giving Thanks by saying,
Get Well Soon.
o
All who are
hurting – get well soon
o
All who are
healed – get well soon
o
All who want
to be whole – get well soon
How do we get well? We begin right where the Samaritan
leper in our story began, just say, “Thank you”. Take time this week
to give God thanks for all that God has done in your life and for all
that God is in your life. Begin reflecting on ways that you can
express your gratitude and watch the positive change that moves you
from healing to wholeness. Just say, “Thank you” and get
well soon. Amen. |
