Sunday Sermon 10-10-10

Sermon # 1011
Luke 17:11-19
Dr. Ed Pettus

“A Life Infused With Gratitude”

Wayne Mueller shares this thought on gratitude from his book on the Sabbath:

“Meister Echhart, the Christian mystic, asserted that if the only prayer we ever prayed our whole life was ‘Thank you,’ that would be enough. Gratefulness cultivates a visceral [intuitive] experience of having enough. When we are mindful of what we have, and give thanks for the many gifts we have overlooked or forgotten, our sense of wealth cannot help but expand, and we soon achieve a sense of sufficiency we so desire. Practice thanksgiving before meals, upon rising, when going to sleep. Friends, family, food, color, fragrance, the earth, life itself – these are all gifts, perfectly gratuitous. How can we not give thanks? During Sabbath time we are less concerned with what is missing, focusing instead on sharing our gratefulness for what has already been given” (Sabbath, p. 128).

Karl Barth, one of the greatest theologians of modern times, emphasized that the basic human response to God is gratitude, more so than fear and trembling, more than guilt or dread, our greatest response is thanksgiving (from Feasting on the Word, Yr.C, vol. 4, 165).
The Psalms give testimony to this as well. The Psalter ends with several Psalms that do nothing more than praise and thank God. This may be a sign to how an obedient life is completed – praise the Lord! This is how the cleansed leper from Samaria returns to Jesus, glorifying God and giving thanks to Jesus.

Our gospel story today has Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. Back in Luke 9 Jesus “sets his face toward Jerusalem”. He has begun the journey to fulfill God’s will and this story is along the way of that journey. He is somewhere between Samaria and Galilee. He enters a village, no name is given, no more information, but as he enters the village a group approaches, lepers, those afflicted with a skin disease. The story says they kept their distance. By Jewish law they were required to keep their distance. Leviticus 13:45-46 tells us: “The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.”

It was an isolated existence – the only companionship was with other lepers. The isolation itself may have been more painful than the actual disease. We may not even be able to imagine what that life was like. Image no more contact with family or friends, no interaction with your community, no buying or selling in the market, no “Hi, how are you?” with strangers. Instead you have to keep your distance and cry out “unclean” any time you came close to someone.

We might experience that for a short time if we are quarantined in the hospital with some illness, but rarely for a lifetime. It is so unpleasant to have to stay away from others – like when we have a cold or flu, we have to separate ourselves or we separate our children so that no one else will catch whatever virus is making the rounds. Isolation from others is painful emotionally and physically.
Imagine that feeling of isolation compounded by the fact that there is no hope of ever coming back to family or church – never fitting into society again. Instead, you are cast out to live untouched by others with a few who suffer the same disorder. That is what lepers faced in the first century – total isolation from society, from family and friends. Torn from their lifestyles of work and play, torn from the physical touch of spouse and children. Ten lepers met Jesus at this village and this time they called out to Jesus: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (13)

They know who Jesus is. They know that he is the one who can and will show mercy upon them. The first request, the first act of faith is to ask for mercy. Mercy, in this case, means healing. Mercy means recognizing them and their condition. Mercy means seeing them, really seeing them – and Jesus does see them. When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’

Just as the lepers had followed the Leviticus code that kept them out of normal society, so Jesus follows the law of Leviticus here.

Leviticus 14:1-9 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2This shall be the ritual for the leprous person at the time of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest; 3the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall make an examination. If the disease is healed in the leprous person, 4the priest shall command that two living clean birds and cedarwood and crimson yarn and hyssop be brought for the one who is to be cleansed. 5The priest shall command that one of the birds be slaughtered over fresh water in an earthen vessel. 6He shall take the living bird with the cedarwood and the crimson yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water. 7He shall sprinkle it seven times upon the one who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease; then he shall pronounce him clean, and he shall let the living bird go into the open field. 8The one who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, but shall live outside his tent seven days. 9On the seventh day he shall shave all his hair: of head, beard, eyebrows; he shall shave all his hair. Then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.

This was the plan for the ten lepers as Jesus tells them to go to the priests. Go and show yourselves; the priests would examine them and see that they were healed and go through this ritual cleansing. They are certainly being faithful to the Jewish law, first in keeping their distance from Jesus and then keeping the law of ritual cleansing.

So the lepers go as Jesus commands:
(Luke 17:14-18) And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’


The first act of faith for the lepers was to seek mercy and now the second is to return thanks – to say “thank you”. But only one returns, only one comes back. Jesus responds to the first act and sends the lepers to the priests for cleansing. The second act of faith is returning to Jesus to give thanks, to offer gratitude. As Meister Echhart asserts, when we are grateful we are cultivating an intuitive experience of plenty, of enough, of satisfaction, of healing and wholeness. Like the lepers we are so enamored by the experience of healing and wholeness that we cannot help but return to praise and give thanks. C. S. Lewis “observed the connection between gratitude and personal well-being. ‘I have noticed how the humblest and at the same time most balanced minds praised most; while the cranks, misfits, and malcontents praised least. Praise almost seems to be inner health made audible’” (Reflections on the Psalms, 78-81).

Notice then what happens to the leper who returned. He receives something even greater than the first healing – for now he receives salvation. The plea for mercy leads to healing, which leads to gratitude, which leads to salvation. Jesus said to him: ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’
The word translated here as “made well” is the same word translated in other texts as “saved”. It is the same word used in Luke 19 to say that salvation has come to Zacchaeus. Ten are healed and one of those ten is saved!

There is in this story, and in many others, a mysterious (mystical) connection between faith and healing, praise and healing, thanks and healing, obedience and healing – and salvation. It is the kind of connection that we know as people of faith, but even the medical community has become more aware of the connection between faith and healing. A great connection is suggested in this story. When this particular leper sees what has happened to his skin, he returns in gratitude. It bids the question, what do we do when we see what God has done for us? It has been suggested by one commentator that: “gratitude may be the purest measure of one’s character and spiritual condition. The absence of the ability to be grateful reveals self-centeredness or the attitude that I deserve more than I ever get, so I do not need to be grateful” (NIB Luke, p. 327).
Gratitude, in other words, demonstrates faithfulness.
Gratitude reveals character.
Gratitude expresses the depth of our relationship with God – our spiritual condition.

A life infused with gratitude is a life acutely aware of God’s gifts, God’s grace, God’s love, because we cannot help but return praising God and giving thanks when we have seen what God has done.

Gratitude recognizes that there is another to thank. We are not autonomous beings without need to thank another. We have not done this work on our own, but we owe thanks – and that Other is God. The lepers displayed faith when they cried out for mercy and obedience when they left to go to the priests, but one leper went a step further and displayed gratitude in response to the mercy received. The result was salvation – wholeness – wellness.

John Buchanan says: “The basic Christian response to God is gratitude: gratitude for the gift of life, gratitude for the world, gratitude for the dear people God has given us to enrich and grace our lives. The basic Christian experience is gratitude to God for God’s love in Jesus Christ and the accompanying gift of hopeful confidence and wholeness and wellness that comes with it, regardless of the worldly circumstances in which we find ourselves” (Feasting on the Word, Yr. C vol. 4, 169).
Foster a life infused with gratitude, giving thanks at mealtimes, giving thanks in the morning when you awake, giving thanks in the evening when you go to sleep, praising God for what God has done throughout your days. In Psalm 126 we read: “The Lord has done great things for us…” God has indeed done great things for us and we return, even if no one else does, we return to Jesus to simply say thank you and to praise and glorify God for all that God has done for us. Let us nurture gratitude – a life infused with gratitude – by giving thanks today and every day. Thanks! Amen.