Thankful for What?

 

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and also, happy Thanksgiving eve!

 

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  Tonight’s worship service marks the beginning of a holiday that is focused on something we all must do regularly, and no, I’m not talking about eating.  I’m talking about thanking God.  And what better time of the year to thank God then during Thanksgiving. 

 

Now, although we all thank God differently during Thanksgiving, it is true that most of us do in fact thank God in some way.  In other words, we all have our own personal rituals of Thanksgiving.  Maybe your family shares a special thanksgiving prayer.  Maybe you bake some special Thanksgiving goodies that you do not have at any other time of the year.  Maybe you invite people into your homes that you would not invite at any other time of the year.  Whatever you do, you’re preparing to give God thanks for what He has done for you this past year.

 

In our Gospel lesson for tonight, we find a story about 9 people who apparently do not have a regular habitual process of thanksgiving. 

Ten Lepers.  Only one thanks God for his cure.  Now this may be understandable behavior if the disease that Jesus just cured these people of was not leprosy. 

 

I could understand why 9 out of 10 people with a hang-nail would decide not to thank God after receiving a miraculous cure.  I could even understand why 9 out of 10 people with a little cough would decide not to thank God after receiving a miraculous cure.  But 9 out of 10 people with Leprosy?  That is absolutely amazing. 

 

You see, Leprosy was the cancer of the first century.  It not only ended in a slow, painful death, it made one’s life miserable in the process.  If you had leprosy during the first century, you were an outcast.  You were seen as cursed by God.  You were an obvious sinner.  You did not have a social life, your friends shunned you, and more then once in a while your family shunned you as well.  Leprosy was a debilitating disease spiritually, socially, economically, and physically.

 

 

When Jesus cured the ten lepers He absolutely changed their lives.  They could once again enter into society.  They could be a part of their families again.  They could reform broken relationships.  In short, they could act human after living a life in which they were treated as sub-human.  Yet only one of the ten lepers thought it necessary to give thanks to God for the gift that he received.

 

If you are a baseball fan, you know that one for ten is a pretty bad batting average.  It is the type of performance that will most likely get you cut from the team, or at least benched!

 

Now, initially after hearing that only one leper thanked God for his cure I imagine you might feel a little angry.  I imagine that anger is especially strong if you or somebody you love is dealing or has dealt with a life threatening disease.  Its not every day that somebody receives a miraculous cure, and those that do, you would think should feel grateful!  After reading this for the first time, I too felt angry.  But the more I thought about the nine Lepers who did not thank God, the more I began to feel sorry for the Lepers, not angry with them. 

 

You see, the Nine Lepers who did not have a habit of thanksgiving missed something.  They failed to recognize one of the most important aspects of our God.  They were not able to recognize that above all things our God is a God who gives.  And this is a reminder we all consistently need, especially when times are exceptionally good, like when Leprosy is cured, and especially when times are exceptionally hard, like when Leprosy goes uncured. 

 

When we have an exceptionally good year—and you all know these types of years— these are years when great things have happened.  These are the years when you got engaged or married, when your children were born, when you got your dream job, when you became an intern pastor—Years such as these tempt us to pat ourselves on the back and say, “my, my, look what I’ve done, look what I’ve become.” In years such as these our habit of giving thanks reminds us that our blessings and accomplishments are never the sole product of our own work and effort, but are the results of God’s grace, help from other people, and maybe even a little luck.   

 

 

Or, when we have had a bad year, a year that had more than its fair share of pain and hardship, a year when jobs may have been lost, family members may have died or grown ill, or homes may have been broken up.  In years such as these our habit of giving thanks reminds us that that even if we have lost everything, we have not lost our God.

 

And this is why we, like the one Leper, need to consistently thank God.  If we do not make a habit out of thanking God, we may miss His presence in the simple fact that we have food on the table, we may miss his presence in the love and laughter that we share with our families, and we may miss His promise to remain with us and care for us during those times when our diseases remain uncured, or when there isn’t enough food on the table, or when life takes away our love, and our laughter. 

 

Like the Lepers, we will all experience times of healing and we will all experience times of hardship.  We do not thank God in order to persuade Him to help us escape this reality.  In fact, no amount of giving thanks can ever change this reality.  The nine Lepers were cured regardless of the fact that they did not give thanks. 

 

When we regularly thank God in times of prosperity and in times of hardship we get what the Lepers missed.  We remember that there is one gift God promises to always give us without ever holding anything back.  This is the gift of Himself, for us, forever.   And in the end, this is the only gift that is truly sustaining.  The harvest grows, and then it withers.  Our health grows strong but inevitably fades; our families are with us for a time, but eventually they move away.       

 

This year you may have enough food on the table and your family may celebrate perfect health.  This year you may not have enough food on the table, and your life or the lives of the people you love may have been devastated by illness or natural disaster.  Next year it may be different.  We will thank God this year, and we will thank God next year because the gift that God promises to always give is not our food, its not our clothing, its not our families, and its not even our health.  It is Himself.

 

 

 

 

There are times when we will be hungry; there are times when we will be full.  There are times when we will be healthy; there are times when we will be sick.  There are times when we will feel loved, and there are times when we will feel alone.  God has promised us that there can never be a time when we are without Him.

 

Ten Lepers.  One came back.  We do not know what happened to the Lepers after the day they were healed.  Perhaps they lived happily ever after.  More realistically, they most likely continued to face the joys and difficulties that life inevitably brings.  Did God need the Lepers to thank him?  No, God did not need anything from the Lepers.  Did the Lepers need to thank God?  Yes, if only for the simple reason that they, like us, need that constant acknowledgment that we have God, whether we are thriving or ailing.

 

So let us thank God tomorrow for the food that we eat, for our families, and for our health, for these are all good things.  But most importantly, let us thank God for Himself, because when our food, family and health fade away, He promises to be with us as abundantly as ever!  Amen.

 

 

Let us Pray:

Father, we pray tonight a prayer of thanks to you.  Of our time, our health, and our possessions, you sometimes give and you sometimes take away.  Of yourself, you only give.  Thank you for this gift.  Bring us joy and happiness this Thanksgiving, but most importantly bring us yourself.  In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.