Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this Thanksgiving Eve is from Luke’s Gospel, the 17th chapter:
On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
Thus far the text.
Dear friends in Christ,
This Thanksgiving, we are likely to give thanks for many things. We have been so overly and abundantly blessed with so many things by God, our Creator. He has given us our body and soul. He has given us eyes, ears, and all our members. He has given us our reason and all our senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives us clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all we have. He richly and daily provides us with all that we need to support this body and life. He also defends us against all danger and guards and protects us from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in us. For all this it is our duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.
And it is true. Think of all the wonderful blessings you have in life, and thank God for them, for indeed it is He who daily and richly provides you with that which you need. Be thankful; it’s the right thing to do.
In today’s Gospel text, we see 10 lepers who were very thankful. This is often missed in the telling of this tale. All 10 lepers were thankful indeed. But we tend to focus on this last leper, the leper that returned. We call him thankful, we call the others ungrateful. We call him righteous, and the others unrighteous.
But I don’t think that’s what’s happening the text, at least, that's not what the good doctor, Luke, is trying to tell us. Rather, you have 10 men, 10 lepers who are completely and utterly without hope. They have been cast out of their families, for the risk of infection. They have been cast out of their society, for the risk of seeing someone that is uncomfortable. And they have been cast out of their religion, because having leprosy makes you ceremonially unclean. In reality, this last one is the real reason why they have been pushed out of their homes and towns and why they are now residing somewhere in Samaria. They’re not even allowed to come near a person, but must yell at them from great distances, warning them that they are unclean and not to touch them or the dust they sit on.
You’ve got to remember, Samaria was not a happy place to be. The Jews and the Samaritans hated each other. The Jews saw the Samaritans as mixed-blood, half-blood heretics who worshipped God in a place He didn’t desire, in this Samaritan country without the benefit of the Levitical priesthood. And the Samaritans thought that the Jews were stuffed up, hoity-toity prats who only and ever looked down upon them because they had the great, grand Temple and all the priests they could want. Now, those may be overly simplified, but do you see now why this story is such a huge deal?
I mean, after all, the lepers we have here are both unclean, but they are made up of Jews and Samaritans, living together in Samaria, an unclean place, approaching Jesus, a perfect Jewish rabbi and the world’s messiah, coming to Jerusalem to die, yell out to Him, not saying that they are unclean, but instead asking for mercy! The whole story is ridiculous so far as a Jewish hearer would hear it. They would expect Jesus to turn away. They would expect Jesus to stay away. They would expect Jesus to do anything but what He does.
He speaks to them. The Word of God Himself, the Word of God that created the heavens and the earth, the Word of God that was with God, that was God, that was in the beginning with God, the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us, this very Word spoke. And He said, He spoke the Word, “Go and show yourself to the priests.” Not, “I do have mercy,” not, “Get away from me,” not, “You are healed!” Go and show yourself to the priests. The only reason that they could do this is if they WERE healed. You don’t think they were ALL giving thanks for that? They all gave thanks to God.
Jesus, the great Jewish rabbi, the teacher of the Samaritan’s enemies, cleansed them. He wiped out their disease. He made them ceremonially clean. He gave them the gift of health. You bet they were thankful. And yet, and yet, they still didn’t get it. Or, at least nine of them didn’t get it. They just followed Jesus’ instructions to the letter. And they went to the priests in Jerusalem.
But the Samaritan, this one Samaritan, realized he couldn’t go to the priests in Jerusalem, nor should he. He realized that wasn’t his place. His place was with the Great High Priest, the God of God’s, Priest of Priests, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the rabbi, the teacher, Jesus of Nazareth. God was in his midst, no longer in the temple in Jerusalem.
So the Samaritan turned back. He came back to Jesus and he worshipped Him. He worshipped at the feet of the priest. The other nine, they went on, they were healed, they went into Jerusalem and probably led relatively peaceful lives, where their families welcomed them back with open arms, tears of joy in their eyes and streaming down their cheeks, only to watch the man who healed them crucified in the city just a few days later.
But this one, this Samaritan, this outcast, he knew who the True Priest was. The real priests were not in the city, but the only priest that matters, the only one that was real, said, Go and show yourself.
So this Samaritan returned, and he showed himself to the Priest of Priests. And he was thankful. He knew what he had. He had been cleansed, he had been healed, but just as Jesus says, his faith had made him well. He had faith, and for this he worshipped the Christ. Thankfulness is always a true outshoot of faith. Just as faith made this Samaritan well, faith also pushed him to to thank the Great High Priest.
And so, too, are we invited to do. We may not have leprosy. We may not be social outcasts or ceremonially unclean. But we are sinful and sin-filled. We cannot come before the Priest without showing Him how defiled we are by our own sin. But, this Priest, He makes us well, He heals us, He cleanses us from all of our sin. And there is no greater thing that we should give thanks for today or at any time.
Jesus went and showed Himself to the priests in Jerusalem, and they crucified Him for His righteousness. But He says, “Go,” to us, and we come right here before that very man Himself. And He looks at you and cannot condemn you or hold against you anything for He has already cleansed you, has made you well, and healed you from you dread disease of sin. He does this through His Word, for He is the very Word of God, the very Word that has all the power in the world, for indeed He created it.
Realize that He loves you forever and ever and Christ keeps giving you more and more blessings in this life because of what He’s already done in the cross of Christ. Know this. And give thanks. This day, trust Christ’s Word of forgiveness and give thanks, for He has made you well. And so shall you be. Give thanks. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hears and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hears and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
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