In Thanks and Praise :: Luke 17:11-19

What are you thankful for? Anything at all? Maybe more things than you can count? 

Did you immediately think of your body and soul; eyes, ears, and all your members; your reason and all your senses? Or clothing, shoes, food, drink, house, home, wife, children, land, and animals? Did you remember it is our duty to thank and praise God our Father, to serve and obey him, love and cherish him? Have you ever done a lot for someone who never showed any appreciation, never even saying thanks one time? Were you disappointed? 

Luke records an experience just like that. In our Gospel reading tonight from chapter 17, we hear about Jesus healing ten lepers with just a word. But only one returned to give Jesus thanks and praise. And he was a Samaritan (v 16). Jesus asked him, Where are the other nine (v. 17)? Is this foreigner the only one finding time to return and to give glory to God (V 18)? 

How often are we like the nine, forgetting to say thanks for the wonderful gifts we’ve received from God? So today, it’s only fitting to remember ... 

WE GIVE THANKS AND PRAISE TO GOD FOR HIS WONDERFUL GIFTS.

I. Make no mistake: the nine who didn’t return to thank Jesus did have faith in him. 

You heard them. They all cried out: Jesus, Master, have mercy on us (v. 13). They clearly knew who Jesus was. This is a prayer for salvation. We cry something similar, singing, Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy ... recognizing like the lepers, apart from Christ, we too are dead and dying. But Jesus is able to have mercy on us all. 

Leprosy is a terrible skin disease. Today, doctors can cure it. But they couldn’t back then. Those who were plagued by it were ostracized from their community, cut off from their family. They weren’t allowed to go anywhere near other people. They had to cry out, warning others who might try to draw near. Left unchecked, their bodies literally fell apart. They longed to be clean again. They longed for restoration. They all saw Jesus as their only hope.

And Jesus responded to their cry. When you have gone, show yourselves to the priests. He sent them to the place where they would be declared clean, and set free to return to their homes and families, forgiven and free forever. And they went, without a doubt in their mind what the outcome would be. And on the way to the temple, all ten of them were healed of their leprosy. I don’t for a second doubt they all rejoiced at what had happened. Jesus had mercy on them. 

II. But only one of the ten remembered his duty to thank the Lord and sing his praise, to tell everyone what Jesus had done. 

Strangely, this one was the outsider in the mix. He was a Samaritan. This one leper saw God in this man named Jesus. So he returned to give thanks and praise to God in Christ. He rejoiced, not only in the healing of his disease, but his restoration from sin. Jesus saved him; he made him whole (v 19). He was now reconciled to God, forgiven of his sin, and given a new life. 

So he fell at the feet of Jesus and worshiped him. Can you imagine that? 

This Samaritan leper’s prayer for salvation, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us is fully answered. Jesus tells the man to leave his worship and continue in the journey of faith that hopes in Christ with complete confidence that Your faith has saved you. 

The same happens to you in faith. The salvation we pray for is ours!

III. Today, many people give thanks, instead, for material blessings. 

Even people who normally have little or nothing to do with God will invoke his name and say, Thank you. But once this national Day of Thanksgiving ends tomorrow, will they continue thanking God? Will they even remember God ... at any time ... in some personal crisis? 

Maybe ... maybe not. Both of us sometimes find ourselves weak when it comes to thanking and praising our maker and redeemer. We forget to pray. We silence ourselves. We forget to turn to God’s Word. We tend to be much better askers than thankers, crying out ... Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! ... before immediately returning to the same trough of sin and deprivation that got us into the mess to begin with. We cry out for God to feed us, to smooth things over with our spouses, to restore our relationships, to defend us, to bless us. And then we fail to return our thanks.

IV But Jesus heals us all.

Jesus may not have healed us from leprosy. But he has healed us of something much worse. Jesus has set us free from sin, death, and eternal damnation. He has made us completely whole and right with God. Our Lord lived for you, died for you on the cross, and destroyed death once for all time. He has united himself with you in baptism. He gives himself to you in the supper. He forgives you. 

In the waters of Baptism, God has washed away your sin, cleansed you from unrighteousness, delivered to you the forgiveness that now saves us. Do you not know that all who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore in him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised out of the dead through the glory of the father, in this way also we will walk in the newness of life (Rm 6:3-4). This baptism gives you faith that saves. And that alone is more than enough reason to thank him. But God doesn’t stop there. He continues to come to us, drawing near to us, proclaiming his healing Gospel to us that gives you faith. He then calls on us to go to the temple where he ultimately nourishes us with his feast of forgiveness, the Lord’s Supper. 

Thank God for all of his gifts of word and sacrament. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us always thank him for the faith he gave us, the faith that hears his Gospel, the faith that saves. Let us always share this thanks with everyone as we journey through this life into fullness of God, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way (1 Tm 2:2).