An Attitude of Gratitude
Luke 17:11-19
Dr. William S. Epps, Senior Pastor
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11As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. 12As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, 13crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, their leprosy disappeared.
15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God, I’m healed!” 16 He fell face down on the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. 17Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? 18Does only this foreigner return to give glory to God?” 19And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:11-19
Introduction
The time of Christ’s death was near, and the three years of Christ’s public ministry were almost complete, so Jesus was heading to Jerusalem with His disciples. He was coming down from the north, and verse 11 says he chose to travel along the border between Samaria and Galilee.
Let’s reflect on the persons in this story from Luke for a moment. This particular pericope pictures ten persons whose condition led to their being excluded from participating in the life of the community in which they lived. They were excluded, isolated and ostracized because they were considered to be a threat to the well-being of the broader community. They cried out, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Jesus looked at them and told them to go show themselves to the priests. As they went they were cured of the condition for which they sought mercy. One of them recognizing that he was healed came back to Jesus, shouting, praising God for his healing, fell down and thanked him for what had been done. He was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, "Didn’t I heal ten? Where are the nine? Is the least expected one the only one to return and give thanks?" To the one who returned Jesus said, "go, your faith has made you whole."
Consider what it means to be grateful.
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Here are a group of individuals whose lives were lived in confusion and turmoil. They were isolated from the general population because of their malady. I think their story epitomizes the life of all of us in some way, whether we are at the top, middle, or bottom of society. We all have to manage what we face. That is the way of life. Let’s walk through this story for a moment and see what it could possibly say to us.
“Life is what you make it” is an old adage or expression that has a certain ring to it. The implication is that you have the choice to make of your life what you want it to be. There are those who will argue with that premise, of that I am sure. However, consider its plausibility for a moment. Putting the responsibility for your life in your hands at least gives you some say about how you handle what happens to you even if you cannot determine what happens to you. Putting your life in the hands of a capricious fate merely suggests that what happens is predetermined and you have no say in the matter at all.
We know that life is a combination of a little fate and fortune, a little faith and fortitude. Some are born with undeserved privileges and pleasures and some are born with underserved deficits and deficiencies. We have the freedom to choose how we manage what happens to us. Our choices make the difference. Our decisions determine our destiny. We can make choices regardless of the circumstances we face. Even in the circumstances beyond our control that take us unawares, we still have the freedom to determine how we will handle and respond to them.
We live somewhere between our circumstances and our choices. We can choose how we handle and respond to what we are facing. The decisions we make have a lot to do with how we weather (endure and survive) life’s situations. While there are many factors involved, we still have the freedom to choose what we will do in every situation of life. No one but you can take that freedom from you.
There are those for whom life is great, simply stupendous, out of sight, off the chain, and all that anyone could wish or hope. They have what I guess could be called the Midas touch. Everything they touch seems to turn to gold. Then, there are those for whom life is the pits, a perpetual valley of despair, distress and disappointment.
For far too many, life is nothing more than an attempt to grapple with what has shaped an existence that is annoyingly difficult, disgustingly challenging and repulsively unmanageable. They will tell you in no uncertain terms that they are the victims of their circumstances.
And then somewhere in between, on the misty flats, as the poet says, between the extremities on life’s continuum, many flow in with an assortment of stories that vary from bad to worse, to good, better or best.
Consider what it means that you can determine how you respond
to circumstances with which you are confronted.
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Tuesday, October 11, 2022 |
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How can a story about lepers be relevant to those in a contemporary society? Well I’m glad you asked. I’m sure you all know what leprosy is. It is a dreadful disease. Leprosy destroys the body’s nervous system. It simply causes you not to be able to feel anything.
Leprosy causes your whole body to go numb. When someone is blind, they cannot see; when someone is deaf, they cannot hear; when someone has leprosy, they cannot feel.
Imagine what your life would be like if you had leprosy. Sometimes a leper would be cutting vegetables for supper, and would accidentally cut off a finger and not even know it because he had no feeling. Sometimes, a leper would be sleeping by a fire, and would roll too close to the fire and burn off his foot without ever waking up.
In the extreme cold, a leper would freeze his fingers and toes without ever
knowing it.
A leper dies from the damage that is done to their bodies because they have no feeling. This is why leprosy is a perfect picture of sin. Sin causes us to lose all spiritual feeling, just as leprosy causes its victims to lose all physical feeling. Sin causes our hearts to become cold and our conscience to become calloused and our choices to be compassionless so that we perform and witness the most heinous, horrific and depraved acts of people and feel nothing but a detached disinterest.
Can’t you see the isolation and indifference that is so rampant in our society and world?
Ten lepers met Jesus. They stood at a distance. Because leprosy was such a dreaded disease, those who had leprosy were cast off from the rest of society. They were expected to live outside the town—often in the garbage heaps, and to have no contact with former friends or family. This was for the safety of those who did not have leprosy, and also for their emotional well-being.
Apparently, they had heard of the healing power of Jesus, and they called out to him for mercy. They called out to him for healing. When faced with what is incurable that causes irreparable damage, all we can do is cry out to the Lord to have
mercy on us.
Consider what it means to be faced with what you cannot cure on your own.
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Wednesday, October 12, 2022 |
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Notice what Jesus says. He doesn’t promise them anything, he just tells them to show themselves to the priests. But the promise was inherent in what he said. In Leviticus 13-14, someone who had been healed or who had recovered from a skin disease was required to present him or herself to the priest in order to be pronounced clean.
They could have questioned him, and said, “But we're not clean. He won’t pronounce us clean. If we do what you ask, we’ll just be humiliated more than we already are!” But, whether they understood or not, they had faith in Jesus to do what He asked, and look what the rest of Luke 17:14 says. “And it came to pass, that as they went, they were healed.”
They made the choice to do what the Lord said. In obeying the Lord’s directives, healing occurs. While they were going, they were healed. Can you imagine the joy that all of them felt at that moment? They, who were outcast, who had no hope, who had no future to look forward to, now had received their lives back! They could now go home to friends and family. They could kiss their wives again. They could play with their children. They were cleansed!
And now we get to the heart of the passage. Look at Luke 17:15. “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God.”
One of the ten came back, giving thanks and praise to God.
Consider what it means that only one came back to say thanks.
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Thursday, October 13, 2022 |
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Firstly, we are grateful for another opportunity to experience the healing presence of the Lord.
Consider for a moment the story of a particular individual who ran with others who were in his same predicament. They were bonded together by virtue of what was wrong with them. “Birds of a feather flock together” is an old cliché that gets at that. There he was in the midst of persons who under ordinary conditions would not be bothered with him. But their common problem put them in the same boat. There they were together and Jesus came by. A preacher of another day called this the anonymity of agony. People who are plague with the same circumstance, ideology and malady come together to support one another.
People have a way of finding each other who are of a like mind. That’s how groups of all sorts are formed. Whether it is a Masonic order, sorority, fraternity, protest group, or awareness group, political affiliation, or faith association - people are drawn together by their common aspirations, concerns and desires.
A common woe prompted persons to be in fellowship with each other. They seemingly had heard of Jesus for they at least cried out in their situation to the Lord to have mercy on them. We cry out to the Lord to have mercy on us. It was in obeying what the Lord said that they experienced the healing they desired.
Imagine if we would obey the Lord’s directives, we too would be healed if we did what He has asked us to do. If we just isolate the sayings of Jesus and embrace them, what a difference it would make in our lives. Jesus made us aware of the greatest commandment, to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38This is the first and greatest commandment.
39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]
40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
(Matthew 22:37-40).
Jesus reminds us with the following words, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12). Jesus asked us to “love one another as he has loved us.” John 15:12
It is in obeying what the Lord says that we are healed of our cold, callous compassionless, contentious choices that perpetuate the pejorative predicaments we create.
Consider what it means to be thankful for the healing
presence of the Lord in your life.
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Secondly, we are grateful for the opportunity to consider what has been done for us.
These persons were incapable of curing themselves. They had to rely on someone to do for them what they were unable to do. We rely on Jesus and his teachings to lead us in the way, the will and the work of the Lord. Jesus is the expressed image of what God is like and what we have the capacity to become as creatures made in God’s image and fashioned in God’s likeness.
You see, it was as they obeyed what they were told that they were healed. One of them recognized that the healing had occurred. Listen to the description of what he did.
“One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God, I’m healed!” 16He fell face down on the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. 17Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? 18Does only this foreigner return to give glory to God?” 19And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has made you well.
The great encouragement Christ gave in verse 19 gave him assurance, “your faith has made you whole.” The rest had their cure, even though they did not express gratitude.
Statistically, we are told that it is only one in ten who express gratitude for benefits and blessings bestowed on them. It has been determined that when you serve others, only about 10% will thank you. Realize this when you serve others, or else you are in for a big disappointment. It has been said that serving others is a thankless task. This is why we must do what we do to honor God, because we know that God always sees, and God will be pleased with what we do.
Now, the other side of this coin is true, too. Though only 10% will thank you, make sure that you are the 10% that thank others. When someone does something good for you, or nice to you, or something for you, thank them!
Consider what it means to be thankful for what the
Lord does for you each day.
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Saturday, October 15, 2022 |
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Thirdly, we are grateful for the opportunity to praise the Lord.
They had faith enough for prayer but not enough for praise after their prayer was answered. When the need is relieved, how quickly is the love from which special moments originate, forgotten by the return to old attitudes. Healings were received and yet there is no turning back to say thanks. The proportion of the nine thankless, to the one thankful, merely suggests that ingratitude is more common than gratitude.
Look what this leper did. The text says he returned with a loud voice, glorifying God. This was no meek and quiet praise to God out of fear that someone might be offended by his boisterous proclamation. He wanted the whole world to know what God had done for him! Luke 17:16 explains more, “he fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.”
He thanked Jesus. I’m sure this was not just a nonchalant, “Hey, thanks man.” It was profuse thanksgiving. It was a promise of undying loyalty. It was adoration and love.
Thank God from whom all blessings flow.
The Lord is rich in doing well. We are poor with our returns. Often the greatest gratitude is expressed by those from whom we expect the least thankfulness.
Conclusion
I've got so much to thank God for / So many wonderful blessings
And so many open doors / A brand new mercy
Along with each new day
That's why I praise You / And for this I give You praise
For waking me up this morning / That's why I praise You
For sending me on my way / That's why I praise You
For letting me see the sunshine / Of a brand new day
A brand new mercy / Along with each new day
That's why I praise You and for this / I give You praise
You're Jehovah Jhireh / That's why I praise You
You've been my Provider / That's why I praise You
So many times You've met my need / So many times You rescued me
That's why I praise You / I want to thank You for the blessing
You give to me each day / That's why I praise You
For this I give You praise
For every mountain You brought me over
For every trial you've seen me through / For every blessing
Hallelujah, for this I give You praise. (Kurt Carr)
Consider what it means to be thankful for how the Lord
has met your need and rescued you.
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For Every Mountain
~Kurt Karr
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2412 Griffith Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90011
Phone: (213) 748-0318
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