Thanksgiving

Luke 17:11-19

This Thursday is a special day, it’s thanksgiving. One of my favorite holidays, next to my birthday of course. A day full of all kinds of things to be thankful for; Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce (not sure I’m thankful for that one), Matinelli’s Sparkling Apple Cider, friends and family. What are you thankful for this morning?

We sing about counting your blessings every Sunday, but do you really count them or are you just singing a song? I would hope that you truly count them. There are so many reasons for us to be thankful, our friends, our family, our church, the fact that we woke up this morning. All good reasons for us to be thankful. There are some great examples I would like to share with you this morning about thankfulness. These are amazing stories and amazing outcomes.

But before we begin, let’s open with a word of prayer.

Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman Luke 7:36-50

Her sins were many

Jesus forgave her sins and she was thankful

Story of the 10 Lepers healed - Luke 17:11-19

They came to Jesus with a need - To be healed

Only one returned to give thanks, and he was a stranger in a strange land.

Story of Mary giving thanks for Jesus

Her story is hard to believe - virgin birth

Rejoices for the blessing of being the chosen vessel.

So thankfulness, what exactly does that mean? According to Websters, it means conscious of benefit received. For example, I’m sure we have all heard or said the prayer, “For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful”. Throughout the bible, there are many references to thankful, or thankfulness, according to Goggle, it’s at least 139 times and of that, “thankfulness” comes up 71 times in the New Testament. So I would say that “thankfulness or being thankful” is something that is pretty important. You know, when something is said once you kind of blow past it, but if it’s said at least 139 times it must be important. I mean think about this, when you were a kid and your mom or dad told you something once, you would remember it and move on, but what if they told you something at least 139 times, it must be super important right? Well that’s the case in the Bible, 139 times and 71 times in the New Testament. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at our first example of thankfulness.

Turn in your bibles to Luke 7:36-50 This is a story about the woman who washes the feet of Jesus. (read story)

To start off with, Simon invites Jesus to his house for dinner, this would imply that there is some respect for Jesus from Simon. By the way it is assumed that Simon “the leper” as he is referred to several times was someone that was healed of his leprosy by Jesus. It would have been an honor to host this Rabbi and his disciples. One of the issues that is always pointed out is that Jesus would meet with anyone.

So here is an important item that Simon overlooked, it was a tradition that when a guest would come to your house, there would be a basin of water that would be used to wash the feet of the guest. According to verse 37, it says that “a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house”. I would wager a guess that because of her background, she would not have been an invited guest to this dinner. There are some things that can be deduced about this woman, because of her “profession”, I’m sure that she was broken inside. I’m sure that she was the example that many mothers would use to warn their daughters. She was probably shunned by some and the brunt of jokes by others. Her spirit is wounded. With this background and reputation, it must have been super hard for her to show her face at Simons house for the banquet. But nonetheless, she shows.

So the meal is started and Simon isn’t too focused on her, he may be uncomfortable that she is there but he doesn’t ask her to leave. But she begins to do something, she begins to cry, not just cry, the Bible says she begins to weep. We aren’t told how long she weeps, but every tear that falls from her cheek, leaves a streak on the feet of Jesus. She let’s her hair down which would have been a shameful thing for a woman to do in that day, and begins to wipe his feet with her hair. THEN, as if that wasn’t enough, she takes out a small alabaster jar of perfume, I would guess that she had this around her neck and poured it on the feet of Jesus. Both the book of Mark and John record this encounter and also record that the perfume would have cost about 300 denarii. This is roughly a full years wages in that day.

Simon then questions Jesus and Jesus responds with a parable of the two cancelled debts. Now to give you the long and short of the parable, there are two debts owed, one for 50 Denarii and one for 500 Denarii. Now keep in mind, 300 denarii was roughly a full years wage, to owe someone 500 denarii would have been seemingly insurmountable to pay back. In the parable, the money lender forgives the debt of both men and Jesus then asks Simon, “Which of the men loved him more?” The answer, the man who had the greatest debt forgiven.

Jesus then says in verses 44-46, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.”

Jesus is comparing Simon actions verses the woman’s actions,

No water to wash feet vs. washed feet with tears, wiped with hair

No kiss of welcome vs. kissed feet continually

No scented olive oil for his guest's hair vs. poured perfume on his feet

Jesus is pointing out the difference between the two, but Jesus shares a story about forgiveness and then shows how the story relates to the woman in terms of forgiveness of sins. Jesus says in verse 47 “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she loved much.”

Jesus finishes this passage by telling the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Jesus acknowledges that her faith has brought her salvation. Can’t you just see her face? Her face is shinning, the tears are still flowing but now they are tears of happiness, tears of joy, her life has been forever changed for the good. She is thankful for what Jesus has done for her.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible about being thankful is found in the book of Luke chapter 17:11-19. This is a great story of being thankful, it’s the story of the healing of the 10 lepers.

So if you are not familiar with this story, let me share it with you. There was a man, we will call him Ruben. One day, Ruben notices a small red dot on his hand, nothing major, just a small red dot. Soon, that red dot begins to grow and after awhile the dot has grown to almost cover his whole hand. Ruben is nervous now, he knows what this may mean. So he hides his hand from everyone, including his wife and goes to see his father-in-law who happens to be one of the priest.

He shows his hand and his father in law tells him that he must remain with him for 2 weeks to observe the redness. By then they would know. He would tell his wife that work will keep him away during this time.

After two weeks, they look at the redness and it has now spread all the way up his arm and onto part of his chest. Saddened, he must now leave his wife and children and join the colony of lepers that are outside the wall. Time passes and one day he is sitting by the roadside when 9 other lepers hurry past him. One of them, an older man falls at his feet, “hurry, we must catch up to him before he leaves,” “Who?” he says, and the old man answers, “Jesus of Nazareth, he is walking by right now”.

Once they caught up to the others, they began to shout, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”. Now what you have to understand is that this was difficult for them. One of the side effects of leprosy was a strained voice, but nonetheless, they where shouting, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”. Jesus stops on the road, turns to the 10 lepers and says to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests”. The 10 lepers turned and began to walk away as they were commanded and something amazing begins to happen, the backs begin to straighten, their legs begin to grow strong and what once was a walk has now turned into a run… they were leaping and shouting, they were so joyful. But, as they were running away, one of them, Ruben, when he saw that he was healed, turned and ran back to Jesus. Pushing his way through the crowd, he threw himself at Jesus’ feet and was thankful. And the Bible stresses that “He was a Samaritan. Remember, the Samaritans and the Jews didn’t like each other, but that didn’t matter in this case, he was thankful that Jesus had healed him. Jesus says to him, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give thanks to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well”. This was important, you see, there were 10 that were healed, but only one of them was made “well”. Ten were healed, but only one was made well, and that’s far more important than being healed. The point made here, I think, is that unless gratitude is a part of our nature, we can’t be whole people. The other nine were merely healed. If ingratitude is more deadly than leprosy, they were in worse shape than before. Only one came back and was made whole. How thankful our leper must have been. He must go to the priest and show himself to be declared clean again and be part of society again, part of his family again. He truly was thankful to God for the blessings that were bestowed on him.

Thankful, thankful to God for forgiving the sins of a prostitute, thankful for the healing of a leper. Finally, I think the greatest example of being thankful comes from the book of Luke 1:26-38 and this leads us right into the start of the season of Advent.

(Show Mary - Skit Guys Video)

Even though she is young, and I am sure frightened by the news she just received, Mary is thankful that God has chosen her. (Talk more about Mary and how she was Thankful that God has chosen her to be the mother of Jesus.

Conclusion

As Thanksgiving approaches, let us all be thankful for what God has done for us, and for what He will continue to do for us. Let us all be thankful for what comes after Thanksgiving as well, the birth of our Lord and Savior. May we all be truly thankful for the grace and mercy that was given to us as a free gift. Let us all be thankful as we look forward to celebrating the birth of our Lord.