True Thanksgiving

Grace, mercy, peace be you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

This is the time of year when people take time to reflect upon all the blessings that they have received. As you gather around the Thanksgiving table maybe you will be faced with that question - “What are you thankful this year?” Depending on how your year has gone maybe a few different things come to mind. Or if your year has been difficult, maybe the list of blessings feels smaller this year. But in our Gospel reading on this Thanksgiving Eve, we have these 10 lepers and they have something to be extremely grateful for.

Jesus on His way as He is traveling to Jersualem, He encounters ten lepers. If you were a leper you literally cut off from the rest of society, the rest of your village. Everyone was afraid to go near you - because they didn’t want to catch that horrible, flesh eating disease. But these lepers see Jesus coming, and they have this moment when they say all the right words. They cry out from a distance, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” They lifted up their voices hoping that Jesus would acknowledge them, hoping that Jesus would hear their request, hoping that they would finally receive healing. And to maybe their surprise, Jesus responds positively to them, “And says, Go and show yourselves to the priests” And as these lepers went on their way, it says in the text that they were healed. But in our text, we see the reality of their hearts and minds. These lepers said the right words, “Jesus, Master have mercy on us.” - There words sound like a true confession, but in their actions they quickly reveal that they don’t fully know, they don’t fully understand, they don’t fully see the full reality of Jesus and who He is. As, these people were healed only one, came back to give thanks to Jesus -where He bowed down at Jesus feet - giving Him thanks and praise. And the hard thing for Jewish people to hear, this one man was a Samaritan, an outsider. These lepers were healed by Jesus, and in fact they said the right words, but they quickly reveal that they don’t know who Jesus is and what He came to do.

In this text, we see the mercy of Jesus on full display with these people - as again He is journeying to Jerusalem in just a few chapters in Luke - Jesus is going to the cross, He is going to experience the rejection, persecution, and death. And these outcast people, Jesus stops to bring and deliver the mercy of God. Jesus doesn’t hold a grudge because the other’s didn’t write a thank-you note. Jesus doesn’t heal with the condition - that they must return and live their lives a certain way. Jesus simply offers them the gifts of God’s mercy and grace as He restores them and heals them, purifying them from the horrible disease of leporsy. Jesus offers the gifts of God to all of them, knowing full well that praise or thanksgiving, or devotion wouldn’t be returned. But Jesus does acknowledge the leper who comes back. The leper that comes back, the leper who truly gets it, the Samaritan, Jesus says this powerful statement, “Your faith has made you well, or Your faith has saved you!” It’s faith in Jesus that brings complete healing, it’s faith in Jesus that saves us. It’s faith in Jesus that compels us to fall at His feet in worship.

It’s so easy to read this text, and say to the other nine lepers - how could you not get it? How could you have this experience with Jesus and even say thank you! How could you not go back and praise Him - just like the Samaritan did? Perhaps some people hear this text, and say, I’m going to be like this one Samaritan and give more thanks to God. But - this text, it isn’t just about giving more thanks to God. It isn’t about being more appreciative, but it’s about knowing who to thank! There are moments in our lives as followers of Jesus where we act like these other nine lepers. We are thankful like I’m sure they were, we are appreciative in what Jesus has done for us and the blessings that Jesus gives. But keep Jesus at arms length. Instead of drawing near to Jesus in thanksgiving in praise, we find ourselves too focused on the gifts He gives. Or we run to Jesus when we need something - and the very moment we have it, we run off again to our own lives. Or we praise Jesus - calling Him our Master or calling Him our Lord, but we fail to bow down our lives before Him. We clasp for control in authority in our lives - instead of submitting to our King. There many more moments than we like to admit - where we treat Jesus as a minority owner in our lives, He some say, but it’s my life and I’m going to make the final decision. Who is Jesus to you? If you call Him Lord, is He actually your Lord? If you call Him your God - are your treating Him like God?

Jesus today for you - invites you to draw near to Him - to receive the blessings of God; the blessings of God made manifest through of work of Jesus on the cross - as He died and rose again taking all of your sins away. Tonight, we are going to be invited to draw near to Him as we receive the gift of the Lord’s body and blood in the meal of the bread and the wine. Jesus invites you to draw near, not just in times of distress, not just in challenging moments, but He invites you to be close to Him. Jesus has come to restore you - He has come to fix that broken relationship which sin has caused with God. Just like the priests in this Gospel, reading Jesus has declared you clean, He declares you forgiven, and He invites you to come and rest, come and be near, come and know the love of God for you!

In this season of Thanksgiving, we can get so caught what we have, all the different blessings that we experience on daily basis. We can truly see all the different ways that God has blessed us. But may we continue to find ourselves at the feet of Jesus in worship and praise. May we continue to draw close to Jesus - recognizing who He is. It’s in Him that we have all the blessings of our God most High. Jesus in thanksgiving season - He doesn’t just want your thanks, He wants you! May you continue to hear the words of Jesus and may He say to you - “Your faith has saved you!”.

Now may the grace of God the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, may it guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.