The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, October 14, 2007

Preached at Providence Lutheran Church, Holland, Ohio

Pastor Dennis R. King

"Beyond Healing!"

Luke 17:11-19

The Grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, be with you all. Amen!

One of the earliest lessons many parents teach their children is the practice of certain basic courtesies. We are taught to say “please” when we ask for something and “thank you” when we receive something.

As time goes on, these practices become so much a part of our daily routine that we do them without thinking about them. Someone opens a door for us and we mutter “Thanks” as we rush by. A server in a restaurant brings us a second cup of coffee and we smile and say, “Thank you.” A coworker shares some homemade brownies with everyone in the office and we all say simply, “That was nice of you.”

But in the act of worship, saying “thank you” takes on a far more significant meaning. In worship the words are addressed to God, and their purpose is to express gratitude for life itself. Beyond any particular blessing or gift we think we may have received from God, our very existence is God’s gift. And our proper response is to give thanks.

The story of the ten lepers certainly reinforces our understanding of the importance of gratitude. In fact, it is the only instance recorded in the New Testament where Jesus is thanked directly for an act of kindness. And Jesus’ response to the leper who thanks him suggests that there may be more to a proper thank you than mere courtesy. Jesus seems to suggest that in the expression of thanks is a power that is able to transform an individual’s life in ways that far outweigh the mere healing of a disease.

This story is well known. While on his way to Jerusalem Jesus encounters a group of ten lepers. They keep their distance and cry out for help.

Keeping their distance was actually the law. Lepers were considered ceremonially unclean. Any contact with them had the power to render others unclean. Even walking in the footprints of a leper would cause another to become unclean. So clearly, it was necessary for them to keep their distance.

But Jesus’ reputation as a compassionate healer had preceded him. These desperate men were hoping that what they were hearing about Jesus was true. They hoped to bridge the distance between them and Jesus with their cries for help.

And Jesus responded. “Go,” Jesus said. “Show yourselves to the priests.”

In order for someone previously recognized as a leper to re-enter communal life, that person first had to be cleared by temple authorities. Jesus’ instruction to these ten to go find a priest had the effect of saying, “Okay, you’ve got what you asked for.”

As these ten men started on their journey they were suddenly made clean. One of them, a man we soon learn is a Samaritan, leaves the group and returns to Jesus. The text tells us that he was loudly praising God, but that he also bowed in Jesus’ presence and thanked him.

What happens after that creates a unique opportunity for us to understand the power of gratitude in a way we may not have considered before.

Jesus points out that there were ten healed, and yet only one returned to express thanks — and this one a foreigner. Then Jesus said, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” In other words, faith, expressed in the form of gratitude, has helped the man recover.

We might wonder what Jesus meant at this point. The thankful leper, along with the other nine, had already been healed of their disease. The gift of grace from Jesus was not in response to any particular exercise of faith other than their cry for help.

But the lone leper’s extravagant expression of gratitude apparently helped create an additional experience for him that Jesus indicates resulted in additional healing. What was it?

The word translated “well” in verse 19 is a Greek word that can be rendered as “saved,” or “healed.” Since the leper had already experienced healing from his disease, Jesus’ pronouncement about the man’s faith points to an additional experience. Because of the deep gratitude expressed by the leper, he had also been given the gift of being made “whole.”

Living as a leper carried a terrible social stigma with it. Not only would men and women have to deal with whatever aspects of the disease were at work in their bodies, they also would have to deal with social ostracism and scorn — many times even from family members.

Disease in general and leprosy in particular also carried an additional stigma in first-century Israel. This disease was believed to be a curse from God. Somehow, in some way, individuals who contracted leprosy were forced to live with the belief that they were rejected by God as well.

People who have not experienced the separation and scorn of living as a despised minority may have difficulty understanding the depth of suffering involved. It is difficult for us to imagine what it might feel like to believe that we are despised by both God and our neighbor.

Jesus’ pronouncement communicates to the former leper that his gratitude is not only the proper response to the gift of healing that has come his way, but also that his response has helped finish the process. Not only has he been healed, but he has also been made whole. He has been restored to the human community and he has been given evidence of God’s gracious favor for him.

Some times when we think about the meaning of the Gospel, we allow ourselves to focus almost exclusively on the life after death part. Being saved means being spared from judgment and given a promised place in heaven.

But there is another part to the Gospel. We are invited to experience salvation not only in terms of life after death, but also life in the face of death. In other words, the gift of Jesus in our lives creates for us an opportunity to become whole human beings. The grace at work in the presence of Christ provides an opportunity for us to overcome whatever scars or baggage we may be carrying. There are many things that come to us as human beings that have the power to bruise our souls. Betrayals, disappointments, failures and even sickness and injury, all have the power to minimize our value to one degree or another. The message of God’s love as it is presented in the life of Jesus is an invitation to have these bruises healed and have our lives made whole.

The story of the thankful leper seems to indicate that one of the keys to experiencing this wholeness is gratitude. Gratitude is rooted in self-understanding. The leper knew who he had been and what his life meant. After the healing he became immediately aware that his life was about to change and his stigma and suffering were over. Gratitude is the proper response to that awareness.

Whatever difficulty or suffering or failure we may have endured, or are enduring, the awareness that God is for us and at work to help us should provoke deep feelings of thanksgiving. The key is to recognize God’s goodness even in the midst of pain and alienation.

God’s goodness may come in a service of worship or in a moment of private devotion. It might come at the hand of a friend who reaches out to us in care and love. It might happen as we make ourselves available to someone else in need. It may come in a still small voice in the dark of night.

However it happens, when it happens, when we become convinced of God’s love for us and God’s desire for us to be whole and healed, the proper response is gratitude.

Unlike the basic courtesy of saying thank you when someone does some act of kindness, gratitude expressed to God becomes part of the process of healing us and making us whole. First, we know who we are. Then we discover who God thinks we are. And then we say the thank you that changes our lives in the direction of God’s vision. Amen.