Continuing Thanks

It is a familiar story, one which we have generally used to say what scoundrels the nine are, and compare ourselves with the one who came back, with much self-congratulation because we are here together in worship this morning.

We could do as Richard Hoefler did years ago and apply our imaginations to the motives of the nine.

Just for fun, he came up with nine very different reasons:

1.Leper #1 is a literalist.

Jesus said to go to the priest, so he went.

For him it is a matter of rules, of duty, of the letter of the law.

2.Leper #2 is a procrastinator.

He is in a hurry to get to the priest; he will get back to Jesus...maybe tomorrow.

3.Leper #3 is timid, who finds it too embarrassing to thank Jesus.

4.Leper #4 is a skeptic, who needs to have it all proved, since the healing might only be a temporary illusion.

5.Leper #5 is an egotist, who is not grateful, since he feels that he deserves to be healed.

He says “It is about time I got something!”

6.Leper #6 is a cynic, who snarls “He didn't do it for nothing; where is the catch?”

7.Leper #7is an enthusiast, who talks about how marvelous it is, and talks, and talks....

8.Leper#8 is a pessimist, who says “It won't last. Tomorrow I'll be even worse off.”

9.Leper #9 is a conformist, right there in the middle of the group of nine, doing what others do.

Can we see ourselves adopting one or more of these attitudes at various times?

Of course the Bible story does not specify any of these nine, but these are the things that are typical for us to say and to do.

But before we get too far down the road of complaining about the nine, let's think again about this story.

How many were given the gift of healing? All ten.

Is the gift withdrawn from the nine? No!

The difference is that #10 was given another gift which he gladly took, the gift of recognizing the source of the gifts as God incarnate in Christ Jesus.

The issue is not really gratitude, or lack of gratitude, at the moment, as we have imagined in the reactions of the nine.

After all, God gives us many good gifts which we are very bad about acknowledging.

It is a wonder that God keeps on giving!

The issue concerns whether or not our lives are any different in the long term because of our encounter with Jesus.

We are talking here about more than a momentary, quick “thank you,”

Rather, we are talking about a whole different life.

We imagined Leper #4 as a skeptic.

He was that both before and after the healing of his leprosy.

Leper #7 we termed the enthusiastic babbler, who probably talked too much and did too little both before and after the healing.

But the one who returned knew that a permanent change had happened to him.

Go in peace; you faith has made you well,” says Jesus.

Note very carefully one word in this line.

Jesus does not say “Your mumbled 'thank you' has made you well.”

He says “Your faith has done it.”

Note also that, strictly speaking, it was the nine who obeyed Jesus, not the one!

Jesus told them all to “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”

And the nine did just that!; they obeyed exactly what Jesus said.

The one starts out, but then comes back to Jesus

He disobeys, and yet is commended. Why?

He suddenly realized that there is more to following Jesus than merely obeying rules.

The rules belong to the old order of things.

They are helpful and even necessary in our human sinfulness, but even the best of rules do not save us.

So the tenth leper broke the rules to tend to something more important than any rule.

He saw that his changed life led him from more than a temporary “whopee” to a lifetime of thanks and praise, a new life that begins at the feet of Jesus.

How different this is from the other nine.

They used Jesus; they exploited Jesus to heal themselves, and then they apparently dumped him and went their own ways, under the guise of following the rules.

The 10^th leper not only received the gift of God given by the Lord Jesus, he also reacted to it by turning around [that is the literal translation of repent] to praise God.

His life, now forever different, was to become a continuing thanksgiving, a “ceaseless eucharist,” as Walter Burghart phrased it.

We truly are pulled in so many directions.

So many things clamor for our attention.

But is not the greatest of all possible things our “being turned around” to a life that is all praise?

That does sound like a good thing, but it is not easy.

We need to think about it when we begin to yell irrationally at the children or grandchildren, or grouse at a neighbor, or take out our frustrations on a store cashier.

One of our great diseases is self-centeredness, thinking about me, only myself, and mine.

The antidote to this is to be reminded again and again of the chief gifts which God gives to us:

(1)Our lives,(2)the Lord Jesus, and (3)other people.

Another writer expresses it well:

It is an incredible gift.

You are not alone, not an island.

You have someone else upon which to feast your eyes;

you have the music of another voice;

you can feel another's touch in love.

So then, praise God by giving yourself to others.

Let others see you, and reach you.

Reach out with your strengths and your weaknesses.

In this way we reveal God in our everyday lives, making each moment a thanksgiving.

Some time back I read a biography of Albert Schweitzer, musician, pastor, physician, and more.

The book's author observed that over the past decades so many people have spoken wistfully about dropping out of society and doing their own thing.

In Schweitzer there is the story of a person who made a tremendous protest against the ways of the world that lead to death and destruction.

He did so not with sulking, or sitting in a corner watching, or pretending that nothing is going on out there, or any other of the nine lepers' attitudes.

His protest took the form of reaching out with a creative burst of assistance and love for the sick, the forgotten, and the lost... a very full manner of thanks-living.

The issue before us today is more than an occasional thanks, even Sunday morning thanks, as important as they are.

The tenth leper point us to lifetime thanks, of doing thanksgiving, of being a living thanksgiving, from our first breath after baptism through every contact with another person, until our eyes see the completed kingdom of heaven.

By the gift of the Holy Spirit, that is the life we shall live.

Let all who recognize, know, and trust this say...Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.