The Healing Power of Gratitude

Luke 17:11-19                                                                     October 10, 2004

         Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"

         When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.

         One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan.

         Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

CCI: In returning to the Master in gratitude, the man’s healing was made complete.

Intro: This story is one of the better known stories in the Gospels. It happened at the very beginning of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. In John’s gospel, we see that Jesus did not hesitate to pass through Samaria, but on this journey, something must have prevented him. Either it was the prejudice of his followers, the insistence of the local residents or a prohibition by the Samaritans, but for some reason, Jesus chose to journey through the frontier country of Galilee in the North and Samaria to the South.

         Now to understand this story, you must realize that Samaritans and Jews hated one another. The Samaritans were the descendants of the poorest class of ancient Israel who had remained in the Land after the Kingdoms were dispersed. These poor farmers intermarried with the foreigners who were forced to move into their land. They continued to worship God, but they rejected any scripture but the books of Moses and they worshiped in their own land. These differences caused a hatred to grow after the Jews were restored to their land. They were displaced and they were considered unclean and even Gentiles. Samaritans and Jews had no dealings with one another.

         So it may have been the Samaritans who refused to let Jesus pass through, or it may have been the disciples who were unwilling to pass through. But while they were traveling along the border a group of 10 lepers, a small colony, called to Jesus and the disciples asking for mercy. They did not approach Jesus, but as the Law demanded, they kept their distance.

         In other passages, Jesus embraced the lepers, sometimes he touched them, but this time, he simply told them to go show themselves to the Priest. According to the Law, the Priest alone could declare these men and women to be cleansed.

         And so in faith they headed to a priest. This really was an act of faith, because as lepers, they were not permitted in any populated areas. In addition they were required to never approach religious people because the lepers were unclean.

         As they were making their way to the Priest, the colony was healed. Their skin was cleansed, perhaps their fingers were restored, something wonderful happened. That is when one of the group vanished. One of them, upon sensing the changes in his body, left the others as they searched for the priest, and that one returned to Jesus and his disciples and fell at Jesus feet to thank him for what had happened. And this one was a hated Samaritan.

         Awed by the gratitude and faith of this one, and the ingratitude of the others, Jesus could only say, “Did I not cure 10? Where are the others?” Then to the Samaritan, “You, go, your faith has made you well.”

         This Samaritan, found healing of his entire being when he stopped to thank God.

         In the film Joe Versus the Volcano Joe Banks (Tom Hanks), is a young man disillusioned with his dull, uneventful life. His doctor tells him he only has six months to live because of a rare brain disease. Knowing he will soon die, he accepts the offer of an eccentric billionaire who wants the mineral rights of a small island in the South Pacific. In exchange for all the money he can spend, Joe agrees to sacrifice himself by jumping into the island's active volcano, in order to appease the island people's gods.

         The scene begins with Joe and his friend Patricia (Meg Ryan) floating on four large pieces of luggage that are tied together. Their boat sank in a storm while on the way to the island. Patricia is unconscious, and Joe is weak due to hunger and thirst.

         Day turns to night and Joe stares into the surrounding darkness. Suddenly the top edge of a giant glowing ball arises in front of him. It is so close he can almost touch it. Wobbly-legged, Joe slowly stands up. Soon the full size of the brilliant moon is directly in front of him in a stunning, breathtaking visual. Joe is silhouetted in front of it and raises both his hands over his head. His face has a look of complete awe and reverence. As the moon continues to rise Joe sinks back to his knees and puts his hands toward his chest. He says in a fearful and reverent tone: "Dear God, whose name I do not know. Thank you for my life. I forgot how big…. (He pauses briefly.) Thank you. Thank you for my life." He is speechless and then faints in exhaustion. (Play tape)

         Gratitude will bring healing, but only if it is directed correctly. Scott Hafemann has written, “The essence of sin is misguided gratitude, not ingratitude. As dependent creatures we all, by nature, thank somebody or something (usually ourselves!) for what we experience and achieve. And the ultimate object of our gratitude becomes the object of our worship. In turn, the object of our gratitude becomes the object of our service, since we inevitably serve whatever or whomever we think will meet our needs. The object of our worship always becomes the master of our behavior. This is a law of human nature, inasmuch as God made us to worship and live for him. The sin of idolatry, whether in the age-old worship of nature or in the modern worship of ourselves, is consequently the same: worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator.

         “Idolatry, whether ancient or modern, is thus the futile attempt to look for our lives to anyone or anything other than the one true Creator and Provider. Whom do I thank when things go well? To whom do I look when things go badly? What is my source of security? Where do I gain my sense of worth in the world? What am I striving to achieve in life, and why? The answers to questions like these will help determine whether we are honoring God as God or whether we are idolaters—whether that means we are praying to a stone image as in the prophet Isaiah's day, drooling with envy over the car in our neighbor's driveway, or latching onto the latest self-help strategy.” Misplaced gratitude, leads to idolatry.

         So, to whom are we thankful? The healed Leper returned to thank Jesus. Joe recognized the wonder of God in his life, and thanked God! However, 9 others were so astonished by their healing, that they simply went on their way to start a new life.

         And many of us are just like the 9. Vance Havner has rightly observed that “Our biggest problem in the church today is this vast majority of Sunday morning Christians who claim to have known the Master's cure and who return not [at other times] to thank Him by presence, prayer, testimony and support of His church. [The reality is] in fact, the whole Christian life is one big "Thank You," the living expression of our gratitude to God for His goodness. But we take Him for granted and what we take for granted we never take seriously.”

         However, gratitude, when it is cultivated, will produce a healing balm in our souls. John Henry Jowett, a British preacher of an earlier generation, said this about gratitude: "Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic." What did he mean? He meant that gratitude, like a vaccine, can prevent the invasion of a disgruntled, discouraged spirit. Like an antitoxin, gratitude can prevent the affects of the poisons of cynicism, criticalness, and grumbling. Like an antiseptic, a spirit of gratitude can soothe and heal the most troubled spirit.” Yes, learning to respond as the Samaritan Leper did is the key to a healthy spirit.

         How do we do it?

1.      Develop a sense of wonder – When Joe saw the moon rising over his life, his awe drove him to his knees. But we do not have to wait for a supersized moon. The wonder of creation is around us every day. Go out to the River and watch the geese fly overhead traveling a route they have repeated for perhaps 1,000's of years. Open your eyes to the beauty of the trees as they change colors around you. Thrill to the gentle touch of the wind on your skin. Be awed by an infant who knows her mother’s voice or dying man who regains his awareness to tell his wife he loves her.

         To experience the healing of a life of gratitude, develop a sense of wonder for the world around you. And then give God thanks for those common wonders you experience.

2.      Meditate on the Gifts God has given you – Each day we are showered with blessings. There is the provision of food, there is gift of life, there are gifts of relationships and there is the Gift of Salvation. Spend time reflecting on these gifts, think about the ways they have come to you. Meditate on the people God has brought into your life. Remember the childhood friends who brought you such happiness. Think about the teachers who opened your eyes to new ideas. Reflect on the Sunday school teacher or pastor or parent or friend who first introduced you to Jesus. Then thank God for these relationships and for the gifts God has given you. And thank God for those people as well. And never stop meditating and thrilling in the gift of salvation, the wholeness, forgiveness and healing that God offers you. Let your gratitude overflow as you think of all you have been given. Be the one among the 10 who return to say thank you.

         To experience the healing of a life of Gratitude, meditate on the Gifts God has given you.

3.      Embrace the opportunities that God provides. – the Lutheran Brotherhood recently did some research on ways people express their gratitude. They found that People express their thanks in many ways, 45 % of adults who say they express thanks by Praying, 39% by being a good role model, 36% by volunteering, 35% by participating in a place of worship, and 30% by Giving money to charity. These are but a few way we can express our gratitude and we do them by embracing the opportunities God gives us.

         To experience the healing of a life of Gratitude, Embrace the opportunities that God provides.

4.      And finally, explore the ways God’s people have expressed Gratitude throughout history. The Psalms are a great place to start. Psalm 3, Psalm 7, Psalm 8 and many others are wonderful primers on gratitude. Read the prayers of Paul at the beginning of his letters. Read the poetry of the great writers of years gone by, watch for moments of grace and thankfulness in the movies you watch.

         To experience the healing of a life of Gratitude, explore the ways God’s people have expressed Gratitude throughout history.

         You can know the joy of a life of gratitude if you will open your eyes to the blessings around you. We are going to close this morning by singing the gospel song, Count Your Blessings. And I wand to urge you to not let the counting stop when the songs ends.