FIRST READING Ruth 1:1-19a
1In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. 3But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, 5and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. 6Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. 7So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” 11But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.” 14Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 18And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. 19aSo the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them.
PSALM Psalm 111
1Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation. 2Great are the deeds of the Lord! they are studied by all who delight in them. 3His work is full of majesty and splendor, and his righteousness endures forever. 4He makes his marvelous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. 5He gives food to those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant. 6He has shown his people the power of his works in giving them the lands of the nations. 7The works of his hands are faithfulness and justice; all his commandments are sure. 8They stand fast forever and ever, because they are done in truth and equity. 9He sent redemption to his people; he commanded his covenant forever; holy and awesome is his Name. 10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; those who act accordingly have a good understanding; his praise endures forever.
SECOND READING 2 Timothy 2:1-13
1You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 8Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! 10Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 13if we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself.
GOSPEL Luke 17:11-19
11On the way to Jerusalem {Jesus} was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE
There’s an ancient legend about two angels who flew to earth to gather the prayers of the people. Wherever people would bow in prayer, the angels would stop and gather those prayers into their baskets. Before long the basket carried by one of the angels grew heavy with the weight of what he’d collected, but that of the other remained almost empty. Now if you pause for a moment and be honest, I bet you can guess why one basket was full, while the other remained virtually empty. Into the first basket were gathered prayers of petition. “Lord please give me this . . . Lord please let me have that.” Into the other went the prayers of appreciation, or the “Thank you’ s.”
“Your basket seems very light,” said one angel to the other. “Yes,” replied the one who carried the basket containing the simple prayers of “Thank you.” He added, “People are usually ready enough to pray for what they want, but very few remember to thank God when He grants their requests.” Again, if we’re being honest, we have to acknowledge that these are two words, “thank you”, distinguish us as human beings from the rest of the animal kingdom.
For those of you who have smartphones equipped with Siri or Cortana, or who have called a company for assistance only to get a computer, you know how frustrating that can be. Oftentimes you get a computer-generated voice giving you instructions. It isn’t a person you interact with, it’s a thing, and the conversation is very much computer guided. The other day I had to call Charter to get our phone system reset. To my surprise, the computer help system, for a change, was helpful and I was able to get things back up and running in a relatively short period of time. What I found was, as I was being asked some of the questions, that I would automatically responded with, yes please. And if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, before the call ended I said no, thank you. I realized that the need to express gratitude is one of our most human attributes. It’s such a strong tendency that some of us even want to say thank you to a piece of electronics.
Yet, there are far too many people who simply ignore this simple act of courtesy . . . of expressing their gratitude to others or expressing their gratitude to God. I was sharing with the Bible Study group on Wednesday that I really enjoy some aspects of living in the South. One is how freely people will tell you to have a “Blessed Day” when you’re done checking out at the grocery store for example. Another is how quickly people will express their gratitude. Sadly, this isn’t the case everywhere. Terry and I have lived in the North and the West and this same tendency to express appreciation isn’t as prevalent there. As a matter of fact, the attitude is almost one of, “why should I say thanks, you simply did what you were supposed to do.”
Samuel Leibowitz, a brilliant criminal lawyer, saved 78 people from dying in the electric chair. He said that not one of them ever thanked him. In the heyday of radio, Art King had a program called, “Job Center of the Air.” He supposedly found jobs for 2500 people. He reports that only ten of the recipients ever expressed their appreciation.
An official of the United States Postal Service, in charge of the Dead Letter Box in Washington, D.C., reported, one year, that he had received hundreds of thousands of letters addressed to “Santa Claus” asking Santa to bring many things, but after Christmas, only one letter came to the box thanking Santa Claus for bringing the toys they’d asked for. There’s something within the spirit of far too many people, that resists the simple act of saying, “Thank you.” Maybe it’s because we somehow expect to receive something, that somehow we’re entitled to a service and therefore we don’t feel the need to express our gratitude. Consider, for a moment, the event shared by St. Luke in our gospel reading, in the life of Jesus.
Jesus was walking with His disciples along the border between Samaria and Galilee. When they entered a village, they came upon a band of lepers–ten in all–both Jews and Samaritans. It’s amazing, isn’t it, how mutual misery can cut across social, religious and racial lines? When you’re hurting, like these lepers were hurting, you cannot afford the silly prejudices that afflict the rest of humanity. But despite their misery and social status, somehow when these lepers saw Jesus, they knew He could help them. Maybe it was His reputation. Maybe it was something in His appearance or possibly the way Jesus carried Himself? Or more probable, it was the expression of love on His face. Some people, it seems, have something about themselves that automatically attracts the attention of others.
It’s been said that Charles G. Finney, the early 19th century revivalist, made a greater impact on America than anyone else of his time. He had no entourage, no press corps, no public relations advance team, no public address system. Yet, during one six-week period, it’s reported that 30,000 people each week professed faith in Christ under his preaching. His secret? Even his most vigorous detractors begrudgingly admitted that he had an air of authority about him that commanded attention and respect.
They told of one time when he walked into a textile mill in New York State. Before he was introduced, before he’d said a single word, all eyes turned on him. And even more remarkably, many asked how to get right with God. Nearly the entire work force repented of their sins and professed faith in Christ. He had an authority that captured their attention. One might expect that Jesus had an even greater “air of authority” than that. “Jesus, Master,” the lepers cried out, “Have mercy upon us.” And as the compassionate Messiah, how could Jesus deny their request? After all, that’s one of the reasons why He’d come. Jesus came to bring the kingdom; not a kingdom of power and might but one of loving service.
This is something I think we sometimes forget, that even in the church, that giving loving service is a big part of our calling. Sometimes we get so busy doing church, that we forget to be the church. There’s a humorous story about a man who injured his thumb on the job. He was told by his foreman to go to the clinic. He stepped inside the clinic and saw an empty room with only a desk and two chairs. Toward the back of the room there were two doors, one marked, “Illness” and the other marked, “Injury.” The man thought to himself, “I’m not sick, I just hurt my thumb.” So he walked through the door marked “Injury.” He found himself in a second room. It too was also empty except for a desk and two chairs.
Toward the back there were two more doors, one marked “Internal,” the other marked “External.” The man thought, “It’s my thumb that’s hurt, not something inside.” So he walked through the door marked “External.” Again he found himself in yet another room. As with the others, it too was empty except for a desk and two chairs. Toward the back of the room there were two doors, one marked, “Therapy” and one marked “Treatment.” He thought to himself, “I don’t need counseling or therapy. What I really need is to have this thumb treated.” He walked through the door marked, “Treatment.” This time he found himself in a fourth room. As with the previous three, it was also empty except for a desk and two chairs.
Toward the back of the room there were again two doors–one was marked “Major” and the other marked “Minor.” He thought to himself, “This isn’t a major illness or injury, it’s just my thumb that’s hurt.” So he walked through the door marked “Minor.” This time he finds himself outside the clinic on the street. Puzzled, he walked back to his work area. When the foreman saw him he said, “Were they able to help you?” The man said, “I’m not sure–but I’ll tell you one thing, that’s the best organized outfit I’ve ever seen!”
Organization and programs are wonderful things, but the question we need to be asking is, are people really being helped? That’s the only question to be asked about a clinic and that’s the only question to be asked about a church. Yes, to be effective, we need to be organized; we need programs. However, the best organized church with the finest programs in the world might as well be torn down if it isn’t helping people. One of Jesus’ main reasons for coming was to reach out to people. So, when He encountered these lepers, He automatically ministered to them. However, on this occasion, He took a most unusual approach to His task. Instead of laying hands on them or speaking a word of healing, He said to them, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” It’s a rather interesting response when you think about it.
Old Testament law required the cured leper to have his cure validated by a temple priest. But when Jesus responded to their request, these men hadn’t yet been healed. Jesus was requiring an act of faith out of them. They were to begin their pilgrimage to show themselves to the temple priests even before their healing was complete! They first had to obey and step out in an act of faith. And from that act of faith, something marvelous happened.
St. Luke tells us that as they went, their skin began to show signs of healing. Within moments their open wounds closed and disappeared. They were suddenly and wondrously healed. No longer would they be outcasts in their community. No longer would they be rejected physically, mentally and spiritually even by their own families. They were made clean. They were restored to their community, to their families and even to their place of worship. You can imagine their reaction; the jumping, the shouting, the elation. But what about their appreciation and praise to God?
What a celebration that must have been–these men with decaying and disfigured bodies suddenly discovered that they’d been made whole. Surely they were delirious with joy, and yet only one of them went back to Jesus to say, “Thank you.” And that one was a Samaritan. This fact was important to Luke, whose Gospel was directed mainly to the Gentiles. It was the Samaritan who returned to give thanks. “Were not ten cleansed?” Jesus asked. “Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” And He said to that grateful Samaritan, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
As the pastors and I were looking over the readings on Tuesday, I raised a question concerning the 10 lepers. From the reading we can suppose that 9 of the 10 were Jews. Now I want to be cautious here. The Bible doesn’t say that explicitly. However, as long as we’re careful, it’s good to explore possibilities. I commented that maybe the problem here, was that the 9, being Jews, felt that they were healed because Jesus was a Jew and that it was His duty to heal them. But it was different for the Samaritan.
The Samaritans were seen as outsiders, as half-breeds, as something akin to the Gentiles. As far as they were concerned, they weren’t entitled to anything from the Jewish people or from Jesus for that matter. So I can imagine that when this outcast was included in the healing work of Jesus his surprise was even greater. So much so that he turned back from his task of seeing the priest in order to say thanks. After I brought this up, I followed this question up with a second. Are we, as Christians, too often like the 9 Jewish lepers when it comes to the grace, mercy and blessings of God?
I wondered that if we, as children of God, somehow expect God to show His mercy to us just because we’re a part of His church? Do we take for granted His gifts of forgiveness and healing just because we come to church and claim to be Christians? If we’ve fallen into this trap, then we need to hear Paul’s words to the Thessalonians; “give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thess. 5:18) Or, as Joyce Meyer says, we need to have an “Attitude of Gratitude.”
Most people would agree that we have a lot to be thankful for. After all, many of us live a lifestyle full of conveniences. We live in comfortable homes, wear nice clothes, and have reliable transportation. We have no shortage of clean water or healthy food. We have access to quality healthcare and education, and basically live a good life with a lot of freedom, safety and security.
While it’s easy to take these wonderful blessings for granted—and sometimes get into the bad habit of focusing on what we don’t have—millions of people around the world live without the basic necessities of life. Think about it: Those without a place to live would love to have a house to clean, yet a homeowner is more likely to complain about cleaning their home. A person without any transportation dreams of having a car to drive, while someone who owns a car is more likely to complain about the cost of regular maintenance and unexpected repairs. It’s easy to forget how blessed we are and to begin to expect that we’re somehow entitled to what we have because of this reason or that. According to Ms. Meyer, maintaining an attitude of gratitude is something we need to do on purpose.
First, we need to constantly return to God and give Him praise because it’s good for us. One of the best things we can do throughout the day is praise God while we work. No matter what you’re trying to build—a home, a marriage, a business, financial security, or even an exercise plan—we can worship God as we work.
Another thing we can learn to do, is to enjoy the seemingly insignificant blessings that we often overlook…little things like getting dressed, driving to work, going to the grocery store, sending emails, and hundreds of other routine activities of life. It’s where the majority of our time goes, so why not learn to appreciate and enjoy them? Choosing an attitude of thanksgiving not only honors God…it’s good for us!
Second, praise brings us closer to God. The Bible says that God inhabits the praises of His people (see Psalm 22:3). We need to praise God because we love Him, we appreciate all He’s done for us and for the innumerable blessings He gives us each day. Praising God, draws us closer to Him, and when we do that in a worship setting, such as this, it helps us hear the Word more clearly, receive it gladly, and to hold on to it through faith. Third, praise brings perspective.
The truth is, God doesn’t need our praise or approval. We don’t have to thank Him in order to make Him happy, to satisfy some spiritual requirement, or to try to get Him to do something else for us. Giving thanks to God each day is simply a way to show Him how grateful we are for who He is. Regularly giving thanks to God not only helps us fully realize how He’s working in our lives, it gives us a new perspective—our mind is renewed, our attitude is improved, and according to Psalm 16:11, we’re filled with joy.
As humble and grateful disciples, praise and thanksgiving should naturally flow from us. It’s a thankful heart attitude that says, “I love You, Lord. I worship You Lord. I thank You for all you’ve done, are doing, and will do for me in the future. So for your love, mercy, forgiveness and numerous blessings, I thank you Lord. Each day that we’re given is a precious gift from God. We can adopt an attitude of entitlement and somehow think that God owes us something, or, we can choose to have a thankful attitude and live each day full of joy…simply because God is gracious and merciful. And there’s something else to consider, saying thank you is a statement of our character.
Is there anything that makes us think less of a person than to give a gift and never receive a simple, “Thank you” in return? Ideally, I know, we shouldn’t give expecting anything in return. And yes, I know, there are certain occasions that it takes a lot of time and energy to acknowledge each and every gift. However, saying “Thank you” is one of those things in life that separates the sheep and the goats. Everyone may feel gratitude, but to go to the trouble of expressing that gratitude is a sign of character. It says something about the kind of person we are. Another thing to consider is that saying “Thank you” is also a statement of grace.
Perhaps the greatest barrier to saying, “thank you” for many of us is our pride. We don’t like acknowledging our dependence on anybody–even God. We fancy ourselves to be self-made persons. We like to think that we have no one to thank but ourselves. It’s a little naïve, wouldn’t you say, considering each one of us have had at least some help along the way.
Finally, saying “thank you” is a statement of worship. Isn’t that a good part of the reason we’re here today? That’s what our hymns are about and our offering and every part of our worship. It’s our humble way of saying, “Thank you.” That’s why worship isn’t optional for the Christian. It’s what being a Christian is all about. Native American Chief Dan George in his book, My Heart Soars, describes that kind of gratitude when he tells about his love for his father.
Chief George writes, “I remember as a little boy, fishing with him up Indian River and I can still see him as the sun rose above the mountain top in the early morning . . . I can see him standing by the water’s edge with his arms raised above his head while he softly moaned . . . ‘Thank You, Thank You.’ It left a deep impression on my young mind.”
Isn’t that why we’re here today? Haven’t we come today to say, “Thank You . . . Thank You . . . for forgiveness, for His care and watch over us and for the bounty the of blessings that we receive every day? Having an attitude of gratitude toward God does so much for us. Saying thank you is a statement of our character. It’s a statement of our faith. And it’s the reason for our worship. We’ve all been so very blessed and touched by God, so let’s adopt an attitude of gratitude and like the Samaritan leper, take time to stop what we’re doing and give God thanks.
Amen.