Listen in on three things I heard this week. First a member told me that she could no longer watch television because of all the attacks raging in the political arena and covered 24/7 in the news. Second a friend shared her new discipline of practicing gratitude every day. Being thankful for the many blessings in her life and how she feels so much better for this joyful practice. Third I heard this story.
Two men were walking through a field one day when they spotted an enraged bull. Instantly, they ran for the nearest fence. The raging bull followed in hot pursuit, and it was soon apparent they wouldn’t make the fence. Terrified, the one shouted to the other, “Put up a prayer, John. We’re in for it!” John answered, “I can’t. I’ve never made a public prayer in my life.” “But you must!” implored his companion, “the bull is catching up to us.” “All right,” screamed John, “I’ll say the only prayer I know, the one my father used to repeat at the table: “O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.”
We laugh because no one wants to be attacked by a bull. The same way I am sure most of us do not want to hear the insults and attacks in this political cycle. I know I don’t awaken with gratitude in my heart for hearing yet again mudslinging. In the story of the ten lepers we just read, there is as much animosity between the Jews and Samaritans as there is in our politics. Imagine a leper colony with democrats and republicans sharing space because of their illness. Jews treated Samaritans like second class citizens. They despised and distanced themselves from each other. Yet Jesus heals both. Jesus heals these 10 people, tells this story of faith, this story of gratitude.
O Lord, make us truly thankful; fill our hearts with gratitude.
Leprosy trumped cultural barriers so that Jews and Samaritans with skin disease grouped together. Luke tells us this group of lepers adhered to the ancient law requiring them to keep a distance from healthy people. From afar they shouted, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Our Lord looked toward them. What a pathetic sight they must have been. Torn clothes, mussed hair, disfigured hands, pain and loneliness etched in their faces. Jesus’ heart warmed and he uttered words they longed to hear. “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” (The law stated that a leper could be pronounced cured only after a priest made a proper skin inspection and gave permission for the leper to return home.) When these ten lepers went to see the priest, indeed, they were clean. What a day that must have been. How glad children must have been to greet a returning mother. How much rejoicing there must have been when a father reached forth his arms to welcome his child back from the leper ghetto. How happiness must have traveled throughout the region. Ten lepers healed in one day!
Only one returns to say thanks.
O Lord, make us truly thankful; fill our hearts with gratitude.
“Karl Barth, renown theologian, was fond of saying the basic human response to God is gratitude- not fear and trembling, not guilt and dread, but thanksgiving! C. S. Lewis wrote, ‘I noticed how the humblest and at the same time most balanced minds praised most: while the cranks, misfits, and malcontents praised least. Praise almost seems to be inner health made audible’” (F. on W, C4, pg.165).
The Samaritan leper gave praise, returned to Jesus to say thank you. He fell at his feet saying thank for what Jesus did for him. Jesus gave him new life, life filled with love and community and hope. The other nine also had that gift, healed of their physical malady, but didn’t bother to say thank you.
Now we get to the heart of the matter, Jesus connects gratitude with faith. All ten lepers were healed, but it was the faith of one who showed gratitude that made him whole, made him well, saved him. One commentator wrote, “By Jesus’ definition, faith and gratitude are very closely related, that faith without gratitude is not faith at all, and that there is something life-giving about gratitude” (F on the W, C4, pg. 169). This has been true for me. I know that fear and faith cannot coexist in me at the same time. When I get fearful and don’t trust God, my faith wanes and I am less likely to be grateful. But when I start with God and gratitude my faith is much stronger. I simply say thank you to Jesus for what he has done for me and the door of gratitude and faith cracks open. That is why Jesus has the least likely person, the Samaritan, the foreigner, the outcast, to be the one to say thank you. So even when we feel like outcasts in our faith, the best way to get back to God is to start with saying thank you to Jesus.
Gratitude is like a muscle, so we have gotta flex it, move it, strengthen it. Say thank you to God and Jesus for the gifts in your life.
Late great golfing legend Arnold Palmer understood gratitude. He says, “Players complain to me all the time about how hard it is to constantly sign autographs or talk to the press or spend time with amateurs.” “I tell them all the same thing: ‘If you don’t like it, don’t walk out the
He sighed. “A lot of players just don’t understand how lucky we all are to be doing what we do. I look at my life and all I can do is be thankful for everything I’ve been given by so many people over so many years.”
Author John Feinstein adds this comment, “Maybe that is the key to Arnold Daniel Palmer. After all these years; after playing golf with six presidents; after having signed every autograph; after granting every interview request; after making several thousand golfers wealthy men; he looks back and talks not about what he did for golf, but about what golf did for him.” (John Feinstein, A Good Walk Spoiled Days and Nights on the PGA Tour Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1996, pp. 197-198).
Gratitude is not about what we have done in life, but about what God has done for you. “When Christians practice gratitude, (we) come to worship not just to ‘get something out of it,’ but to give thank and praise to God. Stewardship is transformed from fundraising to the glad gratitude of joyful givers. The mission of the church changes from ethical duty to the work of grateful hands and hearts” (Feasting on the Word, C4, pg. 168). When you make a financial commitment to this church, turn in a pledge card, you are personally writing a thank you note to God. You are returning to your Lord, falling at his feet and saying faithfully, gratefully, Thank you!
“Writer Anne Lamott says her two favorite prayers are, in the morning, ‘Help me. Help me. Help me.’ And at bedtime, ‘Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.’ For me, it is that and the weekly ritual of standing and singing, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow’” (F on the W, Buchanan, C4, pg. 169).
O Lord, make us truly thankful; fill our hearts with gratitude.
Gratitude is a choice, a practice, a discipline. Like my friend we can each start our day with a moment of gratitude, meditating on the gifts God gives us. We can say thank you to God for everything we have in this life- Carla shared her gratitude with us this morning. In this moment what are you grateful to God for? For what do you want to say “Thank you” to Jesus? AMEN
