Reflection on Luke 17:1-9 (Thanksgiving Eve)

I will tell you an amazing truth.  God cares about you a lot, and because of that amazing love, you have been gifted beyond measure.  There is so much for which we can be thankful.  But, I do not need to tell you what to be thankful about.  You have certainly shared these things around the dinner table. 

Because this question of thankfulness is on people’s minds, I have been polling people over the past few weeks.  Some of the answers that I have gotten are the ones that we all can appreciate a great deal like family, friends, home, and Christ’s forgiveness. 

However, some answers I heard were not so common answers, but they were still absolutely true; like nice leather shoes, bright paint, Band-Aids, kisses, the couch, tickles, music, and the ever popular AAA battery! 

I confess to you, God forgive me, that I have never in my life considered the AAA battery a gift from God.  I send my apologies to AAA battery makers from around the world.  I in no way have intended to denigrate or forget the gift that God has given us through you and the AAA battery.

As a matter of fact, most things throughout my day completely pass through my hands and past my eyes without me even giving any of them a second thought.  There are so many gifts from God, and I miss almost all of them.

So, I guess that I am saying that I identify well with the nine lepers who do not return to Jesus.  Just to remind you of the story: there were ten lepers who cried out to Jesus, and asked for healing.  In response, Jesus told them all to go show themselves to the priest. 

Why?  Well, presumably because Jesus was on a mission to heal all ten, and the priests are the people tasked with the duty of clearing lepers from their edge of town and edge of society quarantine. 

The ten lepers all listened to Jesus and did what was expected of them. 

And that is all well and good.  I am like that.  I just try to go do what is right.  That does not mean that I actually do it, but in general, I try to do what is good and expected.  If Jesus were to tell me to go show myself to the priests, then I to would get up and do what I am told. 

But, in the process of doing what I am told, I have a tendency to set my eyes exclusively on the task given to me.  Because I do that, I am certain that I probably miss a great deal of things.  I probably miss people along the side of the road who need help.  I probably miss the beauty of the violets in the grass along the way…or this time of year…the beauty of the sun shining through the bare tree branches.  I probably miss a great deal because I become very focused on doing what is right and expected.

However, there is this one leper who has his eyes wide open.  He takes the time to look down at his hands.  When he does, he notices that the leprosy is gone.  He looks down and notices that someone…probably Jesus…has provided him with healing.  He looks down and is immediately thankful.  He runs back to Jesus in absolute gratitude, and Jesus commends the foreigner.

Why is this man so filled with the gift of gratitude from God?  Well, it is probably because he is the one who actually took the time to look and see.  He was not distracted by his task of going to the priest.  He was not distracted by his desire to do right and be right.  Instead, he was awake to what Jesus was up to right here and right now.  And, because he was awake, he was filled with the gift of thanks.

“Get up and go on your way;” Jesus says to the tenth leper, “your faith has made you well.” 

Now wait a second here.  I thought that all the lepers were healed.  You thought so too?  So, I went back and looked, and sure enough, all the lepers are healed.  So, what is Jesus talking about here by saying, “your faith has made you well.”? 

Unless…unless the illness was not the only problem.  Unless, just maybe, part of the problem with the nine is that they were so worried about doing what was right and running off to do it that they missed the true gift, being with Jesus.  The tenth leper’s faith has made him well.  His faith has brought him closer to Jesus…literally closer…he ran back to Jesus.  The man’s thankfulness has brought him closer to his Lord and savior.

And, that is why thankfulness is such a gift.  Being thankful draws us closer to God…or let me rephrase that…being thankful allows us to see just how close our Lord is to us. 

How wonderful that the Lord cares so much about your feet to provide the gift of quality shoes.  How wonderful that the Lord cares so much about your ability to see in the dark with your mini-flashlight, that he provides the gift of AAA batteries.  How wonderful that the Lord cares so much about you every single moment you are allowed the gift of breath. 

Thankfulness is the gift that allows us to see it all.  Thank you Lord Jesus.  Thank you.