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Reading: Luke 12-19 (NKJV)
12 Then as He
entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood
afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices
and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 So when He
saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the
priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of
them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified
God, 16 and fell down on his face at His
feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
17 So Jesus
answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the
nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory
to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to
him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Luke 12-19
(NKJV)
Jesus Christ heals 10, only one thanks Him
Thanksgiving Day is a day filled with spiritual meaning, despite the way most of the United States celebrates it: football games, feast-size eating, travel to visit friends and relatives. There is nothing wrong with any of these things. And in a way, I rank Thanksgiving Day up there with Christmas and the Easter season's Holy Week events, as No. 3 on the list of significant seasons in the year.
Why? It is a time we can use to reflect on something other than ourselves. It helps us to remember that we all have something for which we can be thankful. The reading from the Gospel of Luke shows us several things to ponder on during the busy holiday week.
God expects us to turn to Him for help. In Luke's account, Jesus was not surprised that the 10 lepers would cry out to him for help. Their situation was desperate, because among other things, their leprosy had caused them to be cut off from their families and communities. It was an unbearable isolation. They were considered "unclean," and could not be approached by healthy people.
Jesus responded to their dire request for healing, and instructed them, as was the Jewish custom of the day, to report themselves to the priests. The priestly confirmation of healing would allow them to reincorporate into their families and communities, and to resume their normal lives.
One of the 10 was not Jewish; he was a Samaritan, which is why Jesus referred to him as a 'foreigner.' The Samaritan was the only one of the 10 that returned to thank Jesus for healing him.
No doubt the others were thankful too for what they had received, but for some reason they did not consider it important to personally thank the one who had healed them and who had dramatically changed their lives. Perhaps, it didn't take long for them to take the miracle for granted.
Jesus also wondered why the other nine did not come back to thank Him. "Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”
This tells us that God expects us to express our gratitude for His blessings. How can someone who's done something for you tell that you are grateful unless you let them know, better yet show it? Gratitude goes beyond what we may think; it involves an act of the heart that leads to an act of thankfulness. Gratitude is a shared event.
The Samaritan, who belonged to a community that Jewish religious leaders did not fully accept, had more reason not to go looking for Jesus than Jesus' own kinsmen. There was constant friction between the two camps. But, the Samaritan was overwhelmed with gratitude that he had to seek out Jesus; he had to personally thank Him.
In an act of humility, the Samaritan threw himself down at Jesus' feet, and in this way he also expressed his total dependency on the one who had the power to make him whole. The Samaritan had understood - and acknowledged - the source of the miracle he lived to experience.
Thanksgiving Day is used to commemorate certain events that took place in the early history of the United States, led then by religious Puritans and Pilgrims. There are competing dates and events in our national history that claim to be the nation's first Thanksgiving Day. Competing to be thankful, that is a good thing ....
Needless to say, the United States is one of only a handful of countries that observes an "official" thanksgiving day. According to Wikipedia, Thanksgiving , is observed by the United States, Canada, Liberia, Grenada, Saint Lucia, the Australian territory of Norfolk Island and the Dutch municipality of Leiden. It begs the question - what about the others? Worldometers Countries says there are 195 countries in the world.
On this Thanksgiving Day, let us consider the many ways that we are blessed, and show God our gratitude. There are many ways to do this, such as visiting shut-ins, inviting someone new to dinner with the family, donating to the poor, sending a thank you card to someone who blessed you, and so on.
I like the way that some believers in traditional African-American congregations express their gratitude during services: 'if you woke up today, thank God. If you have breath and your heart is beating, thank God'.... We often don't realize that we actually have something to be thankful for, not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every single day of our lives.
Diana Washington Valdez
