When To Thank God
Luke 17: 11-19
Luke 17:11 While traveling to Jerusalem, he passed between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 When he saw them, he told them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And while they were going, they were cleansed.
15 But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God. 16 He fell facedown at his feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan.
17 Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Didn’t any return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he told him, “Get up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.”
This miracle of Jesus is somewhat different than his other healing miracles. Typically, Jesus speaks or commands that a healing take place and the healing takes place right then and there, right in front of their eyes. Here that is not the case. Jesus does not say, “Be cleansed,” and neither are they healed on the spot. Instead he tells them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” This was an Old Testament directive found in Leviticus 13-14. There we see that people with some sort of skin disease or leprosy were instructed to go a priest who would examine them to find out whether the skin disease they had was serious. If it was, they were declared to be “unclean,” and they had to separate themselves. If it could be determined after one or two examinations by the priests that they did not have a serious skin disease or that their serious skin disease was no longer serious, they would be declared “clean” and they could rejoin their fellow Jews. The whole process and examination would take up to two weeks.
These ten lepers, suffering greatly from leprosy and alienation from other human beings, had heard about Jesus and his ability to heal. They found him. So they pleaded with Jesus to have mercy on them. But he does not say, “Okay, be healed.” He says, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” The ten lepers, not yet having been healed, “went.” In other words, without seeing with their eyes right then and there and without hearing a clear promise that they would be healed, they went. They had a hope, a confidence, a trust that that their suffering would come to an end, that a healing would take. The authoritative words of Jesus, “Go and show yourselves to the priests” were enough, they instilled within them a confidence, a hope, a trust in his power and mercy, in the midst of their suffering.
But something went wrong with nine of them. Though they had been instantly and completely healed there was no thanks. This was very odd. It should have been a no-brainer.
And though it is very odd and a no-brainer, this sort of thing is not uncommon. It happens way too often. Jesus shows great displeasure: “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” “The Samaritan is putting to shame those who show know better!“
You and I are Christians. We know from whom all our blessings flow; every single one. We know all good things are tender mercies from God our Father and his Son our Savior Jesus Christ. We know, or we ought to know.
So what happened to these nine? They started out so well: they came to Jesus in faith and confidence; they believed in him and his word. They were healed. What happened?
Martin Luther believes that all ten right after they were healed actually went to the priests to go through the whole examination process. I think Luther is probably right. (Keep in mind that the scriptural accounts do not include all the details or the lengthier picture.) So, all ten right away possibly go to the priests, are examined, and show themselves to be completely healed, miraculously so, and this healing was the result of this man who is proclaiming himself to be the promised Messiah and implying he is the Son of God. This would have been the faith all ten of them had when they came for their examination before the priests.
Now if you know anything about the Jewish priests at this time, they are almost unanimous in their view of Jesus. And they would have put tremendous pressure on the ten lepers, saying to them, “He is not who you lepers think he is. He is blasphemer, usurping for himself those things that rightly and only belong to God. If he did in fact heal you, he did so by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.” And the priests would have worn down nine out of ten lepers, finally robbing them of their faith. So of course, they would not return to Christ, let alone give him thanks.
But the Samaritan persevered, not without a struggle. Probably a great struggle. The pressure from the priests and the nine other lepers would have been immense. But his faith in Christ, though tried, did not fail. And at the end of his fiery trial before these unbelievers he would have said, “No, I will not cave. This man Jesus is who he claims to be. It is obvious.” (see also John 9). And he “returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God. He fell facedown at his feet, thanking him.“
There are two lessons here I want to bring to our attention. One is a warning. Faith can be lost. It can cave under pressure from the world and Satan. We see this today with what is called being “woke”, “critical theory,” or “social justice theory”, a way of thinking that untethers or separates justice from the ten commandments, creating sins that are not sins and ignoring other sins that are sins. It is wreaking havoc everywhere today, especially within education and businesses, especially among young people. But we also have to guard ourselves against the opposite. Where a true injustice occurs and we do not love our neighbor when we should and can, faith can be lost there as well. This is a message we find in John’s epistles and in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Faith can be lost. And the evidence of lost faith is failing to come to worship, failing to praise and thank God our Savior. Where there is no worship of and thanks to God the Son, there is no true faith. Luther put it this way:
Christ exercises [his love] where it is lost and receives ingratitude from the majority; ten lepers were cleansed and only one thanks him, on the nine his love is lost. … And while they were thus released from bodily leprosy, they thereby fell into spiritual leprosy, which is a thousand times worse
(http://www.martinluthersermons.com/Luther_Lenker_Vol_5.pdf).
The pressure is and will be upon you as well. So we need to heed the words of Peter who well knew what pressure upon a believer can do: “Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.” (1 Pet. 5:8). Seek and pray for steadfastness and perseverance in the true faith, for you and your children.
A second lesson is this: you are taught what your faith actually does. The Samaritan leper had probably been harassed. He ended up all by himself. It can be pretty lonely for believers. This is why we gather together. And sometimes that means our faith can be shaky, it can be weak. But if it is there, in strength or weakness, your faith is the most amazing thing.
And this is what Jesus points out to the lonely but faithful Samaritan. He reminds him what his faith in this Jesus – simple faith in Jesus alone – what it does: “Your faith has saved you.” Not merely healed you, but saved you.
And your faith, brothers and sisters, has saved you. You trust, your confidence, your hope in Christ, be it weak or strong, has saved and will save you. In Christ your sins are forgiven, no questions asked. And on the last day when Christ returns and raises you from the dead, you will be standing there in absolute perfection – spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally. And you will say, “It is all because of you, Christ. You did it all.” And then your praise and thanks will be perfect too.
Now I need to mention one more thing in view of the hymn we are about to sing. It seems a bit strange to have this hymn, #462, as one of the hymns for Trinity 14 where the theme is giving thanks. For this hymn says very little about praise and thanks and a lot about misery. So let me give one explanation why this hymn is here. This hymn is based entirely upon Psalm 42, a psalm that focuses on misery and depression. It reads in part,
1 As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God.
2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, “Where is your God?”
4 I remember this as I pour out my heart: how I walked with many, leading the festive procession to the house of God, with joyful and thankful shouts. …
6 I am deeply depressed; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan …
8 The Lord will send his faithful love by day; his song will be with me in the night — a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about in sorrow
because of the enemy’s oppression?” …
11 Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.
As Christians, we praise and thank God every day for a multitude of things, including daily bread and forgiveness. We do this privately and we do this in church. We do so regardless of what life throws at us. But there is another kind of praise and thanks, you might say, reserved for unique moments, a praise brought about by finally experiencing a deliverance, a rescue that has been delayed or postponed. God’s mercies can be delayed and often are. And therefore our praise and thanks are delayed as well. It’s like a man going in for a much-needed surgery, but he goes in with confidence that things will turn out well – the surgeon has told him so. He probably would not say thank-you for the successful surgery before the surgery begins. He says thank-you to the surgeon after experiencing the successful surgery.
The psalmist in Psalm 42 is suffering and depressed. He had previously experienced joy, peace, and precious fellowship. And for whatever reason these are now gone. What does he do? Like the lepers, he pleads for mercy. He also reminds himself to “hope in God,” to have the confident expectation that things will turn around, that the surgery will be successful, that rescue and deliverance are on their way. And finally, he knows that when he does experience that help, that rescue, that deliverance, when that peace, joy, and fellowship are restored, he will “praise him, my Savior and my God.” Calling out for mercy to the only one who can help, having a sure hope in this God, experiencing that help, deliverance, or rescue, followed by this unique and wonderful worship and praise.
I bring this to our attention because sometimes we might think as Christian we are supposed to walk around joyful, happy, with a smile on your face all the time, and praising God left and right. Tell that to the psalmist! I remember years ago a pastor came to me who was suffering greatly. So I told him, “Try not to think about these painful things so much, try to remember all the good things you have.” And he said, “That’s easy for you to say.” And he was right. His suffering was real. On the other hand, however, we want to guard against wallowing in our misery. Such wallowing can take place when we fail to call out to God for mercy or when we lose all hope and trust that God at some point in some way will be merciful. We do not want to slump into despair, into complete hopelessness. The mercies of God may be hidden but they are not nonexistent, they may be delayed but not forever. The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ assure us of this.
So, brothers and sisters, in the midst of any depression you go through or misery you experience, “put your hope in God,” in the Son who has redeemed you and who is right now sitting at the right hand of his Father, watching over you. And when you do experience his merciful deliverance, rescue, or healing; when joy, peace, and fellowship are restored – whether these happen here in time and there in eternity – with your heart and your voice along with your fellow believers, remember to “still praise him, your Savior and your God.”
Amen.
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