Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day

26 November 2015

Luke 17:11-19

Were Not Ten Cleansed?

Almighty God, Your mercies are new every morning and You graciously provide for all our needs of body and soul. Grant us Your Holy Spirit that we may acknowledge Your goodness, give thanks for Your benefits, and serve You with willing obedience all our days.

Have you ever helped someone who showed no appreciation? Needless to say you were – disappointed. Perhaps, frustrated. Possibly upset or saddened. Jesus had a similar experience. Ten were miraculously healed. Only one returned to give thanks. What happened to the nine?

1.       This question points to the common failure to give thanks.

A.      The nine who did not return thanks had faith enough to ask but not to thank.

1.       They looked to Jesus for help.  ^“They raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” (v.13)

2.       They obeyed Jesus’ word without question. When he saw them he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went along, they were cleansed. (v.14)

3.       They were glad to be healed but felt little gratitude to the healer.

B.      Are we inclined to ask more often than to thank?

1.       When delivered from a calamity, we perhaps cried out, “Thank God!” But did we continue to live each day in conscious gratitude to God for fulfilling His gracious purpose in our lives?

2.       If things have gone well for us, have we remembered to thank God for those pleasant and successful days?

3.       If things have gone badly for us, have we been able to thank God for the good that can come to us eve through trials?

What happened to the nine? Where are they? Then and now this question points to the common failure to give thanks. We so easily begin to take God’s blessings for granted. In our lives, is there more petitioning than praising?

2.       This question reminds us there is a reason to give thanks.

A.      Jesus healed all ten from an incurable disease.

1.       The Samaritan understood better than the others did the meaning of this healing.

2.       He looked beyond the healing to the healer. Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He fell with his face to the ground at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. (Now he was a Samaritan.)  (vv.15-16)

3.       He grasped the greatness of Jesus.  Then he said to the man, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you well. (v.19)

B.      Jesus has not healed us from leprosy, but for all of us He has done something infinitely greater.

1.       As the Christ of God He died for us to deliver us from Satan, sin, and hell and then rose from the dead to prove His deliverance.

2.       He creates and sustains our faith in Him by means of the Word and sacraments.

C.      Jesus gives us many other things that we request, as well as things for which we may not be asking.

1.       He gives us health and strength to endure illness.

2.       He gives us worldly possessions. If we have little in the way of possessions, we must nevertheless acknowledge that He supplies our daily needs.

3.       He gives us a family in which we give and receive love, friends who support us, and work that fulfills us.

4.       He has given us a country in which we enjoy political freedom and the freedom to worship Him in the way our conscience directs.

What happened to the nine? The question remains. There is reason to give thanks. What we are and have as redeemed people we owe to God. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His mercies endure forever!

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Words –625

Passive Sentences –5%

Readability – 83%

Reading Level -4.4