Rudyard Kipling was a great British poet whose writings have been a blessing to many and brought a fortune to the writer. A newspaper reporter came up to him once and said, "Mr. Kipling, I just read that somebody calculated that the money you make from your writings amounts to over one hundred dollars a word." The reporter reached into his pocket and pulled out a one hundred dollar bill and gave it to Kipling and said, "Here's a one hundred dollar bill, Mr. Kipling. Now you give me one of your hundred dollar words." Upon receipt of the bill, Rudyard Kipling looked at the money, put it in his pocket and said, "Thanks!"
Well, the word thanks is certainly a one hundred dollar word. In fact, I would say it is more like a million dollar word. "Thanks" is the one word that is too seldom heard, too rarely spoken, and too often forgotten.
In today's Gospel story in Luke 17 "thanks" is a word used by only 10% of those who had cause for it.
I. Jesus' Healing of the Ten Lepers (vs. 14)
Ten men had a dreaded disease known as leprosy. The lepers suffered both physical discomfort as well as the loneliness of being social outcasts. Those who had been diagnosed as lepers by the priests were required to separate themselves from the community. That's why these men stood afar off from Jesus as He entered the village on this day.
When they saw Jesus they raised their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" So Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priests. The priests would be the ones to confirm the lepers' healing. The lepers were outcasts for religious reasons not for medical reasons. Those covered completely with the disease, so that they had only one color of skin, were allowed to return to the community, because they were no longer lepers, though just as sick. Once they began to heal, however, they were classified as lepers and were isolated again. The only thing that would religiously cleanse a leper whose wounds were partially healed would be a miracle of complete healing. And this is what these 10 lepers got--a complete healing from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you know how the lepers felt when they were healed? Sure you do, you know complete healing from sin, if you've asked Jesus for forgiveness and accepted Jesus as Lord of your life. In John 8:34-35, Jesus answers the Pharisess by saying, "Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."
Perhaps, there are ones here today who know what it's like to be healed from a physical disease as bad, if not worse, than leprosy. Your healing may have come on the brink of physical death, whether you knew it or not. Still others may know the victory of being set free from a destructive habit or attitude.
II. The Minority that said, "Thanks". (vs. 15-16)
What happened after this miracle? When one of the lepers saw that he was healed, he returned and with a loud voice praised God, and fell down on his face at Jesus' feet, giving Him thanks. This Samaritan, the one leper who returned with gratitude, shows us two things about thanksgiving.
a. Giving thanks belongs with praise and worship of God. (vs. 15)
The grateful leper both praised God and gave thanks to God's Son Jesus Christ. Wherever you find genuine praise and worship of God, thanksgiving will be there also. Thanksgiving and praise have often been linked together in the worship of God. The Levites, who served in the temple in the Old Testament, were directed as part of their duty in 1 Chronicles 23:30, to stand every morning and evening to both thank and praise the Lord.
b. Those who realize the extent of their blessings are the ones who give thanks (vs. 16)
The leper who returned to give thanks was a Samaritan. Samaritans were foreigners in the eyes of Jews. The Samaritan people were shamed because they came from the lineage of mixed marriages between Jews and Gentiles. When the Jews wanted to insult Jesus real good in John 8:48, they said, "We say that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"
Samaritans and Jews didn't associate. That's what makes this story as well as that of the Good Samaritan so unusual. This Samaritan leper would have had no reason to expect a Jewish teacher like Jesus to pay him any attention, much less heal him. The Samaritan undoubtedly had the most to be thankful for, and he was the only one who returned to give thanks.
The same is true when Jesus talks about the worship of the less than ideal woman who washed His feet with her tears. In Luke 8:47, He says, "Therefore I say to you, her sins which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."
The same is true in our day, the people that are the most grateful to God and love Him the most are those who are aware of the tremendous mercy bestowed upon them.
III. Jesus was Concerned about the Limited Gratitude He Received(vs. 17)
He asked three rhetorical and sarcastic questions to show his concern for 10% thanksgiving. "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"
Jesus didn't receive the thanks He deserved from the ten lepers. This was the case throughout His ministry. While undoubtedly there was a thankful minority who did give thanks to Jesus, as far as the Scriptural record we have to go by, there was no thanks for turning the water into wine, no thanks for the many healings, no thanks for feeding the five thousand, and no thanks from the thief on the cross to whom Jesus declared, "This Day you shall be in paradise."
There is only one other time in the Bible where someone clearly gave thanks to the Lord Jesus while he was on earth. Anna, an 84 year old woman, who was at the Presentation of Jesus at the temple gave thanks to the Lord Jesus. Anna followed up her thanks in Luke 2:38, by speaking of Jesus to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
Paul knew the importance of being thankful and he urged us to have gratitude for the blessings that have come to us through Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:57, he says, "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." The in 2 Corinthians 2:14 Paul says, "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place."
Paul warned Timothy about not being thankful. In 2 Timothy 3:2 he says that in the last days men will be "unthankful". Paul puts being unthankful right beside being, "lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, and slanderers."
We don't thank the Lord Jesus enough, but we have so much to be thankful for. We make time for what is important to us. How come there never seems to be enough time to say, "Thank You Jesus". Many people have their priorities messed up.
On this Thanksgiving Sunday, we need to look at the wonderful blessing of our redemption and be thankful. Think about it. Jesus died on the cross for your sins. You can be set free from the power of sin. You can have real peace in your heart. You can have a home in heaven for all eternity, where there will be no more pain, suffering or tears. How much does it cost you? Nothing! How much did it cost Jesus? His life! John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
Are you part of the Thankful Minority?