Greta Weissman among prisoners in Nazi death camp. One spring, she and fellow inmates stood at roll call for hours on end, nearly collapsing with hunger and fatigue. They noticed in the corner of that bleak, horrid, gray place the concrete had broken and a flower had poked its head through. Thousands of women took great pains to avoid stepping on it. It was the only spot of beauty in their ugly and heinous world – and they were thankful for it.
Let’s study the nine unthankful lepers from Luke 17:11-19 in order to learn from their example – let’s be like the lone thankful leper.
WE ALL NEED HELP – 17:11-12:
This Samaritan was “unclean” from the point of view of his race (Samaritan) as well as unclean from the point of view of his health (he was a leper).
All of us have problems. We must put food on our table so we need a grocer. We need to pay our house payment so we need a job. We need medical care so we need a nurse and doctor. We need our carpets cleaned, so we need a carpet cleaner. The list is endless relative to the people who help us out every day.
WE SERVE A MASTER FULL OF MERCY – 17:13-14:
The lepers recognize in Jesus that He has the ability to heal them. So, they cry out or pray for mercy from Jesus. “Mercy “describes the emotional response and resulting action after encountering the suffering or affliction of another” (Mounce, 447). So the lepers cry out for the “kindness” of Jesus to heal them.
God causes the sun to shine on the evil and on the good and sends the rain on the just and the unjust. Why? Because He is a God of mercy.
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GOD DESERVES PRAISE – 17:15-18:
One of the ten healed returns. One. One glorified God with a loud voice. One. The majority of the time, the majority are in error. One. Jesus healed all of them but not all were thankful.
The ten were blessed. The ten were healed. The ten experienced the goodness and kindness of God. The ten tasted the heavenly gift. The ten tasted the good word of God and the power of the age to come. But one returned. One glorified God. One gave thanks to Jesus.
Our worship, our praise to God grows out of – primarily – our thankfulness that God made us and saved us. Thanksgiving is the fundamental emotion that drives us to worship God. Notice the connection between “thanksgiving” and worship” in Psalm 106:1: “Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”
THANKSGIVING BRINGS FURTHER REWARD – 17:19:
Jesus told the Samaritan – “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.” It seems here that Jesus passes from the physical blessing to the spiritual blessing (just as He did before in Mark 5).
Being thankful brings further rewards. When God, it brings further blessings. With our spouse, it will strengthen our relationship with the other and motivate him/her to do more. With our employer, it may bring added honor, responsibilities, even promotions. With our employees, it lights a fire under them to work more and harder – to go the extra mile.
–Paul Holland
