“PRAISE TO GOD!”

NOTES FOR A sermon based upon Luke 17: 11-19

By Rev. Charles J. Tomlin, BA, MDiv, DMin.

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership, 

November 24^th, 2019

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus¹ was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.

 ¹² As he entered a village, ten lepers¹ approached him. Keeping their distance,

 ¹³ they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

 ¹⁴ When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean.

 ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.

 ¹⁶ He prostrated himself at Jesus'¹ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.

 ¹⁷ Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?

 ¹⁸ Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"

 ¹⁹ Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." (Lk. 17:11-19 NRS)

INTRO.   Our friend Judy called:  “Come, Meet some new friends…, friends from Romania.

----- We did.  Maria and Leviu,  A retired Chemist and a Doctor. 

-----They came to US almost 30 years ago.   Why? 

---Because there was no real change after the Wall Fell.

---Because they had no chance of advancement, after loosing

 all to the Communist. 

                   ---BECAUSE AMERICA IS A GREAT COUNTRY…. FREEDOM.

----They were so thankful.  Both Sons with Doctorates.  They speak Language.  They are US Citzens.   They freely practice their Orthodox Faith.

As we approach Thanksgiving… What brings you ‘joy’ and gives you ‘a spirit’ of Thankfulness?

---Today’s text, is unique to Luke and concludes this series. 

----It’s also one of the most popular texts for Thanksgiving in the Lectionary, used by both Protestants and Catholics.

I.   THE OTHERS…WHERE ARE THEY?

A.  The MOST OBVIOUS part of this story

     ----ONLY ONE Leper, healed by Jesus, actually ‘turned back to give thanks’ (16).

     ----While 10 where Healed…ONLY ONE GIVES THANKS. 

----That’s  a sad percentage…. But it reflects a reality we still see.

----WE ARE GIVEN GIFTS:  LIFE,  AIR,  HEALTH,  FAMILY, FOOD, FRIENDS

       ---How do we show our thanks?

----AS NT WRIGHT ASKS:  “What Makes us SHOUT FOR JOY?”  Especially this year.   It does us good to follow the advice of the SONG:

‘Count Your many blessings…. Name them, or list them, One by One!

         ---Another Popular Hymn at Thanksgiving:  “Come, Ye Thankful People Come!..

---This Song reminds us of those first Pilgrims, Christian Puritans who landed at PLYMOUTH, and as the story goes, after a frightening Voyage to America, made friends with the Indians and invited them a big feast to GIVE THANKS TO GOD….

----There’s some truth in this story, and some myths too.  The BIGGEST TRUTH, is that Thanksgiving didn’t get started in American, it was a REALITY these Pilgrims brought with them…  A day to Give Thanks was a THREE DAY FEAST, they had practiced long before.   It was natural to BRING THEIR FAITH….AND THEIR THANKFULNESS… which was already a custom for them, but took on NEW MEANING in their new home….

-----IT WAS THEIR CUSTOM TO ‘COME AND BE THANKFUL TO GOD’…

-----IN THIS SONG we hear an invitation to us, TO COME TO THIS TABLE…which was not just a table of the FIRST PILGRIMS, but it was already the normal custom of EVERY TRUE CHRISTIAN to make a special effort to express our gratefulness and gratitude to God.   BUT YOU HAVE TO COME, not just alone, but TOGETHER…

---Why don’t some PEOPLE STILL COME?  Why have some left the table of Thanksgiving in our culture?   Is it loss of Belief in God?  Is it loss of love for Christ’s Body, the Church?  Are they too distracted, too busy?  Are they just becoming more pagan by the minute?  

     AN ARTICLE I READ RECENTLY GAVE SEVERAL REASONS: https://www.christiantoday.com/article/why-do-people-stop-going-to-church-and-what-can-we-do-about-it/107874.htm

         (1)  Church Going in irrelevant in this culture.   Either have lost ‘faith’ with the people or find it out of date—not relating to real life today.

         (2)  What the Church Does Is INCREDIBLE.   It’s not so much that they don’t believe in God, but that we don’t see God as they do.  Christianity Today suggests that Evangelicals getting too deep into politics and political correctness (both ways to right, or to left) will hurt more than help the cause of Christ.

         (3)  The Church Overpromises and UnderDelivers.  There is so much talk, hype about love, justice, optimism, that LIFE DOESN’T MEASURE UP to what the church teaches.   THE church forgot to mention the DOWN SIDE, and develop a THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS…OF SUFFERING AND GRACE.

Perhaps this is part of the reason why people don’t ‘come’ as they once did.   I think it might go deeper, that according to Jesus’ parable of the Sower, some seeds never had good roots—were picked up,  dried up, or chocked out.  

B.  There is SOMETHING GAINED IN THE HUMAN PERSON

-----who knows how to be ‘thankful’, just as something ‘lost’ in the person who doesn’t.     We can easily see this, can’t we?

         ---OLD SAYING: 

“Sharper than a serpent's tooth are the words of a thankless child”.  

Good parents, schools, TEACH ‘THANKFULNESS’  and GRATITUDE AS VIRTUE.   

This is something we HAVE TO BE RAISED INTO…IT DOESN’T COME naturally, nor is it automatic…. It’s not only Christian too.   Being thankful is a Human Virtue,  that must be taught, learned, made to be a ‘habit’ and a behavior that is practiced in our daily lives.

EX.  HOW DO WE TEACH THE VIRTUE OF GRATITUDE?   Well sometimes, LIFE TEACHES US, because, like this Leper, we were sick, injured, were in a crisis and receive unexpected healing or help.  

-----But there is still more.   PERHAPS this Leper’s RELIGION…HIS CULTURE… OR HIS PARENTS TAUGHT HIM…   WE don’t know exactly where it came from, but it wasn’t just a mere, automatic, response.  

It didn’t come out of no-where?   ARE taught more than caught

         Virtues, which are behaviors… don’t just happen. 

----GRATITUDE IS A VIRTUE that is MOTIVATED FROM DEEP WITHIN US.

C.  THERE IS SOMETHING LOSS IN THE HUMAN WHO ISN’T GRATEFUL. 

         We’ll talk more about this, but what is most obvious is the negative we feel toward these 9, who were healed, but did not return to say thank you.   You don’t have to explain the ‘negative’ here.  Their lives were ‘saved’, but they didn’t return to thank their Savior.  

         ----WHY DIDN’T THEY RETURN.   Well, Jesus told them to go to their PRIESTS, their very Jewish Priests, and by this time Jesus was a marked man.  Perhaps the Priests told them, that if they acknowledged Jesus, they’d be ostracized, and could not return to their communities, they so longed to belong too.

         -----THERE’S SOMETHING GOING IN THIS STORY, WHICH IS MORE THAN ‘UNTHANKFULNESS’ but we’ll get to that in a moment.

         -----Just allow the picture of 9 ungrateful Healed Lepers stick in your mind.  It’s not a pretty picture.   To have been given a gift of healing, without showing gratitude and thanks.   HOW DARE THEY?  THESE OTHERS---Where Are They? 

II.  THE OTHER…. WHAT HE DOES?

A.   BEYOND THE MOST OBVIOUS PART OF THIS STORY =  THE LESS OBVIOUS.

         The less obvious is very important…It’s not just a story about gratitude and thanksgiving,  but thanksgiving is also a story about INCLUSION.

EX.   Perhaps the most important SYMBOL of Thanksgiving, isn’t the TURKEY, as Much as, THE TABLE…..    Yes, we traditionally have Turkey, but eating Turkey has little meaning without the PEOPLE who share it with us.   TURKEY is a big bird, and not the most tasty bird either.  WE EAT THIS BIG BIRD, not because he’s the best, but because HE’s BIG ENOUGH for a lot of people.  

         ---Even the story of the FIRST Thanksgiving included INDIANS, RIGHT?

WHO WILL BE AT YOUR TABLE?    FAMILY.  FRIENDS.   STRANGERS TOO?   Sometimes our own family can be ‘strange’ too, including us.

         Tables can be very personal, private places, but they can also be places we invite people to share with us.  THAT’S HOW IS WAS WITH ROMANIANS.

        

In this story,  JESUS invites the SAMARITIAN,  the STRANGER, outsider, and FOREIGNER to God’s TABLE….

         Interestingly, the Jews and Samaritans were very much alike, but didn’t like each other.   Samaritan Jews were ‘half-breed’ Jews.  They were the poor people left behind way back when Babylon invaded.  When the Jews returned, since they understood themselves to be God’s people, they didn’t mix with these half Jews.  They understood that the be pure, clean meant something about color of skin, customs, cultures, etc.

EVEN EZRA… said GOD told them not to mix with these people.  IT WOULD ‘POLUTE’ THE HOLY PEOPLE  (Ezra 9:2).

----This was still very much the consensus in Jesus’ Day.   The Samaritan’s shared the same Law, the Same Bible, and the Same God, but they were still looked Down upon by most Jews.  

----JESUS WANTS TO INVITE THEM TO THE TABLE.

---JESUS wasn’t particular about whether the leper was Jew or Samaritan.   Jesus is looking for something that transcends race, gender, and the culture and custom’s of all people.   JESUS IS LOOKING FOR FAITH….FAITH THAT HEALS, not just individuals, but relationships.

B.  IT IS FAITH THAT TRANSCENDS being Samaritan or Jew, and we also see in the Gospels, that Faith can come from Gentiles too.

         ---This is the main reason we have a NT…  That the Gospel based on Faith is more important than anything.  (Gal. 3:28-29 NRS)

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

 ²⁹ And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring,¹ heirs according to the promise.

C.  WHAT DO WE NEED TO TRANSCEND to share FAITH with OTHERS?

         --WHAT JESUS WAS DOING was ‘traveling in the area between Gallilee and Samaria.   TRAVEL HELPS.. Just get out… see, experience, get to know others.

         ---INCLUSION is born out of having ‘knowledge’ of the other….

          

----THE IMAGE OF BORDERLAND is in the news today, because of the refugee Crisis in Europe and in North America too.   We know that in this past couple of years,  ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION has been a ‘hot button’ issue.  Who should we include?  Who should we Exclude?   This is why we have laws to settle these issues, but sometimes the laws are not doing what they should do, now, just as they weren’t in Jesus’ day.

----EX.  Now, when you live in Borderland, you begin to see things differently.  We liked borders, BECAUSE people who lived near the borders were more open to accepting differences and others….  We see people as people..not issues.

------What is important, most important, is that even the people who are very different from us, are much more like us, than different.  

----MOST IMPORTANT to see especially is this story, is that WE CAN IN A FOREIGNER SOMETHING THAT IS MISSING IN US…

EX.  JERRY FALWELL HATED GAYS/LESBIANS….  He even called ELLEN,  ELLEN DEGENERATE….  Her response:  “AT LEAST I GIVE YOU WORK”.

But later in his life,  Jerry supported civil rights for gays, and he wanted to build relationships with Christian Gay groups….  WHAT CHANGED!   Falwell said,  “I still don’t agree with your life choice, but I want to be your friend….”  I DON’T WANT TO CONDEMN YOU….  That’s not my job….

---WE are STILL DEALING WITH ‘WHO’ we invite to the table, aren’t we?  I’m still dealing with it too.   Our culture is changing.  Some of it is good.  Some of it bad.  Church’s have choices to make.   Some see it as compromise.  Some see it as progress… What would Jesus do?

HOW DO WE LIVE IN THE BORDER TOWN?  The question is as alive for us, as it was in Jesus’ day.

III.  THE SAVIOR…WHO HEALS.

So, being thankful, is not simply about ISOLATION, but it’s also about RECONCILIATION…   Who do we need to invite to the Table?   Jesus invited SINNERS to his Table.   He sat, ate, and dinned with them.  HE SPENT a lot of his time in ‘bordertown’.  ARE WE WILLING TO GO THERE?

---- In an age of difference and divisions, Thanksgivng CALLS US TO CONSIDER WHO WE MIGHT INVITE TO GOD’S TABLE,  To our Table, and how we can find FAITH IN THEM that Transcends….DIFFERENCES….

----I Can’t TELL YOU HOW TO DECIDE….Because like you, I struggle with who’s in and who’s out, what’s right, what’s wrong, and what to accept, and what to reject.  

----THE ISSUES ARE HARD… AND THEY AREN’T GOING AWAY…SOON.

 A.  WHAT I CAN TELL YOU… IS ABOUT JESUS.   JESUS included those who had FAITH…. WHOEVER THEY WERE… Woman.  Samaritan…GENTILE…SINNER.

 Jesus saw that as the most important and the most essential trait of a human being.   Faith to trust God, and faith to overcome differences, and faith see have gratitude for healing and hope in life.   JESUS saw that everyone needs Faith…

B.  So, the MOST IMPORTANT POINT OF THIS STORY…is not simply about thankfulness, nor is about inclusiveness, but it’s about WHOLENESS…HEALING…SALVATION  IN AND THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.   

----In this story, while the ‘healing’ came to all 10, the ‘wholeness’---that is salvation which comes only by faith, only came to this one SAMARITAN.   The irony is that salvation that was for Israel only came to the ‘outsider’ and the ‘foreigner’ because it was rejected by the ‘insiders’ and the homefolks. 

----So, DON’T MISS THIS POINT….it’s ONLY THE ONE WHO RETURNED TO BOW BEFORE JESUS WHO WAS SAVED….

C.  Today, this is part of the question too.   Does God save others who don’t ‘bow to Jesus’.  But maybe we should look at it another way.   This God who sent his son to the world, didn’t send him to condemn, but to include.   There is nothing in the saving work of God in Jesus that seeks to exclude anyone.   The world ‘all’ is all over the NT,  it is a salvation for all.

AND THAT’S WHERE WE SHOULD LEAVE IT,  at Thanksgiving, and at anytime.  God has come to SAVE.   It was never meant to be exclusive….  It was mean to call sinners to salvation…..  Jesus himself said,  “He didn’t come to call righteous, but sinners…”   He also said,  “Those aren’t sick, don’t need a physician….”   Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to Father except through him, but it is Jesus who is the DOOR, and the DOOR KEEPER… Not us.

That’s what I like about Thanksgiving…. It’s a time to focus on the positive, the known.   It’s not about wallowing in what we don’t know, can’t know, or is negative about the world or ourselves.   IT FOCUS ON THANKSGIVING…  IT FOCUSES ON GOD… and in this STORY…. IT CALLS US TO FOCUSING ON THE SAVING POWER OF JESUS.   He’s the healer.  He’s the redeemer.  He’s the reconciler.    Let’s focus on HIM….  AND WHEN WE FOCUS ON HIM…we see BORDERS AND BARRIERS LESS AND LESS.

EX.  I brought black friends from school home…. Parents were shocked, even though supportive….

WHEN CHARLESTON SHOOTING…. I mentioned it too family members and they rejected my compassion…. THEY STILL BELIEVED THE STRANGER, FOREIGNER, CAN’T COME TO THE TABLE OF THANKS…

WHAT ABOUT YOU?   WHO WILL YOU INVITE TO THE TABLE OF HOPE AND HEALING IN JESUS CHRIST?   ARE YOU STUCK IN YOUR JERUSALEM… OR ARE YOU WILLING TO GO THROUGH SAMARIA….?