Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Imagine that.

Ten people, healed of a deadly disease,

and only one gives thanks.

Nine ran on ahead to show themselves to the priests,

who would declare them healed, and clean,

and then they could join normal society once again.

Only one remembered to show gratitude

for this miraculous gift of healing.

Only one.

And to make matters worse,

he was a foreigner.

A Samaritan.

For us, a modern-day equivalent might be

a radical Iraqi,

an illegal immigrant,

an Afghani member of Al Qaeda,

you get the idea.

Someone who is immediately suspect

because of his or her nationality

and/or the beliefs associated with it.

A Samaritan returned

to praise God and give thanks.

Nine good Jewish lepers – former lepers –

went off without so much as a "Shalom."

No doubt they felt that,

after all, Jesus was their messiah.

They were God’s chosen people.

So, if he had the gift of healing,

well, then, he owed it to them to cure their leprosy.

The Samaritan entertained no such delusions

about his own worthiness.

All he knew was that somehow,

this man had cured him of his terrible disease,

and somehow, God was behind it all,

and deserved some praise and thanksgiving.

Most of us would like to think that

we are like that Samaritan.

But I think the percentages in the story

are probably more realistic.

Maybe ten percent are like the Samaritan,

thankful, and honest,

that is, giving credit where credit is due.

The other ninety percent of us

are like the other nine lepers,

running to show ourselves off

and then get on with life.

God sends us a gift,

but we credit it in our ledgers

under "accounts receivable."

God blesses us,

but we have become so used to the blessings

that we now take them for granted.

You’ve possibly seen the extreme

of this kind of person …

The one who takes full individual credit

when things go right,

"Look at what I was able to do!";

but who blame God first when things go wrong,

"Why didn’t you let me get the promotion I wanted?"

Most of us aren’t quite that bad … fortunately!

But we’re not the Samaritan either.

We tend to be much better at

asking God for things –

for ourselves or for someone else –

than we are at thanking God

for what has already been given to us.

And I’m not sure whether it’s a symptom or a cause,

but we tend to do the same thing

in our relationships with other human beings.

Probably every one of us here

has felt "taken for granted"

at one time or another.

You see it a lot in marriages:

one spouse says – usually the wife –

"He never tells me he loves me any more."

to which the response usually is,

"I shouldn’t have to. She should just know."

You see it in family life in general:

one member helps another with a project,

lends something, does a favor,

and never hears a word of gratitude.

We do it sometimes in our friendships.

In our relationships at work, and at school.

In fact, it sometimes seems that

the closer we become to people,

the more we take them for granted

and the less appreciative we are.

Which is exactly the reverse

of how it ought to be.

But maybe that’s the problem we have

when it comes to God.

Like the nine Jews in the story,

we know God.

We’re faithful and obedient

at least part of the time.

More so than a lot of people we could name …!

So we’re more demanding … and less thankful.

Ah, but here’s another important detail to think about.

The nine lepers who didn’t give thanks

still remained healed.

Jesus didn’t somehow give them back their leprosy

in order to punish them for being ungrateful.

The gift remains.

And that ought to be good news,

for those of us who are sometimes

less grateful than we ought to be.

God’s gifts are not limited

by our lack of thankfulness.

They still stand,

to remind us of a God

who is better to us than we often are to ourselves.

We’ve all probably heard it said

that God makes rain to fall

on both the just and the unjust alike.

Now that sounds terribly unfair!

Why should people who don’t do God’s will –

who don’t even try to do God’s will –

get just as much of the goodies as someone else?

But in a way, that’s precisely the point.

If it only rained on people who were just,

we would all have withered up and died

a long time ago!

So maybe that’s even another thing to be thankful for –

in addition to everything else –

that God doesn’t give up on us

even when we neglect to be thankful

for all of God’s other gifts!

God continues to give,

continues to bless us,

even when we least deserve it.

Perhaps, because when we least deserve it

is when we most need it.

One last thing to think about in connection with this story:

Something important that the Samaritan leper realized,

that none of the other nine did,

and most of us don’t, either.

He realized that the most important gift he received that day

was not the gift of healing.

It was the gift of God, God’s own self,

caring enough about his individual life and misery

to step in and offer something better.

Perhaps this Samaritan

had never before known much about God.

Hadn’t known anything about an expected Messiah.

And so, unlike his Jewish fellow-sufferers,

he had no reason to expect

that this wandering preacher named Jesus

would be able to cure him.

He would have had no notion

that he somehow deserved special consideration by God,

or that God owed him anything at all.

And so, for him the gift of healing came as a gift,
not an account receivable.

And he was able also to see behind the gift,

to see that an even greater gift

was, in fact, the giver.

God, giving us God’s self,

is the greatest gift.

Though many of us perhaps

have never thought of it that way before.

And even if we have, it’s easy to forget.

The greatest gift is God.

Here’s what I mean.

Imagine, for example, if you can,

that you found out this week that you have cancer.

And that it is too far along to be stopped.

Somewhere along the way,

you’d probably begin to pray pretty seriously,

and ask your friends and family to pray for you,

that somehow, in an unknown way,

you might be healed.

You know the odds are against you,

but you also know that prayer is powerful stuff.

It’s possible that you may be healed,

without actually being cured.

That’s an important distinction.

It may be that there is no more physical cure possible

for your poor sick body

and yet you may still be healed.

Yes, you will die,

and it will happen sooner than you had hoped,

but somehow it will be all right.

You will have found the grace to be healed within yourself.

Healed of all those crazy angers and resentments

that family members get toward one another …

Healed of anger towards yourself,

or your doctors, or God …

Healed of depression and gloom …

Healed in your spirit,

even if your body is beyond a cure.

That kind of healing can only come from God.

God shows God’s self to you,

and you realize, maybe for the first time,

that there’s more to life than this earthly life.

And that is healing, and it is a gift.

You can see this gift, sometimes,

in people who live under terrible conditions.

Perhaps they have no home,

or no food, or no money,

or all three.

Perhaps they live in constant pain.

Perhaps they live in a nation ruled by cruelty and oppression.

Perhaps they have suffered from floods,

or hurricane, or war.

And yet, somehow, they are able to be cheerful, and hopeful,

and helpful to their neighbors who also hurt.

Because they know, somehow,

that God is with them.

And that nothing else –

riches, or health, or even personal freedom –

can compare with that gift of God’s own self.

God is the most important gift of all.

We see God’s giving most clearly

in that God gave us Jesus Christ,

who is God, in human flesh.

Jesus Christ,

who did offer healing to ten lepers,

food to five thousand,

wisdom to anyone who had their ears open!

All very important gifts!

But Jesus himself … Immanuel … God with us …

is the greatest gift.

Let us remember to thank God,

and live lives that show our gratitude,

in everything we do.

Praise the Lord!

Amen.

©2007 Julie Adkins (e-mail: DrJAdkins@trinitypresdallas.org