Gratitude Leads to Faith

Luke 17:11-19; Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7; 2 Timothy 2:8-15


Karl Barth, a leading Reformed theologian of the mid-twentieth century, was fond of saying that the basic human response to God is gratitude — not fear and trembling, not guilt and dread, but thanksgiving. “What else can we say to what God gives us but stammer praise?”

C. S. Lewis, as he explored his newfound faith, observed that the Bible, particularly the Book of Psalms, insisted that we praise and thank God. He also observed the connection between gratitude and personal well-being. “I noticed how the humblest and at the same time most balanced minds praised most: while the cranks, misfits, and malcontents praised least. Praise almost seems to be inner health made audible.”(1)

Luke tells a wonderful story. It always takes my breath away. Luke alone remembers it and shares it. Perhaps that is because it features an outsider, a despised minority, a Samaritan, and Jesus touching someone. Those are important thematic components for Luke.

We find Jesus out of bounds, so to speak. He and his followers are walking through Samaritan territory. That’s never an issue for him. Strictly observant Jews in his day avoided any contact with the residents of Samaria, living far into the future a centuries-old hatred.

We can imagine that the relationship between Jews and Samaritans must be something like the animosity of the orange Protestants and the green Catholics of Northern Ireland which festered on and off for a century. Presbyterian Church (USA) mission co-worker Doug Baker has spent most of his ministry working to bring peace to that country. May the current lack of enmity be true and not just the quiet before another storm.

Of course another current religious conflict of larger proportions is the conflict between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam in the Middle East. That confrontation has been going on for generations and promises to continue for many more. The extremists of Al Qaeda and ISIS in the Middle East and Boko Haram in Western Africa add fuel to those fires. As Kareem Abdul Jabbar posted on Facebook recently, “ISIS is to Islam as the Westboro Baptism Church is to Christianity.” That’s not a compliment.

We American Christians haven’t been immune to internecine fighting, but most of the artillery has been words, not bombs. Think about the issues we have fought over in the last centuries: abolition of slavery, prohibition of alcohol, child labor laws, women’s suffrage, ordination of women, voting rights, women’s reproductive rights, human sexuality in general.

Jesus and his entourage were walking through Samaritan territory. As they neared a town they were met by a group of ten lepers. In those days a leper couldn’t hang out with anyone other than another leper. As was the custom, the lepers didn’t approach very near. They called out from an appropriate distance, “Jesus, Master, show us mercy!” They could have been begging for something to eat or for shelter for the night. But if you gave them a coin, no one would receive the coin from them for a loaf of bread, a fish, or some fruit. Or if you gave them a room, the room or whole house would become unclean.

The men were desperate for healing. Being a leper was like being a Syrian refugee today or an undocumented alien. No one wants you. And there was no recourse, unless what you had was not leprosy (Hansen’s Disease in today’s medical parlance). You could have had a bad case of psoriasis, poison ivy, small pox, chicken pox, measles, the teenage bane of acne, or – heaven forbid – shingles. Some of these might clear up in time, and then you could go through the proper rites for ritual cleansing and be allowed back in the community and to life. But if they didn’t....

Jesus desired to have mercy, so he said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” A leper was supposed to be clean before going to the priest. Only a priest could determine whether a person was clean or not. I wonder how even handed that was. I can imagine discussions such as baseball managers often have with umpires about a variety of calls. “I’m clean.” “No, you’re not.” “Yes, I am.” “No, you’re not.”

The instruction was unusual, but they did what Jesus asked. As they left, they were cleansed. All ten of them. Luke affirms that, Apparently nine of the ten were Jews and in the misery of their leprous ostracism even a Samaritan fellow traveler was okay. As they were going off, the Jewish lepers went to find their nearest priest. The Samaritan had to go find a priest of his own. Perhaps it was when they were splitting up that the Samaritan, now on his own, had enough time to realize that he had been healed. And healed by a Jew at that. That’s when he reversed his steps and sought out Jesus, whom he knew to be a Jew.

Something is going on here, something wonderful and mysterious and tingling with the healing power of God. Leper No. 10, the Samaritan, raced back to Jesus, praising God with a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him profusely. Jesus knew his power. He knew that all ten lepers had been cleansed, made ritually pure, made whole again.

The Jewish lepers were intent on doing exactly what Jesus had told them to do, follow the steps of the law. They were excited about being united with family gain. The Samaritan saw a larger picture. Jesus has had mercy on him – as a leper, as a Samaritan, as a human being.

One in ten. A ten percent thanksgiving ratio. That’s not saying much. Didn’t the Jewish mothers teach their children better than that? The nine did what they were told. The tenth knew that there had to be an intermediate step. That step is gratitude. Gratitude and thanksgiving move us beyond the standard, the acceptable, the ordinary. A gracious attitude and lifestyle make a person extraordinary, unusual, blessed, a cut above the rest. The Samaritan, normally on the bottom of the social heap, had risen to the top like precious cream.

The Bible uses the concepts of wellness, wholeness, and salvation nearly interchangeably. “Your faith has healed you/made you well/made you whole/saved you.” Being grateful and saying thank you are absolutely at the heart of God’s hope for the human race and God’s intent for each of us.

Medical studies have shown that gratitude does tend towards a better level of health and disposition. It may be that grateful people take better care of themselves, but there is evidence that gratitude itself is a stress reducer, that grateful people are more hopeful, and that there are links between gratitude and the immune system. So your mother was right when she made you call your grandmother and thank her for the Christmas sweater or birthday card.

Jesus knew what he was talking about. “Your faith has healed you,” says Jesus. He gave him a fist bump and a high five not so much for the faith that asked for healing, but for the faith that returned to give thanks. After all, it’s a grateful faith — not a gimme faith — that saves us.

The basic Christian response to God is gratitude: gratitude for the gift of life, gratitude for the world, gratitude for the dear people God has given us who enrich and grace our lives. The basic Christian experience is gratitude to God for God’s love in Jesus Christ and the gift of hopeful confidence, wholeness and wellness that comes with it, regardless of the worldly circumstances in which we find ourselves.

Writer Anne Lamott says her two favorite prayers are, in the morning, “Help me, help me, help me,” and at bedtime, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

If you are having trouble with faith, perhaps you have a underlying problem with gratitude. The question then has to be asked, what is the leprosy/malady/wrong thinking that you need to be healed from so that you can be grateful? Where are you ostracized (in your perception of the world or in reality)? If prayers of thanks are part of the soul’s healing and deliverance and flourish, the physical circumstances of the pray-er become less important. It is the thanking that saves the grateful leper, and such thankfulness is available to all of us in every circumstance.

Kimberly Bracken Long writes,

“To practice gratitude intentionally changes an individual life, to be sure. It also changes the character of a congregation. When Christians practice gratitude, they come to worship not just to ‘get something out of it,’ but to give thanks and praise to God. Stewardship is transformed from fund-raising to the glad gratitude of joyful givers. The mission of the church changes from ethical duty to the work of grateful hands and hearts.”(2)

Friends, if you want to grow your faith, begin by growing your gratitude. The formerly leprous Samaritan did. It made all the difference in his life. Gratitude will change your life, too.


General Resource: “Leper No. 10,” Homiletics, November 27, 2003.

(1) Cited by John M. Buchanan, “Luke 17:11-19 - Homiletics Perspective,” Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), Year C, vol. 4, 165
(2) Kimberly Bracken Long, “Luke 17:11-19 - Pastoral Perspective,” Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), Year C, vol. 4, 168

Unless noted otherwise, all scripture references are from The Common English Bible, © 2011 www.commonenglishbible.com.
Copyright © 2016 First Presbyterian Church of Waverly, Ohio. Reprinted by permission.