The importance of giving thanks to God in the right place

Sermon for Trinity 14

Galatians 5:16-24  +  Luke 17:11-19

We have another healing miracle before us today, the healing of the ten lepers. It was just two weeks ago that we considered the healing miracle of the man who was deaf and mute. And you remember what we said that every healing miracle teaches us about Jesus? First, that Jesus is the promised Christ, the Son of God, sent by God into the world, and, second, that Jesus, and therefore, our God, is not only all-powerful, but also full of compassion.

But what does this particular healing miracle add to that? Well, there’s a lesson here about thankfulness. And not just thankfulness, but thanksgiving, and not just thanksgiving, but giving thanks in the right way, in the right place. Let’s turn to the text.

Jesus was passing between the territories of Samaria and Galilee on His way down to Jerusalem. So it shouldn’t surprise us to find at least one Samaritan among that group of ten men with leprosy. Now, we talked about Samaritans a little bit last week. They were foreigners as far as the Jews were concerned, but their territory was right in between Judea and Galilee, both of which were Jewish territories. They didn’t normally interact with one another. But this group of ten men had that terrible skin-disease called leprosy, which, not unlike death, was the great equalizer. They all had to live away from society and away from the worship of God in His temple, because God’s Law demanded that they live apart.

But these ten men had heard the word about Jesus, that He had power over the human body, to heal every kind of disease. And they had heard that Jesus was merciful and compassionate and willing to help. That simple word about Jesus created faith in their hearts, at least faith that He could and would heal them of their leprosy.

That faith led them to approach Him, from a distance, and to cry out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” A simple but meaningful request. A request made in humility and in recognition of Jesus as Master. He was above them and above nature itself, as He was able to speak a word and nature had to obey.

He did have mercy on them. But instead of cleansing them right there on the spot, He had something to teach them, and to teach every generation after them. So He simply said, “Go and show yourselves to the priest.” The Old Testament Law had some elaborate requirements for those whose leprosy went away, starting with going to the priest in Jerusalem so that he could examine them and begin the rituals and the sacrifices so that they could legally be pronounced clean and reenter society.

They clearly understood from His words that Jesus would heal them, and they believed, so off they went. And, sure enough, before they got too far away, they realized that their leprosy was gone. Their skin was restored. They were clean! All ten of them. But this is what made the one different from the other nine: The nine kept going toward Jerusalem. The one returned to where Jesus was to give praise and thanks to God.

Now, it may well be that the other nine uttered a prayer of thanksgiving to God as they kept going toward Jerusalem. It may well be that they said a silent prayer of thanks in their hearts. But Jesus expected more than that. Jesus answered, “Were not all ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there none found to return and give glory to God except for this foreigner?” You see, God is present everywhere. As the Psalm says, Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into the heavens, You are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there! And surely God hears prayers in every place, in every language, including the prayers in our hearts that don’t even make it past our lips. But at the time this miracle took place, God stood in a single place on earth, in the Person of Jesus. He made Himself available to the world in the place where Jesus was, so that a person could go to Him and receive help from Him, and so that a person could return to Him to give thanks to Him “in person.” The nine healed lepers had approached Jesus in person to ask for healing, but they neglected to thank Him in person, while the one Samaritan did, prompting Jesus’ favorable reply. Your faith has saved you.

Now, God is the Source of every good thing and has provided abundantly for all people, for which all people owe Him thanks and praise. But what good would it be to give thanks to God for daily bread and daily blessings while failing to give thanks for His greatest gift—for the gift of His Son, given to the world to die for the world’s sins, so that, through Him, sinners might be reconciled to God, turned from His enemies into His dear children, and made heirs of eternal life? If you don’t, above all, want to give to thanks for Jesus and to Jesus, then God the Father doesn’t even want your thanks for the other things. He won’t let you approach Him except through His beloved Son.

But if you do want to approach Him through Christ, if you want the healing of the forgiveness of sins earned for you by Jesus, if you want to give thanks to Jesus for His mercy and for shedding His precious blood for you, then, where do you go to find Him? The leper knew where to find Jesus. There was only one place he could go. What about you?

Well, again, God is present everywhere and hears all the prayers His children offer in Jesus’ name. It’s absolutely appropriate to give thanks to God in your heart and in your personal prayers. Jesus encourages believers to pray on their own, to pray often, and God absolutely hears and accepts those prayers. But Jesus has made Himself present on earth and expects people to seek Him where He promises to be present. And where is that? Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them. Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them…and behold, I am with you. Take, eat; this is My body. Take, drink; this is My blood. When unbelievers encounter the preaching of Christ, they encounter Christ. When Christians gather together in Jesus’ name, to hear His Word preached by the ministers He has sent, when they gather to worship Him together, to receive His Sacrament of Holy Baptism and His Sacrament of Holy Communion, He is there. He is there in a way that He isn’t there everywhere. He’s there to teach. He’s there to guide. He’s there to forgive sins. And He’s there to receive our prayers, our thanks, and our praise.

And, yes, in the closest way possible, Jesus is present in the Sacrament of the Altar. As St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? And so Christians come together, as Jesus told us to do, to do this in remembrance of Him, to celebrate the Lord’s Supper and to know and believe that He is present with us under the bread and wine, where He offers us the forgiveness of sins, and where we offer Him our humble thanksgiving, just as the leper did as he fell down at Jesus’ feet. Remember, the Church has a special name for the Lord’s Supper. It’s called the Eucharist, which means, the Thanksgiving.

Just as Jesus wanted the lepers to return to where He was to give Him thanks, so He wants His Christians to keep coming to Him, to keep coming together in His name, both to receive healing from Him and to give thanks to Him. And if the Lord hasn’t provided a faithful, orthodox pastor near where you live, if watching and listening online is the best you can do, then do that, and do it, whenever possible, with other believers, even if it’s only two or three gathered together in His name. As for those who think they can just say a little prayer in their heart and intentionally not come to where Jesus has made Himself present on earth, they will receive the same rebuke that the nine received in their absence.

So it’s fitting and right that you’ve come here today, or, if you live far away and you’re watching online, it’s fitting and right that you’ve set aside this time and gathered with others, not only to hear the Word of God, but to give thanks to God, in the right way, in the right place, where the saints are gathered in Jesus’ name, around the preaching of His Word.

But there is another way of giving thanks to God that doesn’t involve gathering together for worship. It’s the worship of the rest of your life, which is also necessary, and which actually takes up far more of your time and effort.

Paul wrote this to the Romans in chapter 12: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Not a sacrifice to pay for sins, but a sacrifice of thanksgiving, with your whole life. Or, as Paul put it to the Galatians in today’s Epistle, offer up your bodies, every day, not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, but to walk with the Spirit of God, in true righteousness and holiness. That’s your daily sacrifice of thanksgiving.

But that daily sacrifice requires fuel, if you will. It requires hearing the Word of God regularly, so that the Holy Spirit can build you up in faith, guide you in what is right, and strengthen you to do it. And so, once again, we’re back to the importance of gathering together, in Jesus’ name, to receive mercy from Him, to give thanks to Him, and to receive from Him the strength to make every day of our lives a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the One who has washed away our sins and made us clean, able to stand before God the Father with a clear conscience through faith in Christ Jesus, and worthy to inherit eternal life. Amen.