Giving Thanks

Psalm 50:²³ “But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honours me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God.”

Luke 17:^11-19 “As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.” (emphasis added).

In this scripture, we see a cluster of ten men that had leprosy, nine of which were Jews and one was a Samaritan. The significance of this is the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, they saw the Samaritans as outcasts. But in this case, the problem these ten men had was common ground and it brought them to their humanity. The truth is regardless of skin colour, or tribe, or tongue we all share the same humanity. When push comes to shove, race or skin colour does not matter. Jesus did not discriminate, He did not separate by race or tribe, He healed them all. The interesting thing is that all that Jesus said was, “Go show yourselves to the priests” and they were all healed. But only one man came back to thank Jesus.

Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?” Jesus was actually expecting them to come back and thank Him. Gratitude is usually not demanded but it is expected. God may not demand that you give a testimony, or you show gratitude, but He expects that you would. Jesus expected gratitude from these ten men. However, did the nine do anything wrong seeing that they actually just obeyed Jesus’ instruction? The truth is sometimes, God wants us to use our initiative. Growing up, we were trained to use our initiative because we will not be told everything. When Elijah was about to be taken to heaven, he told Elisha to stay in Jericho that he was going to Jordan. Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you.” (2 Kings 2:6, please read). Elisha used his initiative.

Another thing that jumps out at us from Luke 17:11-19 is Jesus accepts worship. Luke 17:¹⁶ “He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done…”. Angels do not accept worship (Rev.22:8-9), men do not accept worship (Acts 10:25-26). Pastors should not accept worship. Luke 19:^{38 -40} “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!” But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” Jesus received [accepts] worship, He is God.

Prayer [song]: For all You have done for me, I am saying, I am grateful Oh Lord… Amen!