Gratitude as a Response to God's Faithfulness

I want to share a funny little event that happened on Tuesday evening.   We headed out to our local neighborhood Asian Cuisine place – Pei Wei.  Jack took with him a gift from his God parents, a bendable Jesus.  As we were getting ready to leave the house, he wouldn’t let the little bendable Jesus out of his grasp, so bendable Jesus joined us on our quick dinner date.  As I held Jack up at the counter, ordering, Jack slammed down bendable Jesus with a big grin saying something like, “Doh, Doh, doh”  and the young guy at the counter, got real excited and looked us.  “Hey little guy, who is your superhero?”

Anne and I just stood there kind of laughing, “umm.  It’s Jesus.”

“Oh, Well I guess that is the ultimate super hero.  Super Jesus!” 

So today, we encounter Super Jesus, fully man and fully God who takes ten people with leprosy and makes them whole. Our passage from Luke this Sunday arrives to us on Jesus’ journey between Samaria and Galilee.  If you recall from a few weeks ago, Samaria was the place where no observant Jew would go.  The Samaritan’s were not just foreigners, but political opponents and theological heretics, a despised group by the entire faith.  Galilee on the other hand, was full of Jewish people, but still a hotbed of political activity and radical thought.  In United States standards, it was considered the Berkley, California of the ancient world.  To call someone a Galilean at the time might mean they are Jewish, but it has a connotation of not being of the traditional sort.  A Galilean applies leaning somewhat outside of the spectrum of orthodoxy.  

And Jesus is journeying in between the two, in between those who stand against and those who mix it up.  And he encounters 10 lepers.  We hear a lot about lepers in the Bible.  We hear a lot about Jesus healing.  And often we as the reader are invited to think about the radical call of Jesus to seek out those who are on the outskirts of society, isolated from the rest of the world because of their physical condition.  The healing of the leaper is so often about the value of those who society has not seen any value in, and healing is extended to all, well beyond the scope of what we have come to value. 

But this week is different.  It is not a group of others that we see as the leper, but ourselves.  We are one of the 10, hopefully called to be the one who turns back to Jesus, praising God.  We find ourselves in the story as a people who need cleansing and healing, somewhere between unorthodoxy and a hotbed of political activity.  So if you don’t feel like you understand everything.  If you feel like you have it all figured out one day, and not the next.  If you feel like you have you faith under control some of the time, but tot the rest, then ok.  If you question, if you doubt, if have reservations, if you have concerns, then maybe you are in the right place, a place where you can truly encounter Jesus.  A place where you can truly seek restoration. 

And this is where we find the 10 lepers.  They ask for healing and Jesus sends them to the priests to be healed.  And off they go.  Somewhere along the journey one turns around to go back to Jesus and he realizes that he has already been made well.   And Jesus responds, “Get up – go on, you faith has made you well.”  Which causes us to pause and wonder, is it our faithfulness that heals us, restores us to communities, and keeps us from isolation?   

I think when we explore this sentiment, similar to last week’s Gospel and sermon, it can be problematic.  It causes us to wonder if the situation we are in is a result of our own lack of faithfulness.  If we were just more faithful would we feel more contempt with who we are, or would we see ourselves as being fully restored in the eyes of God. 

Which brings me to point number 1 – It is not the faithfulness of the leper, but the faithfulness of God that restores all people to him through Jesus Christ.  This is the promise made by God, and the promise of our Eucharistic prayer.  It is our theology to know that God has promised to restore all of us through the blood of Christ that we partake in each Sunday.  In contrast, it is our faithfulness that calls us forward to walk down this isle, to cross our hands and to take the body of Christ, but it is God whose faithfulness that restores us.  It is not by our own merit, but the grace of God that healing, restoration and unity take place.  In our places between Samaria and Galilee, in our places of pain, doubt, and concern, we do not have to rely on ourselves.  There is nothing we can offer to change where we are.  The bond that God has created is indissoluble.  Our faithfulness is only the acknowledgement of God’s faithfulness.  Our lack of trust, or pain, or grief does not change the promise. 

Inevitably the other nine lepers have been healed, they just fail to understand the whole picture as we see it.  The other nine lepers are healed because that is what God has promised, and it is out of that promise that we are to respond.  The other nine lepers forget the response.  They forget that God has acted and now we are commanded to act. 

Which brings me to point number 2 – but first I need to tell a joke. 

There was a tailor named Mendel and he was worried about his business. Mendel was down to his last $50 and was torn between buying a sign and getting food for his family. Mendel decided to pray.

“Dear God,” he said, “I don’t know what to do. If I buy a sign it may bring in business, but I need to buy groceries for my family…and if the sign doesn't bring in sales, we will starve.

God replied, “Mendel buy the sign. Don’t worry, your family won’t starve.”

So, Mendel bought the sign and business took off. The tailor fed his family and all was well. However, as time passed it became evident that Mendel couldn't keep up with orders all by himself. He contemplated hiring on a helper, but wondered if he could afford it. So, he asked God if getting help would be a prudent move.

“Go ahead,” God tells Mendel, “hire some help, you’ll do okay.”

And so Mendel did. And business took off beyond his wildest dreams. After a time, the tailor decided to move to a larger site that would accommodate the growing demands of his business. As he surveyed certain locations, he found a perfect storefront, but the rental price was really steep.

“God” Mendel again prayed, “I found the perfect place to relocate my business. But the cost of the lease worries me. I don’t want to get in over my head.”

“Go ahead and a get a lease on the store, Mendel,” said God. “Trust me, you’ll be okay I haven’t steered you wrong yet, have I?”

So Mendel signed a lease on the 5th Avenue store and profits from his business went through the roof. Out of heartfelt gratitude, Mendel proposed to the Almighty that he dedicate the store to Him.

“How do you like the name “Yaweh and Mendel,” the tailor asked.

“Nah,” God said. “Let’s go with ‘Lord and Taylor.’”

Point number 2 - The response to God’s faithfulness is gratitude.  

Ten are healed but only one returns to Jesus to give thanks to God.  And it sounds like Jesus is upset. I have to wonder if our Gospel is a commentary on the way humanity has always lived in this world.  Do the nine lepers believe that their journey to the priests make them whole? Do we believe that out of our own merit we have received the grace of God?  If the answer to these questions is yes, then we fail to live in gratitude.   Maybe the nine lepers that got away illustrate how easy it is to overlook the importance of gratitude as the appropriate theological response to God’s grace.  Maybe the nine that got away are a clear example of how selfish the human ego can be. 

Sermon Preached on October 13th 2013

To have faith in God’s faithfulness calls us to a life of gratitude.  This kind of exploration of gratitude calls us into a life that looks at every opportunity as an opportunity to give thanks.   What would life be like if instead of our normal interactions with all, we gave thanks for each person, each gift that the offer, each part of who they are.  A life of gratitude calls us to show appreciation for all, to give thanks for all, and to give of our own time, talent, and treasure.  Yes, we are approaching stewardship time in the church.  More formally in a few weeks, but our Gospel leads us this way today. 

And this creates an interesting tension in the church.  It is possible that we often think that God needs our money, or we have to give in order to survive or do X,Y, and Z.  God doesn't need our money.  What would our giving look like it we viewed it as the kind of gratitude that our Gospel calls us to explore?  Maybe we should give, because gratitude is what we desire our life to be.  Maybe we should give because gratitude is more important than keeping the lights on.  Maybe we should give because gratitude is the appropriate theological response to God walking up to the counter and offering us the ultimate superhero, bendable Jesus who has restored all of life and made all things new.  Gratitude in life could be our faithful response to what has already been done and promised, that is the faithfulness of God.