Almost as soon as a child begins to talk, we teach them to say, “thank you.” We repeat over and over again, “Now what do you say?” We wait for the giving of thanks to become a part of their regular vocabulary. Likewise, we as Christians must make thanksgiving our second nature.
For many Thanksgiving is merely another in a strong of days. One day runs into another.
Thanksgiving was a part of this country’s history since its inception. William Bradford an early pilgrim recorded, “Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean.” Governor Bradford called for the plows to be put down and work animals rested; the pilgrims would spend a day in prayer and fasting.
The first thanksgiving in America was celebrated in 1621. The Plymouth Colonists celebrated three days of prayer and feasting to give thanks for their first harvest and for surviving the first terrible Massachusetts winter. Many people starved during the previous winter. Those who survived often had only three kernels of corn for their meals. Next year each of them received only three kernels and told them to remember and use them to express thanks.
The thanksgiving tradition continued once the nation was founded. The first National Day of Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1789.
How do we become people who exude the spirit of Thanksgiving modeled after those early leaders? How do we gain the perspective that expresses thanks to God freely. We can learn from observing three miracles in Luke’s gospel.
MIRACLE ONE: LEPERS ARE HEALED
Luke 17:11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy h met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
Lepers were one of the most vulnerable people in Jesus’ day. Leprosy was a hideous, dreaded disease in the ancient world. It was a chronic infectious disease known for many centuries.
The organism invades the peripheral nerves, skin, and mucous membranes, damaging the nerves and causing anesthesia. The resulting insensitivity can lead to unnoticed and therefore neglected injuries; this accounts for many of the deformities--such as loss of fingers--that occur in leprosy. This is due to the lack of feeling in the extremities, making an injury or disease unknown. Paralysis may also result involving a hand, leg, or face. In advanced cases, numbness of the eyes may lead to blindness through trauma or infection.
Lepers were required to stay apart from other people and announce their presence when they came near. This disease was so dreaded that its victims were isolated in so-called leper colonies. They had to keep a distance (Leviticus 13:450-46, Numbers 5:2-3)
In that isolated colony of suffering people, differences were non-existent. This mixed group of Jews and Samaritans found their racial differences transcended by their bonds of common misery. There they stood: no family, no job, no home, no village an outcast to society.
They cried out for one thing. They wanted mercy. They had no goodness in themselves. They offered no righteousness. On the contrary, they were considered unclean. This was the pitiful plea from ostracized, diseased men.
Jesus gave them two gifts. First, he gave them the gift of respect. He spoke to them. By acting on their request, Jesus continued His characteristic ministry to the poor and oppressed ones of society.
The second gift was the gift of healing and cleansing. Jesus told them to go and present themselves to the priests. If a leper thought that he was healed he was to present himself before the priest and he could pronounce the leper healed (Leviticus 14) They had to present themselves before they could rejoin the congregation.
This request may have seemed strange. He expected them to show faith. He asked them to go and present themselves before He pronounced them healed. They were to act like they were healed even before it happened.
The lepers took Jesus at His word and went. As they went, the new life coursed through their veins. The leprosy was gone. They were healed.
THE GREATER MIRACLE: ONE COMES BACK
15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”
One of the men came running back to Jesus. In all humility he fell on his face. This posture of respect and submission expressed his willingness to praise Jesus. Nothing else mattered except returning to offer thanks.
He was not self-satisfied or complacent but grateful. He recognized his indebtedness to the Savior. It is possible to receive God's gift with an ungrateful spirit. Nine of them did so.
Even more significant than the man’s return to Jesus is a simple phrase revealing his identity. This man was a despised Samaritan.
Since the days of the rebuilding of the temple and the walls around Jerusalem a hatred brewed between the Samaritans and the Jews. Those people who had intermarried with Gentiles lived in the countryside north of Judah.
Having been rejected in their efforts to again be part of the Jewish community they began to worship in their homeland. They erected their own temple and began to worship. This widened the gap between them.
By the time of Jesus, the spite between the Jewish people and the Samaritan people was severe. Jewish people did not interact with Samaritans in any way. They refused to talk to them. They would not travel through Samaria.
In this setting, it is astounding that the man came to Jesus. He laid down at Jesus’ feet. He offered Jesus thanks. And Jesus received his thanks.
THE GREATER, GREATER MIRACLE: THE SAMARITAN IS HEALED
- Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”[1]
Jesus uses a play on words that was clear to the man. The words, 'Made thee whole' are the same as "have saved you"
This is a beautiful picture of salvation by faith. Faith is more than a mental assent to something, it involves action. Faith must be acted upon if it is true faith.
All of them had a measure of faith-or else they would not have been healed. But he also experienced the healing of his soul. Ten were healed but only one was made well. That is far more important. He is forever spiritually healed.
LIVING A LIFETIME OF THANKFULNESS
If we are to live a lifetime of thankfulness we must exercise discipline. It is extremely doubtful that anyone reading these words can claim to live up to the Biblical standard of thankfulness. Scripture defines what is expected.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Psalms 103:2 “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits…”
We receive God’s grace and offer Him thankfulness. Give thanks for everything? Seems impossible. When the lights come on behind you? When your supervisor calls you in for a discussion? When the doctor calls with bad news? When the little annoyances of life pile up?
In all those times we are called to exercise thankfulness. We fail when we forget even the smallest blessing God pours on us. As we express gratitude it becomes stronger. If our gratitude is genuine, it must be expressed outwardly. As it is, the attitude grows stronger.
The Ever-Living God designed thanksgiving (the act, not just the holiday) so we could show how much we love and appreciate our Creator and Provider. For us to be properly thankful, it might help to reflect upon the quality of the soul that we call thankfulness.
Giving thanks transforms the believer. Four changes occur:
- Thankfulness brings us face-to-face with God.
Giving thanks is an entrance to a new and deeper walk with God. Each act of thanksgiving is a step upward to a higher life-a giant step forward toward the delightful destiny God has for each person who loves Him. The true celebration of Thanksgiving will last forever because no matter where we are in our walk with God, it dramatically changes us.
True gratitude is not a reaction, but a response to the love of God.
- Thankfulness brings us face-to-face with grace.
Teaches us to celebrate what God has given us in the past. When we forget we are tempted towards idolatry. We acknowledge the source of every good thing; we must realize that our health, our family, any abundance, even luxuries we have, are from God. They are all a gift of grace.
- Thankfulness humbles us.
There is a strong link between grace and humility. God gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34, 1 Peter 5:5) because humble people are thankful people who know how to recognize grace. Thanksgiving protects us from the temptation of excessive pride.
Pride fades when we sincerely believe that everything good comes from God. Pride disintegrates when we realize that God has given us much more than we deserve.
Thanksgiving humbles but never humiliates us. True humility produces a dauntless dignity-because it is based on an unshakable understanding of who God is and how He values us in Christ.
- Thankfulness motivates us.
Thanksgiving gives us a proper spiritual motivation. People who are not spiritually motivated usually lack one thing: the ability to sense God’s reality. The best possible path to gaining that reality is the path of praise and thanksgiving.
To know that God is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him, we need to see the many acts of God in our lives. We need to number, mark and be aware of the manifold benefits He has bestowed upon us.
“Anxiety grabs his bag and slips into the back door. One heartfelt “thank you” will suck the oxygen out of worry’s world.” Lucado
[1] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Lk 17:11–19.
