Gratefulness for Our Salvation

Displayed in our sanctuary at Wayne Zion Lutheran Church are banners with the words “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.” These words are repeated often by the psalmists and prophets. Reflecting on Luke’s passage in chapter 17, verses 11-19, I realize gratitude has great weight in the kingdom of God. Likewise, autumn has now arrived and soon we will celebrate a day set aside in America to give thanks.

While contemplating Thanksgiving Day, the lament of these ten lepers to the Master for healing has me considering two questions.  The first is “What are the mercies in my life for which I am thankful?” And second, “To whom am I thankful?” In Luke’s telling we hear pleas for healing mercies and one recipient’s humble and grateful response.

To understand the plight and hopelessness of these ten, we must consider the effects of Hansen’s Disease or leprosy, a disease that takes away one's health with visible skin lesions and invisible nerve damage. While leprosy does not cause death, it is highly contagious and leaves its victims vulnerable to life-threatening infections. Therefore, stricken individuals were banned from communities, leaving them isolated and poor.

Jesus hears their cries and instructs them to show themselves to the priests. The priests were the ones who could pronounce an individual clean according to the Laws of Moses. With no other remedy, they went to do as he said. Jesus was their only hope of escape from this dreadful disease. And on their way, before arriving at the temple, all ten were healed. Skin lesions like nodules fell to the ground and feeling returned to their limbs, feet and hands. Healing came by way of trusting in Jesus. When the healing took place, one, the Samaritan, stopped in his tracks and returned to the Lord to express his gratitude to God for his healing.

The other nine were healed but did not return in humble gratitude as did the foreigner. The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ in this story is found in the foreigner expressing his thankfulness and receiving something more important than bodily healing. He alone received Jesus’ declaration of salvation. Lying face down at Jesus’ feet he expressed his deep joy and gratitude for what Jesus had done to restore his life. In doing so, Jesus lovingly says to the man, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” Salvation goes beyond obedience and good works. We receive God’s salvation through our faith.

Salvation for the world lies in faith in Jesus Christ, who willing stretched out his arms on the cross for us. In approaching Thanksgiving, I am reminded by Luke that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb who was slain for our transgressions. Receive these words from the Prophet Isaiah:

“Surely he has borne our infirmities

            and carried our diseases;

yet we accounted him stricken,

            struck down by God, and afflicted.

⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions,

            crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the punishment that made us whole,

            and by his bruises we are healed.

⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;

            we have all turned to our own way,

and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”¹

May we trust God’s mercies for our lives in the waters of our baptism and express our gratitude in God’s promises for the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

And so, I too, give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever. Amen.

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¹ Isaiah 53:4-6