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The One Who was Thankful

Luke 17:11-19:  Ten Lepers Cleansed

11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. 17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Faith and Thankfulness; they work together.  When our faith is in Jesus, we are thankful, even in the midst of trial, tribulation, and suffering.

“who stood afar off.”  We certainly can remember when we were afar off and responded to Jesus.  It takes a step of faith to believe and follow Someone we do not physically see.  But by faith, as we go [“as they went”] there is healing.

“One” “returned” “and he was a Samaritan.”  It is interesting that the least knowledgeable of religious things, a Samaritan, an outsider, was the “one” thankful.  So many of Christ’s followers were the outcasts, non-religious, and worldly; common fisherman, tax collectors, harlots, even demon possessed.  They were foreigners responding to God’s grace; and then deeply [and forever] thankful, even in the midst of trials, tribulation, and suffering.

“Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”  I read these words and I am profoundly convicted to be thankful this Thanksgiving day, no matter what.

Why?  Because “your faith has made you well.”  Our faith has brought us from death to life, eternal life, and no thing or no one can ever take that away.  We are healed forever of sin through the blood of our Savior; and in that alone we can forever be thankful.

Psalm 110:4-5: Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.