Thanksgiving Reflection

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Our parents begin teaching it to us at a very early age. Grandpa gives us a wink and a dollar bill. And mom says: ‘Say thank you.’ A few years go by and the nice lady at the bank adds a sucker to the deposit slip and our parents look down at us and ask, “What do you say?” And when we didn’t say the magic words, we’d be sure to hear, “Well, what do you say?”
As we grow, we learn, and we say it all by ourselves. But there are those whose vocabulary doesn’t include those two words. No matter what you do or what they receive, a thank you never crosses their lips.
And have you ever known someone who when you compliment them instead of saying thank you – they say everything else. Compliment a woman on her clothing and there’s a good chance she’ll tell you it was on sale and she got it cheap. Tell someone they look nice and you might hear ‘o, you must need glasses.’ Let someone know they have a beautiful home and they’ll say, ‘yeah, we like it too.”
I suppose there are lots of reasons why, but there are people who find it hard to say thank you.
But..when they do isn’t it great! Don’t you just love it when someone does say thank you. Thank you for helping, supporting, encouraging. Thank you for making me laugh, giving me advice, defending me. Thank you for listening, holding the door, coming to visit, bringing unch, helping me pay a bill. Thank you.
I know that this is not our first thought when we think of Thanksgiving, but while giving thanks is fresh in our minds, maybe we should learn how to say it more often. Not just when someone hands us the salt shaker, or gives us change when we buy something. We should say thank you more often to people who – over the years - have made a difference in our lives, …and to those who make a difference…those who make our lives better every single day.
Jesus was about to enter into a town. And because lepers were unclean they had to remain on the outside of the town proper. So as Jesus approached, the first people he would have seen were the 10 lepers. Hoping to bridge the space between themselves and the man they heard could heal people…they yelled out and asked for mercy.
Jesus never touched them, never asked what they wanted, didn’t tell them they were healed, or that their faith had made them well…didn’t tell them to go and sin no more. What Jesus did was tell them to go and show themselves to the priests. And…as they went they were made clean.
All were healed. All went on to who knows where – except for one. That one never made it to the Temple to show the priests. That one – not a Jew like the 9, but a Samaritan – that one, when he saw that he was healed, turned back. He laid down on the ground, at Jesus feet, and with his face buried in the dirt…(Luke writes) ….he thanked him.
I’ve looked – there is no other place in the New Testament where it is recorded that anyone ever thanked Jesus (praised him, gone away happy and weeping, walking and able to see) but nowhere is it recorded that anyone ever thanked Jesus for anything. This is it – the only place. 500 years ago Martin Luther was asked to describe the nature of true worship. He answered: True worship is the 10th leper turning back to say thank you.
The leper seeing with his own eyes that his encounter with Jesus was physically changing him…every passing minute of his journey bringing him closer and closer to being healed and to being made whole once again…and then --- that signal moment when the leper = no longer a leper = fully understood that now he would be able to go home to his family, now he would be able to hold his children, grow old in the company of his wife, work a job, sit at table and share a meal with friends – that signalmoment when the leper – no longer a leper came to the realization that now he would be regarded as a person, now included, now able to function and contribute to society, now able to have a life – what a day that must have been. And how better to spend that day than thanking the One who blessed him in such an indescribable incredible way.
We can begin this week by looking around us and letting our dear ones know that they are important and appreciated. This week we can begin to see changes in our lives when we make a conscious effort to turn back to the One who has the power to make us whole, come before him with lives filled with blessings and say … thank you.