It’s almost unbelievable that Jesus heals 10 lepers at one time… recorded in Luke 17. Without fanfare, He simply commands the motley crew, “Go, show yourselves to the priest.” They exit stage-left and their skin is restored, their dreadful disease gone!
Jesus certainly missed an opportunity there to make a big, impressive scene. The Lord was never concerned with aggrandizement. What was unbelievable to Him, however, was the lack of thankfulness from the former lepers. Only one makes a U-turn to thank Him for His tremendous miracle. Only one.
As the Bible records, “When he saw he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan” (v. 15-16).
Jesus was shocked and asked, “Were not 10 cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
The unfortunate outcome was that 9 of the lepers missed the second, more important gift Jesus had planned for them. To the lone, grateful Samaritan He responded, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” Even more important than physical health, this person’s spiritual life had been reborn, restored.
Scripture doesn’t tell us why the other lepers failed to praise God. Yet it’s clear from Jesus’s response that thankfulness was the only proper response to such a miracle.
What was missing in the nine who were healed and never looked back? Gratitude. It’s a spiritual discipline. A choice each one of us makes about situations and circumstances we find ourselves living in. Something good happens to us, how do we react? We are either thankful or we take it for granted, thinking we are entitled, giving no thought to how our life can be impacted by the influence, an act of kindness, by another person.
So what’s the big deal? Gratitude realigns us to God and increases His activity in our lives. How is that possible?
Here’s a theological sequence that is paramount to understanding this: gratitude begets humility, which begets God’s grace.
Let’s begin with gratitude. Gratitude has been called the “gateway” spiritual discipline. As Psalm 100:4 commands us, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.” In gratitude, we thank God not just for the stuff that fills our storage spaces, but for Him.
Gratitude begets humility because it reveals our God-given dependancies. Humility is a heart condition that recognizes that all of our blessings have been received, not earned. It understands how utterly deprived we stand before a Holy God. We simply can’t advance God’s Kingdom, be saved, or even love God in return without His first loving us.
Indeed, humility is the right posture when relating to God—it permits God’s grace in our lives. As James states that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (4:6). Since God’s grace is God’s power, the more thankful and dependent we are before the Lord, the more the Holy Spirit can work in our lives. God working through us to mature us and accomplish His purposes.
As we make this pathway of gratitude, humility and grace a habitude, it allows us to experience more of God’s presence and power.
Gratitude flows easily when we’ve landed our dream job or just fell head-over-heels in love for a potential mate. And it’s easy to lift up some heavenly appreciation when we only receive a warning (instead of a ticket) for speeding. But what about when we don’t get our way? Or how do we react when tragedy strikes? Can we still be thankful then?
Indeed, life is not always a buffet of delicious circumstances where we get to pick and choose which items we put on our plate. Sometimes we get served sour lemons.
Fortunately, Christian gratitude doesn’t require us to “turn our lemons into lemonade”—a cliché that might be found in some self-help book. Certainly, painful events can shape us and build our character, but that doesn’t mean we have to simply smile through the pain and pretend everything’s fine.
A theology of gratitude that doesn’t allow for grief is at best misguided, if not downright egregious. Can you imagine a passerby saying to Jesus on Calvary “turn that frown upside-down”… smile and everything will be better?
Ingesting life’s difficulties and tragic events can be overwhelming. Having a heart of gratitude, therefore, is not about looking at the bright side of things. And it’s not even acknowledging that things could be worse. Our thankfulness is never to be based on a set of circumstances. It’s based on a Person.
The answer to our pain and suffering isn’t new circumstances but God Himself. Jesus came, not only to suffer for us, but to suffer with us. Isaiah describes Christ as being: “Despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (53:3). Jesus understands our pain and empathizes with us.
Practicing gratitude rests firmly in the assuredness that God will ultimately redeem every horrible situation in this life or the next. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
This promise allows us to “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
It was love that drew one Samaritan to unwrap the gift of eternity. Saying “thank you” to God will always bring blessings. We can’t control what happens to us in this life, but we can always expect one gift… the power to hope and persevere.
We probably don’t give a second thought to such common events like watching beautiful sunsets, eating dinner with a friend or sleeping in a comfortable bed as undeserved blessings. They are and we should take the time to be thankful for the smallest things in our lives. In practicing gratitude, every day is a treasure hunt.
