“The One Who Said Thanks”

Luke 17: 11-19

Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, October 19, 2025

One Christmas, a mom decreed that she was no longer going to remind her children to send thank you notes. As a result, their grandmother never received acknowledgments of the generous checks she had given.

The next year things were different, however.

“The children came over in person to thank me,” the grandparent told a friend triumphantly.

“How wonderful!” the friend exclaimed. “What do you think caused the change in behavior?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” the grandmother replied. “This year I didn’t sign the checks.”

This morning we read about someone who did say thanks – and as a leper, he truly had much to be thankful for. Leprosy was a terrifying, incurable disease in Bible times. It is now called Hansen’s Disease, after the Norwegian doctor who identified the microbe that causes it. It begins with small white skin sores, that gradually spread over the whole body. From the skin, the disease eats inward to the bones, rotting the affected parts bit by bit, eventually causing death. Thankfully, today this once-dreaded disease can be treated with antibiotics, but in Bible times, it was a death sentence.

In Jesus’ day, leprosy not only meant a slow and painful death, but it also excluded the sufferer from their family and friends. They had to live outside the village walls, and call out “Unclean! Unclean!” if them met someone, to warn them to stay away. In the movie Ben Hur, there is a scene in a leper colony. Ben Hur’s mother and sister have contracted the disease. Dressed in rags, living in caves, they depend on the kindness of friends who bring a basket of food each day to the periphery of the leper colony, leaving it there as one might leave food out for animals.

Lepers were spiritual outcasts as well as social outcasts. People thought leprosy was a punishment for sin, and that lepers somehow deserved their suffering. They were viewed as “unclean,” both physically and spiritually. It reminds me of how people used to treat persons living with HIV-AIDS, and sometimes still do.

All of this explains why the ten lepers who encountered Christ that day kept their distance. Probably they had heard of the miraculous healings Jesus had done, but they did not dare approach him, so they called out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Jesus replied, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” In an act of faith, they obeyed, and as they went on their way, their leprosy was healed. Why did Jesus tell them to go and show themselves to the priests? According to Jewish law, only a priest could officially declare that the leprosy was gone. Once they received the priest’s official seal of approval, the former lepers could rejoin their families and friends.

When the ten lepers realized they had been healed, they were overjoyed. Without a second thought, they ran to the priests to be declared “clean” again. But one leper, a Samaritan, turned back, fell at Jesus’ feet, and thanked him. As you probably know, Samaritans and Jews were not exactly friends. Samaritans did not follow all the Jewish laws, did not worship at the temple in Jerusalem, but rather on Mount Gerazim in Samaria, and were of mixed Jewish-pagan ancestry. Thus, they were despised by the Jews, and the feeling was mutual. So the man who went back to thank Jesus was a double outcast – both a leper and a member of a despised ethnic group. That makes the encounter especially poignant – the most despised member of the group is the one who returned to thank Jesus. We don’t know anything else about this Samaritan, but he sets a good example for us all: he took the time to say thanks.

There are over 150 references in the Bible to giving thanks. For example, Psalm 100: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to God, bless his name.” Or Revelation 7: “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving…be to our God forever and ever!” The New Testament records at least 11 times that Jesus gave thanks, including the night he was betrayed, at the Last Supper, when he gave thanks for the bread and the wine, then gave it to his disciples, knowing he would soon be crucified. So if Jesus himself was thankful, even in difficult circumstances, how much more should we express our thanks to God?

Lots of studies have shown that being thankful is good for our mental health. That’s a great benefit, and may be partly why so many scriptures invite us to give thanks. In her book Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers, Anne Lamott writes, “A lot of us religious types go around saying “thank you” to God when we find a good parking space, or locate the house keys or the wandering phone, or finally get a good night’s sleep.

And while that may be annoying to the people around us, it’s important because if we are lucky, gratitude becomes a habit.” Thankfulness is like a muscle that becomes stronger with exercise. What are some ways we can remember to be thankful, no matter what? One of my daughter’s former teachers, who is still my Facebook friend, posts three things she is thankful for every day – and she has done this for over ten years now. She is thankful for pizza, popcorn, rain, naps, her mom, her students, friends, answered prayer. The list goes on. Other people keep a gratitude diary: every day they write down at least one thing they are grateful for. I have also heard of keeping a “Thank-you, God” jar – whenever you are thankful for something, write it on a slip of paper and put it in the jar. Then when you feel a little down or depressed, take out the slips of paper and read them. It’s like having a piggy bank of blessings – a rainy-day fund for the blues. Too often we focus on the negative, but being thankful for the positive reminds us how God has blessed us, and continues to bless us. It helps us put things in perspective. The Apostle Paul writes in I Thessalonians: “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Notice that Paul says, “IN all circumstances, not FOR all circumstances.” Anne Lamott says, “It is easy to thank God for life when things are going well. But life is much bigger than we give it credit for, and much of the time it’s harder than we would like.” She tells how she went for a drive one day with her friend Barbara, who has Lou Gehrig’s disease. Barbara was in a wheelchair. She could no longer eat, but rather was fed through feeding tubes. She could not speak, but expressed herself by typing on an iPad. Anne, Barbara, and another friend had looked forward to an outing at the beach, but unfortunately the weather was not cooperative, so instead they drove around, admiring the flowers and gardens in the neighborhood. At one point, Anne asked Barbara, “What are you most grateful for these days?” Barbara typed on her iPad and its mechanical voice spoke for her: “The beauty of nature, the birds and flowers, the beauty of friends.” That is giving thanks in all circumstances, even some of the worst life can throw at us.

Giving thanks reminds us that it is God who created us and not we ourselves; everything we have and are we owe to God, the source and giver of life. We are the sheep; God is the shepherd. The leper who came back was overcome with gratitude that Jesus had healed him. His brief meeting with Jesus was life-altering. He was healed physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Like him, when we truly encounter Jesus, we are healed in many ways and our relationship with both God and our fellow human beings is restored. That’s a lot to be thankful for!

But what about the other nine lepers who were healed? Not everyone who is touched by God, even in a miraculous way, will say thanks. There will always be some who think the miracle was a coincidence, or that they succeeded solely through their own effort, or who just take God’s gifts for granted. The other lepers were healed in body, but their hearts and souls remained the same. In saying “thank you” to God, we reflect on the good God has done for us; it strengthens our spirits, and gives us hope. As Medieval mystic Meister Eckhardt said, “There is something about being thankful that opens us to God.”

Anne Lamott writes, “Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior. It almost always makes you willing to be of service, which is where the joy resides. …When you are aware of all that has been given to you, in your lifetime and in the past few days, it is hard not to be humbled, and pleased to give back.”

Film star Audrey Hepburn spent part of her childhood, including World War II, in Holland, under the Nazi regime. Toward the end of the war, there was never enough food. People resorted to grinding tulip bulbs into flour. As a young teenager, Audrey was always hungry. But soon after the war’s end, Hepburn and millions of others received food, clothing and medical supplies from the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, which later became UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. Audrey never forgot what UNICEF had done for her and her community. She became a UNICEF ambassador, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to feed hungry children. The Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund still supports this organization.

When we are grateful, we want to say thanks, and that motivates us to act on our gratitude. This year our stewardship theme is “Joy of Serving, Joy of Giving.” Audrey Hepburn discovered this joy. Author Anne Lamott, who is a Presbyterian by the way, also did – as a recovering alcoholic, she supports several organizations that help people who are in recovery. And she teaches Sunday School!

This year, as we reflect on all the ways God has been good to us, let’s also think about how we can say thank you – through our prayers, our time, our talents, and our treasure. In a week or so you will receive a letter from the church with a pledge card for 2026, and a time and talent survey. These are opportunities for each of us to say “thank you” to God for all the good things God has done for us.

Let us open our hearts in gratitude to the God who created us, loves us, and sustains us. As we do, remember the Apostle Paul’s advice: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Let’s be the ones who come back to say “Thanks!”   Amen.

Lamott, Anne. Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Sermon ©Deborah Troester 2025