Fall At Jesus’ Feet
Luke 17:11-19
The Gospel lesson
for Thanksgiving is the familiar story of the healing of the ten lepers. As you heard, one came back to give thanks
and Jesus commented “Were not ten cleansed?
Where are the other nine?” I
don’t know if you have noticed, but this is always the Gospel lesson for
Thanksgiving. The thankful leper is
always a good example for us of the thankfulness that should be in our hearts
when we think about all of the blessings that we have received from our
gracious God. As many times as I have
read this passage over the years, there is one detail that is often overlooked
in the telling of this story from the life and ministry of Jesus. We know that the man returned to give thanks
to Jesus but the text also tells us that he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet,
giving Him thanks. As we think about the
thankful leper on this Thanksgiving Eve, may we consider what it means for our
lives of thankfulness to fall at Jesus’ feet.
When you think
about it, your thankfulness is often very shallow. When you receive some kind of blessing from
God, often through the love and kindness of others, you may have thankful
thoughts. You might think to yourself,
“Wasn’t that nice,” and then you move on to the next important thing that comes
up in your life. You may say the words
that express your thankfulness to God or to someone else who has done
something for you. Saying the words can
be easy. It’s like when you were young
and someone had to remind you, “What do you say?” Then you mumble some words that sound like
“Thank you.” That may be good training but it can also reinforce that idea that
you can say things when you don’t really mean them.
When you think
about the other nine lepers, you see a good example of people who may have been
thankful that they were healed but they were too busy to come back and give
thanks to Jesus because they had other things to do. They were busy going to the priests to begin
the rituals that would validate their cleansing. Getting back to a normal life was their first
priority. It’s not too hard to find
yourself falling into that category also.
Even as we observe a national holiday that is set aside as a time for
giving thanks, we find ourselves so busy that the giving of thanks becomes an
after-thought because we are so busy. It
has become quite common to think of Thanksgiving as a day for the three
“F’s”: Family, Food and Football. The
order you put them in is up to you. Now
it seems there is another “F” that occupies the day: Figuring out your shopping
strategy for Black Friday. Where is the
giving of thanks?
As think of the
Gospel lesson again, the thankful leper demonstrated his thanks to Jesus for
his healing. The others were no doubt
overjoyed about the healing that they experienced because it meant that they
were no longer considered unclean. They
could return to their families. They
could return to their trades. They could
return to society. They had too many
things on their minds to come back thank Jesus for what He did. There was one though, when he realized the
miracle that had taken place, turned back and praised God with a loud voice and
when he approached Jesus he fell face down at Jesus’ feet, giving Him
thanks. I would guess that there were
tears of joy running down his face as he came back. He praised God with a loud voice. His shouts of “Hallelujah” mixed with the
sobs of joy touched the hearts of the disciples who witnessed this miraculous
sign.
The action of
falling at Jesus’ feet though demonstrated his true, humble submission to Jesus
as Lord. He recognized Jesus as a
merciful, gracious and powerful Lord.
All the blessings that he would experience as a result of being made
clean from the leprosy began to flood over him and he was overwhelmed with
gratitude to the point that simply saying thank you was not enough. To fall at Jesus’ feet acknowledged that he
knew that all he had and all he was came from God’s almighty and gracious
hand.
When you think
about your thankfulness, not just because it is Thanksgiving time, is it the
kind of thankfulness that causes you to praise the Lord with a loud voice and
fall at Jesus’ feet? Of course it would
be difficult for us to actually duplicate what the thankful leper did but do
you really demonstrate your thankfulness to Jesus for all of the blessings that
you have. I don’t think any of you have
had leprosy and had to live a life isolated from your family and friends
because you were considered ceremonially unclean. But you share a common affliction that can
only be cured by Jesus. That affliction
is sin. You have been carrying around
that sickness since you were conceived.
There is nothing that you can do to get rid of it but Jesus has done
what was necessary to remove that sickness from you. Your sins have been forgiven by the life,
death and resurrection of Jesus as your substitute. The cross has become for
you a symbol of the washing away of your sins.
The blessing of that washing is yours through faith. As Jesus said to the thankful leper, “Rise
and go your way, your faith has made you well.
He demonstrated his faith by humbly submitting himself to Jesus, lying
face down at Jesus’ feet.
It is Jesus’ love
for you that causes you to fall at his feet in humble submission to His
will. That could include daily worship
through prayer and hearing of God’s Word.
It would include regular worship with God’s people where you have the
opportunity to praise God with a loud voice as you recognize the great
blessings that you have received, namely the blessing of the forgiveness of
your sins, reconciliation with God, and the assurance of eternal life in
heaven. In the bigger picture of things
that you experience in your life, there is nothing that can compare to the
eternal blessings that you have through the merciful and gracious hand of
God. The thankful leper could look ahead
to the many earthly blessings that would be his as a result of being cleansed
of his leprosy.
We don’t know
if he understood the eternal implications of his encounter with Jesus, but we
do know what they are. You have to ask
yourself if you have truly been thankful for the blessings that you have
received. Have you, in a sense, fallen
at Jesus’ feet to show your thankfulness?
My guess is that you have fallen short of that kind of humble submission
to Jesus in response to His love. If you
are honest with yourself, you would have to admit that your thankfulness has
probably been a bit lacking. It is then
that you need remember that the reason for your thankfulness is that Jesus came
into the world to give His life for you so that by His suffering and death on
the cross and His resurrection, your sins could be forgiven, even those sins of
taking His blessings for granted. Jesus
died for all sins. He has given you the
Holy Spirit so that you can believe and trust in Him for the forgiveness that
you need. That power of the Spirit then
moves you to show your thankfulness to God by acts of humble service to those
around you. You can’t literally fall at
Jesus’ feet like the thankful leper, but you can humbly submit your life to
Jesus as you help to bring healing, both physical and spiritual to those around
you.
I would guess
that the thankful leper and probably the other nine had some pretty good
stories to tell about what happened to them along the road between Samaria and Galilee . After they went to the priests and began
appearing in their home towns cleansed of leprosy they talked about the man who
told them to go and show themselves to the priest because they had been cured
of their terrible disease. They had been
cleansed. Well guess what? You have been cleansed of your
sin-sickness. You have been forgiven. You have the gift of heaven to look forward
to. Is that important to you? Of course it is. Are you thankful for that gift? Of course you are. Then fall at Jesus’ feet and thank Him for
all He has done. Rejoice at the words
that Jesus says to you. “Rise and go
your way. Your faith has made you
well.” Amen.
Rev. Gerald Matzke
Zion Lutheran Church
Painesville, Ohio
Thanksgiving Eve
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