Ten men walked along together. As they walked, they were shunned by those who passed them. Many crossed to walk on the other side of the road. The men were used to this treatment, but they desperately wanted to be accepted.
As these men walked along, they met a man. They knew the identity of this man because of these things they had heard, but they kept their distance. He was special, and they “lifted up their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us’” (Luke 17:13 ESV).
These ten men had leprosy. The Law of Moses required that these men should live alone away from family and friends. They had to be 100 paces from anyone with whom they came in contact.
Their behavior indicates that they must have either seen or heard about Jesus’ ability to heal other lepers. They immediately addressed Him and asked for mercy, apparently hoping Jesus would heal them.
Jesus didn’t heal them immediately, but He told them to go show themselves to the priest. This was required before they could be allowed back into society.
As they were walking away, their leprosy left; and they were completely healed. You would think these ten men would have been thankful to be rid of such a terrible disease, but only one returned to thank the Lord. “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan” (verses 15-16).
In these verses we find the point to our lesson. It is always the season for thankfulness. Thankfulness is not a holiday, a special occasion, or a time of year. There is always a reason to be thankful.
Psalm 100 has always been a favorite scripture to me. It was one of the first, if not the first, Bible passage I ever learned. I can still remember reciting this chapter to some of my mother’s friends. She was so proud that I had learned an entire chapter of the Bible that she had me repeat it to anyone who would listen.
I’m sure I had no idea how meaningful these verses would be to me in the future, but I knew they were important and had special meaning.
“Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100:1-5).
This psalm has been called “A Psalm of praise” or “A Psalm of thanksgiving” because there is nothing negative or sad in these five verses. This is truly praise and adoration of God, the Father. It then calls on all the earth to give praise to Him and to be thankful to Him.
Why are we to give thanks to God? We give thanks because He is good (verse 5). He gives us mercy, and that mercy will last forever.
God created us. He gave us our lives. We belong to Him, and we are cared for by Him.
How can we show thankfulness? One way is through our singing. In Ephesians 5, Paul gave us some instructions. He said, “Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (verses 19-20). Singing is an opportunity to praise God’s name and thank Him through the words of our hymns.
Another way we can show thanks is through prayer. We can find several incidences of Jesus thanking God. He prayed before He served the loaves and fishes. He prayed before He and the disciples ate bread and drank the fruit of the vine at the Passover.
The apostle Paul is another example of one praying with thanksgiving. He spoke to the Corinthians about death and the victory for the faithful. At the end of his remarks to them he said, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (First Corinthians 15:57). Paul often thanked God for the blessings we could all receive through our faithfulness.
We also show appreciation to God when we are obedient to Him. Paul said, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7).
We, like the Colossians, need to be taught. Once we are taught the truth, we continue to be built up, established in the faith, and we should abound in thanksgiving.
We don’t need a day designed for giving thanks. Instead, we need our hearts and minds to be centered on the God who made us and gave us all things. “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (Second Corinthians 9:15).
Sandra Oliver