My mother lived in New York City during the Great Depression – in the 30’s. As a nursery school teacher, she did not have a large income, and as did many single people in those days, she ate many of her meals at the Automat. One of the impressions from that time in her life that she often talked about was the way in which the Automat became a social center for people like herself with few connections and little money.  If you were away for some reason for a day or two, one of the women behind the counter would say something like, “You ok, Honey, haven’t seen you for a bit.” Or they would inquire when someone came in, “How’s your father now, young man? Over that cold?”

It was a place of community, but at the same time, a place of anonymity. You never got too close to anyone, never made more than a brief comment or a nod in someone’s direction. It was the big city, you know.

There is a story that is told about a man whose wife had left him. He was completely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in God, and in other people.

One cold and wet dreary morning, he went to have breakfast at the Automat. Although several people were in the dining room, no one was speaking to anyone else - so it was eerily quiet.

And this man who had lost faith in himself, in God, and in other people, was lost in his own misery as he hunched over the counter, stirring his coffee with a spoon.

 And in one of the small booths along the window there was a young mother with a little girl.

They had just sat down to have their food when the little girl broke the sad silence by what seemed like shouting, "Mommy, aren't we going to pray before we eat? How come we don't pray here?"

One of the ladies behind the counter, who had just served their breakfast, turned around and said, "Sure, honey, we can pray here.  Will you say the prayer for us?"

And she turned and looked at the rest of the people in the restaurant and said, "Now bow your heads."

And surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down.

The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, and said, "God is great. God is good, and we thank him for our food. Amen."

That simple prayer changed the entire atmosphere in that place of anonymity.

People began to talk with one another.

The counter lady said, "We should do this every morning."

From that moment on, this man who was so lost in his own misery realized that his whole frame of mind started to improve.

From that little girl's example, he started to thank God for all that he did have, his children, his relative good health, his job and a strong, supportive mother and father back home, and he stopped dwelling on the things that he didn't have.[1]

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, it says in the Gospel of Luke. He has chosen a strange route, for he is travelling near the region of Samaria which was a place of anathema for most Jews of his time. Because of a history of ancient differences, the Jews and the Samaritans did not associate with one another – they were kissing cousins who had stopped kissing and started hating one another.

Jesus and his disciples encounter ten lepers on the road – they were probably hanging about the gate of the nearest village, going through the garbage dump looking for something to sustain themselves because lepers were not admitted to everyday society. Disfigured by a disease we now call Hanson’s disease, they were unpleasant to look at and it was not at all certain just how contagious the disease was. 

As would have been the case when any group of travelers passed them, the Lepers probably set up a chant when Jesus and his followers came by…”Have mercy on us, Have mercy on us…” They wanted some alms no doubt, a small bit of money in order to get by.

Ten lepers – and in the region of Samaria; Pharisaical Jews felt sure that God had nothing to do with either lepers or Samaritans. People who were sick were clearly sinners, it was thought – lepers lived in the dung heaps as well – they were unclean.  Samaritans were dangerous heretics who had departed from the ways of the ancient traditions which put them outside the realm of God’s protection. “God is our God” was the position of the most orthodox of the religious establishment; we do not dishonor God by our associations with such people.

Extreme orthodox and fundamentalist folks tend to think this way….in order to honor God we have to disassociate with those whom we believe God does not like. No matter what the Koran says about the need to respect all “people of the book,” by which it means Jews and Christians, many fundamentalists Muslims believe it is their duty to God to strive against them. Some Christians are equally as committed in their disparagement of Muslims – or gays or lesbians or even mainline Protestants who are dismissed as “liberals.” A stroll through the internet will introduce you to lots of vitriol.

“God is great…God is good…”  Jesus understood that God’s ways are not our ways – God does not fear to love any person. Jesus chose to walk in the region of Samaria – Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus stopped and exchanged words with these lepers. As Paul would say later, Jesus was about breaking down walls and barriers – many of which had been constructed by the religious elements of his own First Century culture. 

“God is great…God is good…” The Kingdom of God about which Jesus preached again and again, offered a new way  of interacting; new kinds of relationships and possibilities. “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” That’s all he said to the lepers – and they understood that he had offered them healing. It was not enough for their disease to be conquered, to be accepted back into the world of men and women they had to be certified by the priests as whole again – clean again. God is good!  God’s will is for life and new beginnings. 

It says in Luke that as they went, they were made clean. As they accepted his word of hope, they were made whole.  Suddenly they got it…and their lives were transformed by that faith. Relationship with God and neighbor was restored….for all of them. 

It was theologian, Karl Barth who once said something to the affect, “We enter into ‘the strange new world of the Bible’ and expect to be surprised.” Just as we experience in the parables of Jesus, this healing story has a twist at the end. Ten lepers approach Jesus, he speaks with healing power to all ten and all are healed. There is only one, however, whose joy is sufficient to stop him in his tracks and that is the Samaritan. When he notices the transformation of his brokenness, he cannot help but pause to shout Halleluiah! “He praises God and then falls on his knees before Jesus with thanksgiving.”

That’s one part of the surprise – no words of gratitude except from this one foreigner. The other part of the surprise is that Jesus not only takes note, he comments on it. “Were not ten lepers cured, and yet only this one bothers to give thanks.” It is not that often that Jesus will editorialize like this. You get the point, don’t you? Jesus underlines the importance of giving thanks. 

        As one blogger put it in commentary on this passage, “In both grand ways and small, we, in our faith, are restored, healed, cleansed, set back on our feet, calmed, comforted, empowered, forgiven, loved and our saddened hearts are once again filled with laughter and joy.  We have so many opportunities to be like that one and come back to our Healer and Provider with a heart filled with overwhelming gratitude and praise.  God doesn't demand that we give thanks, but oh, God must be so pleased when we do. And, as we come before God with thanksgiving, we too will have a deeper understanding of this amazing grace and a greater insight into God's very nature.[2]

Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for what we do have. Saying "Thank you" is one of the first things that we teach our children in life.

We teach our children from an early age how to say "Thank you." Certainly as adults, we know what it feels like to be thanked for something, and we can appreciate that, or in some cases we know what it feels like not to be thanked for something and how that can hurt.

What we don’t want to do is make “giving thanks” a new rule: If you want God to do something for you, make sure that you say “Thank you Jesus.” It is not a rule, it is a natural response to the goodness and the greatness of God – a natural response to look at what is good in our lives, what is life giving and sustaining and thank our God for it. It is a natural response, but it is also a response which can often be overlooked in the rush to get on with our lives in one way or another. 

The lepers were off to see the priests so they could be officially admitted back into society. They were thrilled – but not present enough in the moment to understand the power of the healing and the source of the healing they had received. 

"I am learning from Jesus," says Christian philosopher Dallas Willard, "to live my life as Jesus would live my life if he were I. I am not necessarily learning to do everything he did, but I am learning how to do everything I do in the manner that he did all that he did."[3]

The manner in which Jesus lived his life was one in which he ventured to the boundaries and broke down the barriers – reached out with a touch and/or a word to those who were crouching on the margins most ignored or terrorized by the traditions and the passions of the general public. We are not the master, but we can live our lives with the intention of being as much like Jesus as we can…do what we do in the manner that he did all that he did. We are not always going to make that happen – we are going to fall short often – but the promise of living in the light of the Gospel is a promise of grace. 

We are under the forgiveness of our Lord even when our own failings, our own weakness or just plain stubborn persistence in sinful ways puts us, in our own minds, on the margin. On the boundaries where the hurting is real, where the needs are the greatest, that is where you find Jesus travelling. We are blessed and we are filled not because we are better than another, not because we are more loved or more cherished by God or the community. We are blessed because of the grace of God – and it is for God’s grace that we give thanks.

All the lepers were healed by the gracious love of Jesus Christ – one felt so moved by that blessing that he fell on his knees to give thanks. 

Now is the season for us to give thanks. 

God is great; God is good…and we thank God!  Amen.