When Jennifer and I were college sweethearts in Chicago, we would periodically pack a picnic basket and drive north along the shore of Lake Michigan until we got to the town of Evanston, IL, the home of Northwestern University. The large boulders along the shore provided a romantic setting for us to watch the sun set and listen to the waves crash against the rocks below us. It was a beautiful spot.
Little did we know at the time, but this was the exact location of a famous shipwreck 140 years earlier. Around 2 A.M. on September 8, 1860, the steamship Lady Elgin collided with the schooner Augusta, and hundreds of people drowned. But there was a young Northwestern ministerial student by the name of Edward Spencer, who waded into the water to rescue passengers from mortal peril. Despite suffering numerous injuries from the floating wreckage, he repeatedly dashed into the raging surf. Seeing his deteriorating condition, others tried to stop him, but on he went. By the time the ships had gone completely under, he had saved 17 people.
Edward Spencer never sought praise or recognition for his heroism; he believed that he was just doing his duty. But he was so badly injured that he spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair, he never finished his studies, and worst of all, none of 17 people he rescued ever returned to thank him.
This tragic story is remarkably similar to the one that we just read for us from Luke’s gospel. Both stories exhibit what I like to call the “Two Hands of Gratitude.” On one hand, we should never expect gratitude! On the other hand, we should always express gratitude!
Never Expect Gratitude (7-10)
As Jesus continued to teach his disciples about the kingdom of God and their service to it, he employed an agricultural parable about a slave doing his duty. He poses a hypothetical situation where a slave is either plowing a field or tending sheep, he would not tell the slave to sit down and eat until he first fixed supper for his master. The slave would eat only after his all of his work was completed. The question in verse 9 highlights the point of the parable, “Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?” The anticipated answer to this question is “No!” The servant should not expect reward, praise, or even gratitude for just doing what he was expected to do!
Then in verse 10, Jesus applies this parable directly to his disciples. He tells them that when they serve in the kingdom of God, they should consider themselves unworthy servants and should not expect to receive gratitude. After all, they have just done their duty!
This is precisely the attitude that Jesus wants his followers to exhibit today. He wants us to be unworthy servants who labor for our master and do the work that he has called us to do regardless of whether or not we receive gratitude. He wants us to be like Edward Spencer who was so focused on fulfilling his duty that he never thought about what he would get in return.
Now, in theory, sounds reasonable and doable. That is, until you actually serve or sacrifice for someone and they never thank you. This is a challenge that penetrates the very core of our souls. Over the years, I have heard people say things like, “I’m never going to do anything for that ungrateful SOB again; he never even said thank you when I helped him.” Or “can you believe the nerve of that woman? After everything I did for her, she never even sent a ‘Thank You’ card!”
Whether it’s in your home, in your workplace, or even in the church, it’s hard to consistently serve with no expectation of gratitude. It takes tremendous humility, but it can be done! Therefore, based on Jesus’ teaching here, I say to you: Stop whining! Serve faithfully! And never expect gratitude!
Always Express Gratitude (11-19)
Well, sometime later when Jesus was heading south toward Jerusalem, he stumbled upon an opportunity to teach the other side of gratitude. While he was walking along the border between Galilee and Samaria, he came upon a colony of lepers standing outside a village. Leprosy was a chronic and highly contagious skin disease which had no cure in the ancient world. Lepers were forced to leave their homes and families and were sentenced to live in leper colonies that were often located in caves. They were forbidden to enter villages or come into contact with healthy people, so they were reduced to positioning themselves along roadways in order to beg for food and charity. Even worse than the physical pain and itching was the social ostracism and religious stigma associated with the disease; leprosy was generally considered a punishment for sin or a curse from God.
When the ten lepers saw Jesus approaching, they maintained their distance but shouted at the top of their lungs, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” They had obviously heard about Jesus; they knew his name, something of his divine nature, and his reputation for incredible compassion and miraculous healing. Their cry for mercy is really a plea to be healed from the dreadful disease. It was request for restoration!
Well, Jesus certainly lived up to his reputation! He didn’t prescribe any skin creams, herbal ointments, or essential oils; he simply told them to go and show themselves to the priests. (According to the Law of Moses, priests were the public health inspectors who decided whether someone clean or unclean, and they determined if someone was fit to return to the community.)
So, when Jesus told them to go to the priests, he was announcing that they would be clean.
All ten lepers took Jesus at his word and immediately obeyed his command. As they walked toward the village, their chaffed skin became clear and moist, their contorted fingernails became straight, and their deformed faces became recognizable again. As their sorrow turned into celebration, their walk turned into an all out sprint to the synagogue. And who could blame them? Their hearts were filled with joy at the thought of the priest pronouncing them clean. Then they could return to their loved ones.
As they ran to the priest, verses 15-16 tells us “one of the them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God in a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.” Wow, what an audacious display of gratitude! What a dramatic demonstration of thanksgiving! This Samaritan knew that he would have plenty of time to go to the priest, but he didn’t know if he would have another chance to thank Jesus for restoring his life. He had a true heart of thanksgiving!
As the man worshipped at Jesus’ holy feet, Jesus makes a ridiculously obvious observation: “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Ooh, what a penetrating remark! What a powerful rebuke. The nine lepers were religious enough to ask Jesus for what they wanted! They had enough piety to find the priest when they were cleansed! But they didn’t have enough time to turn around and thank Jesus for their gift of new life. They took Jesus for granted, treating him like a Cosmic Santa Claus instead of the Suffering Messiah.
Every time I read this story I get the same awkward and embarrassed feeling I get at a birthday party when my child opens a gift from someone and says, “Ooo, I didn’t want that!” And all of the other parents look at you. They don’t say anything, but you know what they are thinking, “Hmm, I wonder where his kid gets his ingratitude.” This is a parent’s worst nightmare. What can you even say in that situation? I suppose it is just best to look them in the eye, come clean, and say, “I’m really sorry, he must have picked that up from his mother.”
Seriously though, this story ought to make us feel a little bit embarrassed. I just want to grab those nine by the collar and say, “You naughty little lepers! Where is your gratitude? Jesus just gave you a new life and you can’t even return to say ‘Thank You!’” I am infuriated by these lepers until I think about all the things people have done for me and I have forgotten to thank them. I am indignant toward these nine until I stop to think about everything Jesus has done for me and the times that I have failed to thank him. The truth is that to some extent, we are all guilty of ingratitude.
Some people may ask, “Why should I thank Jesus—what has he ever done for me? Why hasn’t he healed my disease? Why did he let my loved one die?” Questions like this are selfish to the core—they all assume that God owes us something. God doesn’t owe us anything! What we should say is: Father, thank you for your grace! Thank you for so many years of good health! Thank you for the time with my loved one! And most of all, Jesus, thank you for loving me so much that you willingly sacrificed your life on the cross so that my sins can be forgiven!
But the truest test of our gratitude is not giving thanks in times of peace and plenty, but it is in times of anxiety and uncertainty. Can you give thanks when the economy is struggling and you lose your job? Can you give thanks when milk prices are low and you can’t pay your bills? Can you give thanks when there is conflict in your marriage or family? Can you give thanks when you’re diagnosed with cancer or facing some daunting disease?
Theologian Lewis Smedes once said, “I have never met a grateful person who wasn’t a happy person.” I think that is true!
Columnist Erma Bombeck was a breast cancer survivor. Back in 1992 she wrote: An estimated 1.5 million woman are living today after bouts with breast cancer. Every time I forget to feel grateful to be among them, I hear the voice of an eight-year-old girl named Christina, who had cancer of the nervous system. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought long and hard and finally said, “I don’t know. I have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I have everything!”
Little Christina had the same heart of thanksgiving as the leper who returned to Jesus! How about the rest of us?
As we go forth to take the light of Jesus Christ into a dark and broken world, may we go as unworthy servants! Let us fulfill our duty by doing the work God has called us to do. And never expect gratitude, but always give gratitude!