Luke 17

The Men Who Forgot To Say “Thank You”

Where are the nine? Luke 17:17.

Nearly two thousand years ago, there dwelt in a village of Samaria a man to whom came a great trouble.

One day he noticed that there was something wrong with his foot, something that turned him sick with fear. He must go to the priest on Mount Gerizim, the man who knew about such things. He must go to him and receive his verdict and abide by it.

Sore at heart, he walked up the mountain-side to the temple. The priest examined him and then the man received his doom. He was a leper. Henceforth he must be an outcast, a creature loathed and shunned of all men, a man carrying about with him a living death. There was no hope of his recovery, for the disease was incurable.

He returned to tell his wife the sad news and to bid her farewell. And that evening he left his happy home and went out on to the high-road. Henceforth he would be a wanderer on the face of the earth.

He could not live in his own village, for a leper might not frequent the haunts of other men. The disease was infectious and must at all costs be prevented from spreading. He felt that to stay anywhere near his home would make his suffering even more unendurable. He could not bear to see the familiar sights and know that he had no part in them, to meet on the road men with whom he had been friendly, and to keep far off from them crying, “Unclean, unclean!”

So by degrees he wandered northwards till he came to the borderland between Samaria and Galilee. There he joined himself to some Jews who were lepers like himself. In time of health these Jews would have scorned him, for the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. But now a common bond drew them together. They were all alike sufferers and must do what they could to help each other.

So they wandered about the high-roads or in the neighborhood of the villages, their clothes torn and their heads bare according to the demands of the Law. They picked up a meal from anyone who was charitable enough to give them one; they slept where they could.

Then one day, on the outskirts of a village, news reached them of a Man who had worked mighty wonders in Galilee. It was said that He had made sick people well, had raised the dead, and had even healed lepers. There was the story of a leper whom He had touched, actually touched! And at His touch the leprosy had departed. The traveler who gave them the news told them that this wonderful Healer, this Jesus, was even now on His way to Jerusalem, and would pass that way. One of the Jews remembered having heard Him preach in the days before he became a leper. Then he had scoffed at Him, now he was eager to meet Him.

All that day the sick men hung about the entrance to the village hoping, and yet scarce daring to hope. And on the morrow He came. As they saw Him approach, with one accord they lifted their hoarse voices, and cried, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

And He had mercy. He looked on them, not with intense loathing as other men had looked, but with a great pity. Then He told them to go and show themselves to the priests. That was all no wonderful miracle performed, just a quiet command! But there was something about the Stranger which called forth trust, and the men obeyed. And as they went, they were healed.

When the Samaritan saw that he was cured his heart overflowed with joy and thanksgiving. He felt that he must return and search out the Man who had given him this great boon. So he turned back praising and glorifying God, and when he found the Man who had healed him, he fell down before Him in lowly adoration.

But now comes the astonishing part of the story. Ten men had been restored to health, but only one thought it necessary to go back and say “Thank you.” Nine Jews went on their way, one Samaritan returned. No doubt the Jews were grateful after a fashion. But their gratitude was not big enough to send them back to the feet of their Healer. And Jesus missed them.

“Were there not ten cleansed?” He asked; “but where are the nine?” He desired their gratitude, not for Himself, but for God. It made Him sad to see that men should be so much taken up with themselves that they could forget what great things God had done for them.

We consider these nine Jews were shabby, mean sort of men, do we not? We think that they might at least have put themselves to the trouble of coming back to thank Christ. I wonder if we always remember to say “Thank you” to God? There are things which God is giving us every day, and we have got so accustomed to them that we take them as a matter of course, and forget the Giver.

Here are some of God's gifts the air we breathe, the sunshine, the showers to refresh the plants, the trees, the flowers, the corn to make bread, our homes, our parents, our friends, our food and clothing, sleep, life, health, happiness. For how many of these do we ever thank Him? Sometimes we don't realize how great these gifts are until one or other is taken away, and then we grumble because we have not got it.

Remember that God likes to receive our thanks. He has given us many beautiful and good things, and it is a very small return that we can make just to thank Him for them. How can we best thank Him? Well there are several ways.

First, we can thank Him by being contented. It isn't so difficult to be contented when things go as we like;

it is when things go wrong that we are tempted to grumble. Well that is just the time when it is most worth while being contented, the time when we can show our pluck.

Again, we can thank God by sharing our gifts with others. We were not meant to keep everything to ourselves; the happiest people are those who share with others. And Jesus said that when we were kind to people less fortunate than ourselves, we were really being kind to Him.

But the very best way of thanking God is to thank Him by our lives, to thank Him by loving and serving Him.

Do you know the legend of how the Te Deum was composed? In the fourth century, there lived in the north of Africa a young man named Augustine. He led a very wild life, but he had a good mother who prayed for him, and her prayers were answered. Later Augustine went to Italy and there he was converted under the preaching of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. Afterwards he became a monk and a bishop, and did a great deal of good among the people in the north of Africa.

The legend tells us that on Easter night in the year 387, immediately after Augustine had been baptized by St. Ambrose in the chief church of Milan, the good Bishop was so filled with gladness that he broke forth into a hymn of thanksgiving; and these were his words: “We praise Thee, O God: we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.” And Augustine responded, “ All the earth doth worship Thee: the Father everlasting.” Then the Bishop composed the third verse, and Augustine the fourth, and so on to the end of the hymn. And when Monica, the mother of Augustine, heard her son, she exclaimed that she would rather have him Augustinus and Christian than Augustus and Emperor of Rome.

This is only a beautiful legend; and you know that legends are a little like fairy tales they are often imaginary stories. Some people say that the hymn was not composed in this way, but that St. Ambrose translated it from Greek. Be that as it may, Augustine offered up to God a far greater gift than the Te Deum the gift of a noble life.

And that is the best gift we also can offer Him and the best way we can thank Him for all His loving kindness.