Gratitude
Luke 17: 11-19
November 17, 2024
Let’s start with our Scripture today. Luke adds this story to his book because it highlights the faith of an immigrant, a Samaritan person. Luke sees Jesus as someone who always lifts up the underdog and the outcast and the oppressed. This is seen in this story where only the Samaritan returns, gives thanks and is complimented for his faith.
2000 years later as we hear the story, we also notice another point that Jesus seems to be making. Jesus ties together healing and faith with gratitude. Not that you have to be thankful or have faith to be healed. But that healing and faith and gratitude are all mixed together as part of what it means to be a Jesus follower.
Gratitude is an important response as we experience God’s goodness and grace.
We are preparing to gather for another Thanksgiving dinner in just a few minutes. It’s the time of the year our thoughts turn to thankfulness and gratitude. At the end of this message, I’ll ask you the question: What are you thankful for? Be thinking about how you might respond.
In preparation for this message, I’ve been pondering another question: How can we more fully embrace gratitude? If gratitude is an important part of our lives, how can we dive deeper into its refreshing waters?
I came across a new book published this year by a professor at Calvin University in Grand Rapids. The author’s name is Cornelius Plantinga. The book’s title is: “Gratitude: Why Giving Thanks is the Key to our Well-Being”.
I’ll be using that book in this message as we look together at how we can integrate gratitude more profoundly in our lives.
The first thing we are invited to do is: let go of gratitude blockers. Let’s look at some of the things that keep us from being thankful.
Cynicism blocks gratitude. If I’m a cynic, I can’t receive a gift without thinking, “What’s the real reason I’m getting this?”
Self-sufficiency blocks gratitude. If I think I can take care of myself without anyone else’s help or generosity, then I’ll not appreciate any gift. I know it seems the American way to be ruggedly independent and have an aversion to handouts. But self-sufficiency can get in the way of being grateful for receiving from anyone, even God.
Greed blocks gratitude because it makes us discontented. If I’m never satisfied and always want more, I’m unlikely to be grateful for what I already have.
A sense of entitlement blocks gratitude as well. If I’m so special that life owes me its good things, what is there to be grateful for? If life “owes” me, nothing is a gift.
These are four gratitude blockers: cynicism, self-sufficiency, greed and entitlement. Any of these we need to work on?
Reading the story about the one Samaritan leper who came to thank Jesus reminded me of an important aspect of gratitude. We recognize that the Samaritan still had a tremendous number of challenges and problems even after he was healed of leprosy. He still had much to complain about. He’s still an outcast with no family and no job. But the Samaritan focused on the good that happened, not the bad that was still there.
Now it’s important as we think about being thankful in spite of our problems of the following two things:
- We don’t say that there is no problem or pain. We don’t ignore or deny the suffering.
- We also don’t pretend that it’s good to have a painful problem. Masochism is not a virtue.
Instead, we turn our focus to the good, instead of focusing on the problem or the pain or the illness or the suffering.
I came across this quote: “You complain about seeing thorny rose bushes, I rejoice and give thanks to the gods that thorns have roses.” In other words, which do we focus on: the painful thorns or the beautiful roses.
Every day presents us new opportunities to focus on the problem or focus on the good. We can complain about what we’re dealing with or be thankful for the good we are given.
We’re not thankful for the mess we have to clean up after a Thanksgiving dinner, but we are thankful because the mess means we have just been surrounded by great friends and family.
Another example is our new dog Rudy. I could tell you about all the challenges we face in taking in a new dog. The fence we had to build. The toileting challenges. The training of a dog who is strong and likes to lunge at vehicles and children. The walking a dog who would prefer to run.
I could go on and on about the challenges of raising Rudy.
But I could also go on and on about how lovable Rudy is. And Rudy’s fun antics. And how Rudy behaves so well on long car rides. And so much more…
We focus on the good and are thankful for Rudy instead of directing all our attention to the problems and challenges and downsides of having a dog like Rudy.
It can help to focus on the good by considering the alternative.
There’s the famous Yiddish folktale entitled: It Could Always be Worse.
The poor woman is living in a one room hut too small for her big family. She has not only her husband, herself, her six children, but also his mother. It’s too much. They are crammed together, getting in each other’s way and squabbling over small matters.
At her wit’s end, the poor woman appeals to her rabbi. Old and wise, the rabbi says, “Do you have animals, maybe a couple of chickens?”
The woman says, “Yes, two hens, a rooster and a goose.”
“Fine” the rabbi says, “Bring them into the hut.”
The woman does this, and things get worse with all the clucking and crowing and the feathers in the family’s soup.
The poor woman returns to the rabbi. This time the rabbi asks, “Do you have a goat?”
“Yes,” says the woman.
“Bring it inside,” says the rabbi.
The woman questions the wisdom of this, but still does what he says. Of course, things are now even worse.
The poor woman returns to the rabbi. This time the rabbi asks if she has a cow. Then he recommends, “Get that cow indoors at once.”
Now, life in the hut is impossible. The cow takes up so much space and makes so much noise and produces so many cow pies. Besides, it tramples the children’s toys.
Desperate, the poor woman returns to the rabbi and says life in the hut is a nightmare. Pondering the matter a last time, the rabbi says, “Go home, my good woman, and let all the animals out of the hut.”
Doing as she is told; the woman finds that the nightmare is now over, and that peace has descended on her tiny home. The woman and her family now sleep soundly and breathe easily and enjoy life in their cozy hut.
In other words, it could always be worse. So, we are thankful for what we have.
We have so much to be thankful for.
The writer AJ Jacobs was sipping his morning coffee one day and started thinking about the chain of people who had to do their job for that steaming cup to get into his hands. It turned out to be a long chain. Jacobs decided to research and thank people.
It started in the coffee shop where AJ thanks his barista for serving him. Then he arranges to meet the head buyer and taster for the coffee shop and thank them. He calls up the inventor of the Java Jacket – the sleeve that keeps you from burning your fingers – and thanks her.
He thanks the people who roast the beans as well as the people who weigh and bag the beans. He even travels to South America to thank the Columbian farmers for growing the beans the coffee company will crush to make his coffee taste and smell so good every morning. When he was done, he wrote a book about the vast web of dependence we all live in.
God, help us be thankful for all those people who are working around the world so that we can have what we have. There was a time when our daughter tried to include all those people in the prayer she said at mealtimes. It’s a great thing to do, but the prayers can get a little long.
How do we embrace gratitude more fully?
Here’s some specific things we can do:
- We carefully observe and are thankful
- We savor the good things of life. We focus attention on them, take time over them, engage our senses to enjoy them. We immerse ourselves in the enjoyment of them.
- We journal and write down things we are thankful for. Some people add something every day. A gratitude list.
- We testify and share what we’re thankful for. This is what we’ll do in just a minute. It’s also what we often do around the Thanksgiving table. Sharing what we’re thankful for.
There’s the story of a balloonist who was going to take a trip over the Alps a hundred years ago. He had the whole itinerary carefully planned out. Each day he’d start off in his hot air balloon for Town A, but the wind would blow him to Town B. After spending time in Town B, he’d say, “I didn’t know about this place. Had I known, I would have planned to land here.”
The next day, he’d take off for Town C, but because of the wind, would land instead in Town D. After spending time in Town D, he’d say, “I didn’t know about this town. Had I known, I would have planned to land here.”
This happened day after day. Instead of being disappointed, each day was a delightful surprise.
The same in our lives. Even though we intended to go from point A to point B and we end up in point C, we can still be thankful.
As the Scripture says, “When one of them discovered that he was healed, he came back, shouting praises to God. He bowed down at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.”
So, friends, what are you thankful for today?
