Thanksgiving is not just a national holiday; it is a therapy for our soul and an ointment for our living. The holiday may very well benefit us to put life in its proper perspective. Whatever happened to a real Thanksgiving? Many stores clear out their ghoulish Halloween trappings only to fill the space with snowmen, ginger bread houses, trees and Santa Claus paraphernalia to mark the coming festivities of December… Thanksgiving does not provide ample monetary benefit in our time so today’s culture largely passes over it. It is overshadowed and overrun by everything from football games, parades and early black Friday shopping. God forgive us.

The turkey seems to be the last remaining remnant of a National holiday to give thanks to God. It has deviated and is called by some Turkey day. Years ago themes of gratitude were common at school, on TV, and in the store shop windows, even Pilgrims displays for those of us who remember who they are. But no longer!

The holiday has been vanishing gradually from national awareness and you have to look hard for any public display of giving Almighty God thanks? God deserves better and we all would be the better for it.—Romans 1;21

We can choose to be thankful. The reasons we may find it hard to give thanks are as many as the troubles that strike us each day. Difficulties don’t pause for a Thanksgiving break. There is a way, however, to find reasons to be thankful during even the darkest episodes of life.

Matthew Henry, the famous Bible commentator, was robbed of his wallet once. He wrote in his diary that night all the things he was thankful about:
First, that he had never been robbed before.
Second, that though they took his wallet, they did not take his life.
Third, because even though they took it all, it wasn’t very much.
Finally, because he was the one who was robbed and not the one who did the robbing.

When the curtain of struggles seems to block out all joy, we can choose to be thankful. We can go back and be thankful for such things as we have. We can go back and be thankful for the people in our lives that made a difference. We can go back and be thankful unto the God who gave us our being. Paul said,” For in him we live, and move, and have our being… — Acts 17:28

So that the Israelites might understand the importance of being thankful, God initiated three annual feasts as reminders: 1. Passover. 2. The Feast of Weeks & 3.The Feast of Tabernacles. Every one of these reminded God’s people of His blessings on them and of their need to express thanksgiving.

I Go Back and Take A Good Look at the Past. Vv. 11-13
a) We all understand and appreciate the importance of gratitude. How it can uplift, radically change relationships. In fact, one of the first things we were taught and that we teach our children is to express their gratitude. I don’t suppose there is a story in the Bible that is so endearing to us, so timelessly appropriate, as the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers.

b) The story begins: “And as he entered a certain village there met him ten lepers, and they stood at a far distance.” Don’t ever think for a moment that death is the worst thing that can happen to a person. It’s not. And the scene this morning is a case in point. These ten men walked the earth. They breathed and ate. They had hopes and fears and aspirations and feelings just like you and me. Yet, there was a tragic sense in which they were already dead.

c) Leprosy was the most dreaded of all the ancient diseases. It ate away at the body and left its victim maimed and disfigured. There was no known cure. They had no hope for a family life, a useful occupation or plans for the future. Leprosy is a disease of the nervous system, nerves lose their sensitivity- if you can’t feel heat- burns, can’t feel pain. Eventually fingers and toes fall off. In extreme cases, people lose ears, their nose.

1. Their situation was made worse because leprosy was believed to be highly contagious. Actually, we know today that it is not. But tell that to ancient superstition. In their time, lepers were treated as outcasts. They were kicked out of their community, their homes their jobs. They were left to an existence of begging. They would come together in their own leprosy community, trying to eke out an existence.

2. The scripture makes it quite clear that as these lepers approached Jesus they stood at a far distance. Everywhere these poor men journeyed they heard familiar words yelled out: “Unclean,” “Leper.” And then some would hurl stones at them to keep them away. Leprosy was a serious public health concern but it was marked with the religious element of ritual uncleanness. So it was that they not only had to live with their physical handicap, but they were also isolated. They had to live in the misery of loneliness.

3. You note that prior to Jesus healing them (verse #13) they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. It says they lifted up their voices, the word for voice in Greek is the word “pho-ne” it is where we get our English word phone. Their voice carried over a distant because Jewish law clearly prescribed that a leper could not get within fifty yards of a clean person.

II Go Back and thank someone from your Past. Vv. 15-17
1. Imagine their excitement when Jesus sent them on the way to the priests. This was a sign of their healing. Priests were the only ones who could pronounce lepers healed. The Bible says in verse 14, that as they went, they were healed. Once declared cleaned by the priest this man some eight days later according to the Levitical law went back, the Greek implies “returned” and found Jesus. The verb “hü-po-stre’-fō is intransitive, followed by an infinitive of purpose. The cleansing rite was an eight – day ritual. — Lev.14:1-2

2. How excited these men must have been. Distorted faces and bodies began returning to normal. A warm sensation began creeping into their once dead fingers and toes. They could go back to their families, their communities and their jobs. This past life was over they were healed saved from Leprosy.

Application:
Are you saved? What was your past life like? I am talking BC. – before Christ in your life. When was the last time you truly thanked God for saving you from your past?

3. Sadly, only one cleansed leper return to thank Jesus? Gratitude can be easily overlooked because of the excitement of a great gift or in the moment of great victory or success. —Excuses! There are all kinds of excuses.

4. We’re not very good at saying “Thank you,” are we? We’re like the little boy I heard about. On his return from a birthday party, his mother said, “Bobby, did you thank the lady for the party?” I was going to but a girl ahead of me said, ‘Thank you,’ and the lady said don’t mention it. So I didn’t. We live in a generation where young people have an entitlement mentally and not an attitude of gratitude.

5. This man fell down glorifying God. He knew God was the source of his miracle and he thanked Jesus, he thanked Him as well as worshiped Him. He came back with the right attitude. So while the ungrateful nine are representative of the general attitude toward Jesus. Give us healing, give us food, deliver us from demons, do miracles, but do not expect worship. Do not expect praise, adoration, do not expect thanks. This is the attitude of many ingrates in these last days. – II Timothy 3:1-2

The grateful Samaritan is a picture of the outcast who believed. All ten were willing to do a religious ceremony; that is to go to the priest. Only one was filled with true praise and thanksgiving. Nine obey ritual where only one praises the Lord.” This man’s faith embraced Jesus as God, as Lord. It’s a faith that bows humbly in recognition of one’s lowliness in His presence. It’s a faith that Jesus says saves.

True gratitude comes when we realize where we would be without God’s help. Along life’s way God often sends us a mentor, a comforter, consular, counselor, an adviser or who knows maybe even an angel. We can show our gratitude by thanking God for providing our needs and we can prove our sincerely by going back and giving thanks to those God sent our way.

#6.When was the last time you went back and thanked someone from your past? You might want to thank a teacher who helped with your math, or reading. . I witnessed this in school many times in a Catholic school. Students came back and thanked their teachers. Go back and be thankful. Go back to that person, Sunday School teacher, pastor, or Youth worker who cared enough to lead you to Christ and express your thanks. – Ms. Mary

Make a habit of getting even with people — not those you think wronged you, but those you know who helped you. — Kay Levin