The Most Thankful One
On the day before Thanksgiving, some of our grandchildren went through my stash of Thanksgiving decorations and decorated our house. Then, the nine-year-old wanted to use my phone to take pictures. I love the dozens of pictures she took. She captured all of us in moments that I would never have recorded, such as Notty helping her little brother wash his hands. She also took pictures of nooks and crannies in our house, places that must seem somehow special to her, but I never knew it before.
Here is a picture of our candy corn doll, Corny. Our granddaughter was excited when he came out of the decoration container. She was glad to see her old friend from Thanksgivings gone by.
We all have so many “little” things to be thankful for, if there really are little things to be thankful for. They really are all big things to be thankful for when we consider that personally we are powerless even to exist without our loving Creator.
One day Jesus gave ten men a really big thing to be thankful for, but only one of them said, “Thank You.”
On that day long ago, Jesus went into a village. Ten men with the terrible disease of leprosy saw Him. They kept their distance, as they always had to do. People with leprosy couldn’t be close to other people. From their distance, they called out to Jesus with a plea we all make to Jesus over and over again during our lives:
“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Luke 17:1
There is no record that these ten leprous men told Jesus what they wanted specifically. They didn’t need to tell Him. He knew, just as He knows what we need, whether we voice the words or not.
Jesus saw them. When He did, He told them to go and show themselves to the priests. They did as He told them to do. While they were going, each of the ten of them was cleansed from that terrible disease.
When one of the ten realized what happened, he turned back toward Jesus. He glorified God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at the feet of Jesus. I don’t know if he actually touched Jesus’ feet or not, but if he did it must have felt wonderful to touch a real live person again.
The man who said “Thank You” was a Samaritan. The Jews looked down on Samaritans because their ancestors had turned away from following God faithfully several generations before.
Jesus’ response was a question to which He knew the answer. “Were there not ten cleansed?” He asked. “But the nine–where are they?” (Luke 17:17)
Thanksgiving is a reminder to be like the one leper and not like the nine. How’s this for a goal for the next several days? Let’s be the most thankful one.
Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord,
so walk in Him,
having been firmly rooted
and now being built up in Him
and established in your faith,
just as you were instructed,
and overflowing with gratitude.
Colossians 3:6-7