Greetings, Friends!

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”

Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:11-19, NIV)

Jesus healed ten men. But only one of them…a Samaritan, a distant cousin to the Jews with a murky past…came back to thank him.

In a few days, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving, for Americans, looks back to that time when God provided for our ancestors through hard winters, disease, and food shortages. Our ancestors set aside a special time to thank God for all that He had done for them.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, we, too look back and thank God for His providence and blessing upon the early settlers. If it weren't for His providence then, we would not be here to celebrate His providence now.

But Thanksgiving is also a personal time for us as well. A time that we make a little extra effort to remember all that God has done for us. A time when we, like the Samaritan, make the effort to "go back to God" and thank Him for His presence in our lives.

It would be easy to lose sight of God in all our Thanksgiving festivities: dinner, reunions, football games, even church activities. But that would leave us standing with the nine who were cleansed and joyous, yet neglected to thank the God who had made that possible. Instead, let us be like the Samaritan who, when he realized he had been healed, did not hesitate to turn around and run back to Jesus and thank him. All ten of those men had faith, or else they would not have cried out to Jesus. But only one of them added the essential element of thanksgiving that was necessary for his complete healing to take place.

I would like to close with a few verses from Psalm 30. Remember these words throughout this Thanksgiving holiday and on into Advent and Christmas.

Sing praise to the Lord , all his faithful people!
Remember what the Holy One has done, and give Him thanks!
His anger lasts only a moment, his goodness for a lifetime.
Tears may flow in the night, but joy comes in the morning.
You have changed my sadness into a joyful dance;
you have taken away my sorrow and surrounded me with joy.
So I will not be silent; I will sing praise to you.
Lord, you are my God;
I will give thanks to you forever.

Pastor Rich