Return To Your Home

Rev Dr Mark Porizky

11/18/07

Luke 17:11-19

     Today I want to say a few words about Thanksgiving and gratitude.  Why?  Well I guess it started with an interesting commentary on Thanksgiving I read about two weeks ago.  It seems that that fist year when the pilgrims were in America, it seems that the pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts…nevertheless, they set aside a day of thanksgiving.

      More and more I think we misunderstand the importance of gratitude.

      And more and more I believe that the real difference in the American church is not between conservatives and liberals, fundamentalists and charismatics, nor between Republicans and Democrats. The real difference is between the aware and the unaware.

      When somebody is aware of that love—the same love that the Father has for Jesus—that person is just spontaneously grateful. Cries of thankfulness become the dominant characteristic of the interior life, and the byproduct of gratitude is joy. We're not joyful and then become grateful—we're grateful, and that makes us joyful.

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus^* was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee . As he entered a village, ten lepers^* approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean.

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’^* feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’  

      Jesus said, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you."

      It's one of those tales from the internet, and whether the story is true, only God knows. It concerns an elderly man in Phoenix who calls his son in New York and says, "I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; as far as I'm concerned, forty-five years of misery is enough." "Pop, what are you talking about?" his son replies. "Son, we can't stand the sight of each other any longer. We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her." Then he hangs up.

      Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck they're getting divorced. I'll take care of this." She calls Phoenix immediately and screams at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don\'t do a thing, do you hear me?" The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says, "It worked. They're both coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way."

      Those of us who have family members in far-flung places would do almost anything to see them around the table on Thanksgiving Day. It is at the time of both holy days and holidays that we most yearn for reunion - a time for the family to be together. Thanksgiving is an opportunity for catching up, renewing ties, celebrating the past, and enjoying the present.  

      However it is we manage to gather the family at holiday time, there are few things in this world for which to be more thankful! Unless, of course, there are some around the table who really can't stand the sight of others around the table. Then things can unravel a bit.

      An article at Thanksgiving time a few years ago in the New York Times Dining Section, of all places reflected this Thanksgiving dinner difficulty. It had the juicy title, "Pass a Drumstick, and An Olive Branch." Here's a morsel: "At holiday gatherings, family grudges buried by time and distance resurface. New boyfriends meet ex-husbands. Prius drivers make small talk with S.U.V. owners. And vegetarians spend the meal defending themselves. It's enough to break a cook's heart. We seek the culture of the table as much as a well-made stuffing. We want the pace of the meal to be dreamy, the conversation unforgettable. Heaven is a table trimmed with our best platters and a room brimming with friends, family and warm feelings. As much as we toward the hot meal, we desire more the warm feelings!

      "The problem: Americans, as a whole, have lost touch with the ritual of the shared homemade meal. Although we eat at home a lot ... families eat in shifts and leave the television on. The sandwich has become the most popular dinner entree. No wonder we have no idea how to behave at Thanksgiving.

      I have a friend whose Thanksgiving meal went south just after her grandmother called her brother a cowardly Communist. Another friend's nightmare began when her mother's new boyfriend started talking about breasts, and he wasn't referencing the turkey." This reminds me of something Oscar Wilde once said, "After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations."

      For all of us, it will be a happy Thanksgiving if we don't have to deal with that kind of unpleasantness. Nevertheless, I stand by my original claim, however it is we manage to gather the family at holiday time, there are few things in this world for which to be more thankful! The gathering of the clan might not live up to our expectations ... but when we gather together and remember to ask the Lord's Blessings, it can turn into the closest thing to heaven on earth this side of God's Kingdom.

      Our text today concerns ten men who no longer had any chance of spending an evening meal with the family ... gathering with those whom they best loved and wanted most to be with. And there were ten chairs empty each day, not to mention every holy day and holiday, ten chairs empty in ten different homes ... because ten men were being treated like lepers in their own neighborhoods. And for no other reason than the fact ... they were lepers. They had a terrible disease, thought to be contagious, and considered a punishment of God upon the unfortunate soul who contracted it.

      Ten Lepers. I have been preaching on this text from Luke for many years. I have sliced-and-diced the hearts and minds of these men in countless ways, trying to fathom, to understand fully, their attitude of ingratitude.   Still the question jumps out at me: how could it be that of ten men, each of whom had been elected to health by the single word of Jesus of Nazareth - how could it be that of the ten men, only one returned to give thanks?

      And it's fair to wonder if the prospect of home and family trumped the need for gratitude and thanksgiving. I may be heaping burning coals on those less-than-fine nine for failing to thank Jesus, when perhaps all they wanted to is get home and kiss their wives and hold their children. Aren't we all guilty at times of putting family before Jesus?

      And you know, I don't think Jesus would really mind. The nine lepers, with the attitude of ingratitude, had they truly raced home to their families in sheer joy, I don't think Jesus was angry. Indeed, Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" I see this as disappointment, rather than anger. The same Jesus, who from the pain of the Cross had the presence of mind to see that his mother would be cared for, this Jesus understood the connection to family.

      Luke 8:  "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." These words show the importance Jesus attached to the family setting. And for ten lepers who were not privy to a place setting in the family setting for how many numbers of years ... well, Jesus might have been disappointed they did not first come and express gratitude for their healing, but not angry.

      Surely the first words of each of the nine had something to do with declaring how much God had done for them. Beyond that, as the nine sat down to dinner at a glorious family reunion, their first words at table might well have been words of thanksgiving, "Baruch Atta Adonoi," "Blessed are you O Lord, King of the Universe." Followed by an outpouring of thanksgiving for family, and for their newly minted status as ex-lepers. At least this is how I slice-and-dice the lepers this Thanksgiving.

      And however it is you observe the Day of Thanksgiving on Thursday, may your day live up to your expectations. And as you leave this place of worship this morning, please, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you."

      And, like the leper who returned to give thanks, we too should give our thanks.  The following poem is, to me, a thanksgiving story.  Entitled “A New Kind of Normal,” the poem reminds me how to live as I return to my home and declare all that God has done for me:  

      When despair tries to take me under…I choose life.

      When I wonder what God could possibly be thinking…I choose trust.

      When I desperately want relief from unrelenting reality…I choose perseverance.

      When I feel oppressed by my disappointment and sorrow…I choose gratitude.

      When I want to keep my feelings to myself…I choose vulnerability.

      When nothing goes according to my plan…I choose relinquishment.

      When I want to point the finger…I choose forgiveness.

      When I want to give up…I choose purposeful action.

      Will you pray with me now?

St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton , CT

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