“THEY WERE
CLEANSED”
Saint Luke 17.
11-19
The Eve of a
National Thanksgiving
26 November Anno
+ Domini 2014
Fr Jay Watson
SSP
In The Name + of
Jesus
“O
give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth forever.”
[1 Chron. 16.34] So speaks the writer of Chronicles; so too wrote King David.
The Holy Ghost wants you to give thanks to the Lord. The Spirit fills you full
so that you will. The Apostle says the same thing to you and he does it by way
of exhortation, and so do I “I exhort
therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
giving of thanks, be made for all men.” [1 Tim 2. 1] Here your pastors, past and present, urge
that you pray for and give thanks for men—your brethren; your neighbor. Yes you are to love them as yourselves and
always put the best construction on their actions and words but you are also to
thank God for them—which is in effect thanking God. But you don’t. You don’t,
and you can’t fulfill the Second Table of the Law because you don’t and can’t
comport with the First Table.
“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me” says the Lord.
But you do. You don’t love God before all things because your first love is
yourself. “Old Adam” doesn’t like
giving thanks because he/you is too busy looking at himself and preening…or
whining after more mammon…be it forbidden fruit, comfortable life style, better
health, happier kids, or whiter teeth.
The Lord’s Second command nails it doesn’t it: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain.” Oh, you don’t break this one because you
don’t drop “f” bombs or yell out the
Savior’s name when you hit your thumb with a hammer? Luther will help you: “…His Name…but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give
thanks.” You don’t pray perfectly,
you don’t praise continually, and you sure as hades (and Hades is the payoff
for disobedience) don’t give thanks.
The Sainted Kenneth Korby (R.I.P.) said
there are only two ways to talk about God or to talk to God. The first is to
speak His Word, receive His Word and thus praise Him by His Word. The other way is the default position for
fallen man—i.e. whine, bitch, moan,
complain, and spend so much time thinking and talking about oneself that “thankfulness” is a burden at best and a
hated thing at worst.
You know that the Creed’s explanation of the
1st Article gives a laundry-list, really a Grace eternal endowment
list, of your Loving Lord’s gifts to you: “…He
has given me…clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and home, wife and
children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He richly and daily provides
me with all that I need to support this body and life.” And sometime you do thank Him for these truly
wonderful things. But your old nature really only thanks Him, now & then,
sort-of, side-ways…when it’s what you want; what you like; what you think you
need; what you ‘appreciate.’ Sinners
as sinners are spoiled not rotten but spoiled rotting in dirt and ash! Repent!
Repent of having these precious jewels of
earthly sustenance, and not thanking your Father.
Did the Lepers give thanks for their fine
clothes and homes? They had neither. Did the 10 unclean walking-dead give
thanks for their families—the ones that disowned them; did they give thanks for
their health and vitality that they most assuredly did not have? No, probably not. Should they have? Yes.
But the Law kills. Ten is the number of
leprosy and death. Repent you ten
lepers…you nine lepers always on the way to the priests of self.
But give thanks, and you DO, to the God Who
comes to fix all that is broken and to heal all that is diseased—to bring back
to life all that was cold, dry, and dead.
For the Lord gives you what you need; what is required to repent. He gives you His Word—Himself! The Samaritan Leper, the stranger Leper, is
you, and, it is Christ Himself. For by
Grace through Faith you are in Jesus and His works and worth are now
yours! Christ became a stranger to His
own people and His own family to win back all the sick and homeless; all the
lost and weeping. Christ became not just
a Leper, but He took all disease, shame, sorrow, brokenness and sin upon
Himself. Your Leper Messiah cleansed
those poor souls and you poor souls by becoming poor and pinned to wood. His Blood washes you white and sterilizes you
with Salvation.
He Who is the WAY passed through the midst
of Samaria and Galilee, and Shawnee on His way to Calvary. He Who is the TRUTH brought Divinity united
with Perfect Humanity to ten men separated and pathetic, and to this small
band—weak and seeking rest. He Who is the LIFE brought them back not just
health but eternal glory. His Presence, then and now, brings the Holy Spirit
Who constrained them to cry in Faith “Jesus,
Master, have mercy on us.” He does the same this evening and you too cry
out the Kyrie: “Lord have mercy upon us!”
Jesus’ thanksgiving to His Father for all of you and for the joy set
before Him—to Love the Father perfectly and to Love you to suffering and
death—is given you by Grace. You are given the Faith to participate in THE
THANKSGIVING: The Holy Eucharist.
You
give the perfect thanks when you receive the Perfect Jesus—the Glory of God.
In The Name of
The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost
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