Overwhelmed with Gratitude
In Luke 17:11-19, Jesus heals ten men with leprosy, including a Samaritan, who gets credit for being grateful because he returned to say, “Thank you.”
Is it possible that they were all grateful to have been cured of this debilitating disease, yet he was overwhelmed with gratitude?
We tend to think of being overwhelmed in the negative sense to describe emotions we are wrestling with as an explanation for why we can’t function. It is common to be overwhelmed with grief, sorrow, guilt, or shame—or even responsibility, tasks, or financial debt.
We can also be overwhelmed in a good way. To be overwhelmed simply means that we are strongly affected. In this text from Luke, the word “overwhelm” is not used. So, let’s look at the actions of the one man who was healed and see if he was strongly affected.
In biblical times, leprosy was debilitating and isolating. There was nerve damage and muscle weakness that affected the hands, the feet, and the eyes. Once a priest found a person to be infected (unclean), they had to leave their family and live outside of town in isolation. This community of outcasts had to wear torn clothes, let their hair hang loose, cover their upper lip and cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!” whenever someone passed by the camp. They were not allowed to come within six feet of a clean person, 150 feet if the wind was blowing. If the symptoms appeared to go away, they would present themselves to a priest who would declare them to be clean.
In Luke 5:12-16, we read of a man who saw Jesus, fell on his face, and begged, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”
Jesus reached out to touch him and said, “I do want to. Be clean.” Jesus did the unthinkable. It was against Jewish law to touch someone who was unclean, but Jesus always put people first.
In Luke 17, as these 10 men with leprosy saw Jesus, they called out: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
He responded, “Go, show yourselves to the priest.”
These men believed he was Jesus, the Master. They had faith in him. They obeyed. When he said, “Go,” they went and 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.”
I wish I could say that I am like this man. But, I am probably more like the other nine. When they saw Jesus approaching, they loudly called out to him. When I have a need, I pray fervently about it. But when God answers my prayer, my level of gratitude is not even close to the begging in my prayers of petition. I am grateful. But I am not always overwhelmed with gratitude.
This Samaritan was overwhelmed with gratitude. He was strongly affected.
I imagine an energy in his body. Suddenly, he feels better than he has felt in a long time. His heart is probably racing. Adrenaline is coursing through his body. When he sees that he is healed, he whips around and heads back to Jesus. I imagine him running, his arms in the air, a huge smile on his face, tears streaming down as he runs toward the Master. He drops to the ground at Jesus’ feet. I picture him gushing over Jesus, thanking him over and over.
This prompts Jesus to pose the rhetorical question:
“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?”
The temptation here is to put a disappointed, scolding tone in Jesus' voice. But Luke 17 does not give us any clues as to his tone.
In contrast, Luke 5:43 says, “Sternly, Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Don’t say anything to anyone. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest…..” And then, verse 45 says, "Instead, he went out and started talking freely and spreading the news so that Jesus wasn’t able to enter a town openly.”
In Luke 17, it simply says, “Jesus asked.” So, I wonder if he was holding back a smile as he looked for the other nine, chuckling under his breath while shaking his head, like the parent of a toddler, caught in the act.
Jesus knew that with his teaching, his followers would eventually mature and learn how to do the right thing. Until then, they had a lot to learn about being a disciple.
Those watching would have expected the Jews to be the ones to show gratitude, but Jesus uses every opportunity in his stories to point out when it was the Samaritan who did the better thing.
Maybe the other nine were like the man in Luke 5 who couldn’t help but go to town and spread the news. Maybe they were eager to reunite with their families, eager to tell EVERYONE that the Master healed them!
Maybe they dropped to their knees at the end of the day and thanked God. We don’t know. To whatever degree they were grateful, they were not overwhelmed with gratitude like the Samaritan; they failed to take care of first things first.
This Samaritan with overwhelming gratitude—who was strongly affected, who took care of first things first—received a bonus for his overwhelming gratitude.
In verse 19, Jesus said, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” This word “well” in this verse is sō’zō, which means “saved” or “salvation.”
His overwhelming gratitude was pleasing to Jesus and resulted in a healing of body and soul.
How do we go from being people who are grateful to God to people with overwhelming gratitude?
Overwhelming gratitude is born in our hearts.
It begins in our thoughts.
It permeates our attitudes.
It seeps out in our words.
It is heard in our prayers.
Overwhelming gratitude is intentional and purposeful.
Let’s begin by examining our own hearts as God would. Are your prayers of thanksgiving as persistent as when you petition God for what you want?
May we be a people with overwhelming gratitude, actively looking for God at work in our lives, taking care of first things first, being STRONGLY AFFECTED by who he is and by his overwhelming love for us.
