Giving thanks encourages the person to whom thanks is given to do more good. But is that even a good motivation? And anyway, God doesn't need that motivation. So what is this all about? Why does Jesus even blame the nine lepers who don't return to give thanks?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”
Then he said to him, “Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you.”
The one who returns is brought by the very act of his thanksgiving closer to the God who saves than the other nine who don't draw near. Even in human terms, giving thanks is more than just a feeling. It unites those who give with those who receive and motivates them both to further generosity and love.
We have a lot for which to be thankful. But we probably don't realize most of it. The leper is only able to return to give thanks because he, unlike his companions, realizes what he has received. But we have been "enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge" and "are not lacking in any spiritual gift". It is unlikely that we have fully internalized such blessings or the difference they make in our lives. We will never exhaust the riches we have been given. Our thankfulness should be without limits.
They discourse of the power of your terrible deeds
and declare your greatness.
They publish the fame of your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your justice.
God has indeed done wondrous things on earth. We are invited this morning to thank him for the few of those our feeble minds can hold in our attention at once. When we do we are drawn ever more into God's love for us. We come to trust more and more that his goodness toward us will deliver us in our day.
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