Monthly Archives: November 2012

"Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" And He said to him, "Rise and go your way. Your faith has made you whole." Luke 17:18-19

The verses above come from the story of Jesus’ healing the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19). All were healed but only one returned to give thanks, and a Samaritan man at that. Jesus remarked, “your faith has made you well," or at least that is the typical translation. The word for "well" also means "to be made whole." Jesus had more in mind here than simply a physical healing. The Samaritan's gratitude made him whole. All ten were healed, but only this man was made whole. What is it about thanksgiving that can make us whole?

We begin by asking why God wants us to thank him? Do you think He needs to hear it? We get offended sometimes if we are not thanked. We are in a huff if we don’t get the thank you note. Is God like that? Of course not. So why does he want us to be thankful people?

Like all of God’s commands and directions, not a single one of them is for His benefit. All of them benefit us. When you are thankful you are made whole. You don’t take anything for granted any more. You don’t compare yourself incessantly with others. You don’t constantly regret what you do not have. You don’t spend any time searching for the pinprick of disappointment in your life or in other people. You are thankful, and that thankfulness lifts the soul like nothing else!

I read this story a while back, but do not have the author. He began, “The best gift I ever received and the worst gift I ever receive was the same gift. During the Depression my father was unemployed and we struggled to make ends meet. As Christmas approached I told mom and dad that I wanted a bicycle since most all of my friends had one. They tried to explain our financial situation and prepare me for the disappointment of finding no bicycle on Christmas morning. But to my delight on Christmas day there was a bicycle! It was the best gift I ever received!

"As soon as I could excuse myself I ran outside to show off my new bicycle. My friends pointed out some things about my bike that I had not noticed. My bike didn’t have shiny new chrome handle bars like theirs. It had instead been sanded and painted silver. There were obvious evidences of dents and rust under the fresh paint on the fenders. I realized that my new bike was a used one. My friends made fun of it, and I was humiliated and embarrassed. It was the worst gift I had ever received.

"But as the years passed I remembered that there were no other presents under the tree that year except for my bike. Mom and dad had no money for gifts for each other. They had scraped together enough money to buy an old bike and fix it up as best they could. The bike was not the best in the world, but it represented a love for me that was the best in the world. That was the greatest gift I ever received."

Thanksgiving makes you whole by helping you notice things that you overlooked before. You will see evidences of God’s blessing and love that were always present, but somehow you just rushed by them. You will begin to see your family in a different light, not in terms of the trouble they cause you, but in terms of the joy they bring you. Nature becomes a resplendent and enduring testimony to God's beauty and intricacy. You become "aware," in the deepest spiritual meaning of the word.

Thomas Merton wrote, "Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience." Surely that is what Jesus meant by being made whole.

Grace and gratitude,

Terry Ellis

November 19, 2012

“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

Of all Jesus’ stunning and somewhat counter-intuitive sayings this one surely ranks near the top. Jesus has taken on the supreme fear of all humanity, the fear of death, and His statements at first appear contradictory and perhaps even flippant. On reflection, however, they are perfectly in keeping with what God might say about the topic.

We need to remember the context. Jesus was good at making friends, a jovial and outgoing kind of person (quite a contrast to the way we normally think about Jesus). He had become quite close to two sisters and their brother, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. While in Jerusalem, He was told that Lazarus was seriously sick. Even though the journey from Jerusalem to Bethany, Lazarus’ home, was only two miles, Jesus did not immediately go. In fact, He waited four days, and in that interim time Lazarus died.

One of several possibilities explains His delay. It’s quite possible that upon hearing the symptoms, Jesus knew they were so serious that Lazarus would not survive. You do not have to be a physician to know that certain circumstances likely do not turn out well. Of course, it’s also possible Jesus had a divine insight that Lazarus would die. Whatever the case, Jesus obviously was “setting up” a situation which would bring Him face to face, in the most public way possible, with death. And in the confrontation He would teach us all we really need to know about death.

So what do we learn?

1. Death is an enemy. God’s first gift is life, and the Bible is a record of His effort to defeat death, the wages of sin. So when Jesus stood outside Lazarus’s tomb, He didn’t say “what are all you people crying about? He’s only dead!” No, in fact, Jesus Himself wept, and I believe He did so because more than anyone Jesus knew what life could be and how horribly damaged it is by death.

We learn from Jesus that He cared deeply for people, and had certain ones He called friends in a special way. To think of their suffering in death evoked a deep sadness. “This is not the way we intended it.” He wept for some of the same reasons we weep.

2. Even though death is a horrible reality, for the Christian it is a negligible experience. I’m speaking specifically here about the one who dies. The person approaching death certainly may experience tremendous pain and discomfort (though we are thankful for the wonderful ministry of hospice). However, Jesus’ words have a certain absurdity to them unless they are true: “Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” I have to imagine that even a few moments after the final earthly breath, the person you love would say to you “Everything is all right. I am fine. We need never have feared this.”

By the way, I put no stock in the grocery store check-out line books about surviving a terminal moment or period of time. Some such books claiming to chronicle after death experiences certainly appear to have more validity than others, but the ones claiming angelic guides or talking pets are just plain schmaltzy. A Christian does well to remember that when the Apostle Paul was caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2) he was too overwhelmed and humble to even attempt to describe the experience, much less put it in a 50-page pamphlet.

Our best guide to having the right attitude about death is not the description of heaven in Revelation, or extrapolating from Jesus' post-resurrection appearances, or trying to imagine what a “heavenly body” is (1 Cor. 15). Jesus’ words in John 11 are our best guide, and He said death as you fear it, is not real. As a Christian, you will never die.

Do you believe this?

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

November 6, 2012