Thanksgiving Perspective from a Refugee Mother, NFL Towel

Text: Luke 17:11-19

“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.” —Luke 17:15-16

Sports ministry development in Africa is the vehicle Breakaway Outreach uses to introduce and drive sustainable programs for sharing the gospel, enriching young people, strengthening communities, and building up next generation leaders.  We just returned from sessions in Ghana, where our team facilitated gospel-centered sports clinics in schools as well as a special outreach day for refugees, in which we distributed food and clothing for children and families.

At the end of our time with the refugees, a mother came up to me and asked me to take a picture of her with the new bath towel that she had been given.  The towel had a Seattle Seahawks NFL team logo on it, which I presume was entirely irrelevant to this vagrant woman.  She was just so happy to be getting a towel.  I wish you could’ve seen the smile on her face.  That same towel is priced at about $30 on Amazon, but to this woman in her poverty, you would’ve thought it was valued at a million dollars!

In Luke 17, we see Jesus passing along between Samaria and Galilee, when he is met by a group of ten lepers, who stood at a distance.  To prevent passing on their infection, “unclean” lepers were forbidden by law and custom to mingle with others.  So, from afar, they lifted up their voices to Jesus, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”

Even though they were a mixed group of Jews and Samaritans, these paupers were bonded by their misery.  With their cultural and social prejudices thrust aside, desperation for healing unified their plea.  As Barclay said, “A common misfortune had broken down the racial and national barriers.  In the common tragedy of their leprosy, they had forgotten they were Jews and Samaritans and remembered only they were men in need.”  Their integrated cries for mercy set the stage for what happens next.

“When [JESUS] saw them he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed.  Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.  Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 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 well.’” (Luke 17:14–19 ESV)

All ten lepers received a collective miracle, but only one returned to give thanks.  They all became whole again, but only one became a worshipper.  For nine, it might’ve been valued as a $30 healing, but for the one, it was a million-dollar moment—even yet, priceless.

This story reminds me of how ungrateful I can be at times.  God doesn’t get nearly the thanksgiving and worship from my life that His bestowed goodness warrants of me.  Sometimes I feel like I am only giving God a worship offering that reflects something I received from an Amazon shopping cart rather than the price God paid in bankrupting heaven to save my soul and give me an eternal inheritance.  I want the worship, gratitude, and thanksgiving from my heart to look more like the prized smile on the face of a refugee mother.

Maybe you need a gratitude check in your heart right now.  Have you depreciated the value of God’s blessings in your life?  Your marriage isn’t some thirty-dollar gift, it’s a multibillion-dollar blessing from God.  Being raised in a home where Christian values are taught isn’t some “cheap” religious heritage to deconstruct, it’s God’s multibillion-dollar investment in the foundation of your life and the wellspring of your future.  Too often the things we take for granted in the daily stuff of life are the very things that have the most value and are infinitely worthy of thanksgiving and praise to God.  Where have you devalued a blessing that is invaluable and truly deserving of your gratitude?  Think about that as you seek to abide in Him this week.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank you for your goodness in my life. I am undeserving of your mercy, kindness, and unconditional love. You loved me through lovelessness. Forgave me when I felt unforgivable. Accepted me when I was unacceptable. Pardoned what others deemed unpardonable. And you saved me when others saw nothing salvageable. Your grace always has the last word in my life. Thank you for this invaluable gift. In the blessed and eternal name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion:

1. When have you been blessed by seeing someone else’s gratitude?
2. When have you felt “unclean” or despised as an outcast?
3. What lesson can we learn from the fact that these lepers put aside their racial, national, and cultural barriers, because their need was greater than their prejudices?
4. Where have you devalued a blessing that is invaluable and truly deserving of your gratitude? What should your thanksgiving or worship look like in response to this?
5. Have you recognized your sin, your spiritual poverty, and your need for a Savior? If not, perhaps today is the day you lay aside all your preconceived notions about religion and recognize your need for Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.