Gratitude and Grace
In Luke 17, we hear the story of Jesus healing ten lepers. Only one returned to give thanks, and he was a despised Samaritan. Jesus did not take back His healing of the nine, despite their seeming lack of gratitude. He simply exclaimed, “Where are the nine?” None of us can claim to have never been with the nine. Our national day of Thanksgiving reminds us all that we take so much for granted and that our lives are not always lived in thankfulness and gratitude to God. Yet that does not stop Jesus from loving us, forgiving our sins by His cross, dying and rising for us, and giving us the power of His Spirit to, however imperfectly, express thanks to God.