Recognize the Giver

Recognize the Giver

Day of Thanksgiving – 11/27/2025

Luke 17:11-19

Rev. Dr. Christopher W. Brademeyer

That portion of God’s Holy Word for consideration this morning is our third reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke in the seventeenth chapter with special emphasis on verses seventeen through nineteen which read as follows:

“Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? ¹⁸ 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.”

Thus far the Scriptures.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our Gospel lesson this morning presents the  familiar account of the ten lepers whom Jesus healed on His way to Jerusalem. Ten desperate men cried out for mercy and all ten were cleansed of their leprosy, but only one returned to give thanks. And in this simple record of our Lord’s ministry, He teaches us about genuine thankfulness rooted in the gifts He gives.

 Thankfulness Requires a Recipient

Christ Does Many Things for Us

The ten lepers cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” And He did. Our Lord’s mercy is not selective based on any characteristic of our being. That is to say, Jesus does not restrict Himself to certain nations or people groups. He does not have regard for only certain classes or sexes. He is merciful towards us. And those who receive this mercy unto salvation come from every conceivable place on earth. More than this,  His compassion is abundant and can never be exhausted.

Jesus heals bodies. He healed the lepers with real, physical healing. Scripture is full of these moments: blind eyes were opened, lame legs were strengthened, fevers were lifted, life was restored to the dead. And though we may not witness miracles in this same dramatic form, we still receive physical healing from His hand. Every recovery, every surgery that succeeds, every infection that clears, every night of healing rest are God’s mercies for us in the here and now.

Though our text today deals with healing from disease, Christ does not limit His blessings to that alone. He also gives us daily bread. That is, He provides everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body. Homes, food, clothing, jobs, devout family, good government, peace, weather, water, medicine, in short, everything. We are surrounded, absolutely surrounded, by His gifts, even though we often notice the One who provides them as little as the nine lepers who did not return to give thanks to the Lord. The Lord fills our days with mercies we have not asked for and often do not acknowledge. And yet, such is His character and gracious disposition towards us that we continue to have these given to us in spite of our being undeserving of even the smallest of these blessings.

The Greatest Thing Christ Does Is Heal the Soul

But as great as these earthly mercies are, they are not Christ’s greatest gift. Even the miraculous healing of the lepers is less than the forgiveness of sins. The Samaritan returned, and what does Jesus say? “Your faith has made you well.” If we translated this more literally, we might say that “Your faith has saved you.”

The others received bodily healing. But only this one is noted to receive salvation. Christ has come for this above all: to heal the soul diseased with sin, to cleanse the conscience, to restore us to God, to grant us forgiveness of sin. This healing required His own journey to Jerusalem where He would be rejected, crucified, and raised again for our redemption. And while this may have cost our Lord His very life, the good Physician of body and soul gladly gave Himself to grant us the healing that surpasses every healing of the body, the healing of the soul. By His wounds we are healed. By His blood we are cleansed. By His death we receive life. This healing does not merely restore for a time until age or new illness again destroy, this healing lasts forever. And there is no exercise regimen or diet plan that is needed to maintain it. No, it is enough to simply trust the Lord, that is, to have faith in Him to receive these blessings. For this reason, Jesus said that the Samaritan man’s faith saved him. Jesus said that the Samaritan’s faith saved him because faith receives Jesus. Faith saves not by its own power, but because it clings to Christ. Faith, much like thankfulness, is empty without something to direct its attention towards. And faith in Christ, Who is the most fitting and proper of all Objects of faith, is never misplaced.

We Prefer the Lesser Things to the Healing of the Soul

Yet how often we value bodily blessings more than spiritual ones! We pray more earnestly for a clean scan than for a clean conscience. We fear losing our livelihoods more than losing our faith, so we slave away piling up treasures that moth consumes and rust destroys while squandering the eternal riches of Christ. We hunger for comfort and ease more than for God’s Word and Sacrament to the point that the most minor of inconveniences is enough to drive us from the everlasting life and forgiveness contained therein.

We are not so different from the nine. They received a great gift and vanished into the distance. They were content with restored skin but were uninterested in the One who had restored them. They preferred the lesser gift and lost the greater One. But this is misguided. Bodies will fail again. Earthly blessings always fade. The soul, healed and forgiven by Christ, endures forever in paradise. So resist the temptation to put the earthly ahead of the Godly. Stand firm in your faith. Know that Christ forgives and grants everlasting salvation and that this treasure is more than worth sacrificing everything else for.

Christ Deserves Our Thanks for All He Does for Us

It is proper to give thanks to Christ. Not as a payment for services rendered, not as a flattery to earn favor, not as a  wage for material blessings, but simply because He is the most generous, most gracious Giver of all things. He provides daily bread for you and all people, even unbelievers and scoffers. He heals the body, granting all wellness of the sick and the injured. He shields us from dangers we never knew were near. And above all, He forgives our sins, restores our souls, and grants us eternal life in His Kingdom.

To kneel before Him, to worship Him, to thank Him is simply to acknowledge the truth that He has done all things well. More to the point, He is the greatest Provider of what we need. He delights in our thankfulness, not because He is some petty human authority who delights in flattery and the obligation of those who have been beneficiaries of His generosity. No, He delights in thankfulness because it can only come from faith, that is, can only truly be born from a heart that trusts in Christ as its Savior and Lord.

In the end, the question for us is not, “Have we received gifts?” We have. The real question is, “Will we recognize the Giver?” May God grant us hearts and insight like the Samaritan. Would that our hearts would recognize Christ's mercy, delight in His salvation, and look to Christ in faith and thanksgiving.

In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.