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“Thanksgiving 101”

Luke 17:11-19

Rev. Rebecca DePoe

October 12, 2025

Our Scripture reading for this morning comes from the gospel of Luke, chapter 17, beginning in verse 11. Hear now the word of God:

Luke 17:11–19 (NRSV)

11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.

12 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance,

13 they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

14 When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean.

15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.

16 He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.

17 Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?

18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

19 Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

When I was growing up, my mom wouldn’t let me play with my new birthday toy until I’d written a thank-you note. Every year after my birthday, we sat at the dining-room table with a stack of cards, a gel pen, and a list of names. I can still hear her saying, People need to know you appreciate them.

At the same time, writing out thank-you cards felt like homework. But now I realize she was teaching me an important lesson: gratitude is a practice. A kind of spiritual muscle we must train. You build your gratitude muscle by noticing, naming, and giving thanks over and over again until it becomes second nature.

And Jesus seems to know we need to stretch our gratitude muscles from time to time. In Luke 17, he gives his followers what feels like one of those essay exams we had to take in elementary school to check to see if we understood the story we just read. Think of today’s parable as a real-life exercise in Thanksgiving 101. In the story ten people cry out for mercy. Ten receive the gift of healing. But only one recognizes what’s happened and turns back to say thank you.

An appropriate essay prompt to this story could be, why does only one of the ten lepers give thanks after Jesus heals him? Luke tells us, “When he saw that he was healed, he turned back” The difference between the one who gave thanks and the ones who did not is that the one who gave thanks notices what’s happening. The others are still rushing ahead- doing exactly what Jesus told them to do, by the way- but this one man slows down long enough to pay attention. Gratitude always starts there: with noticing. Before gratitude becomes a word or a feeling, it’s an act of awareness. It’s the moment your eyes open to the grace that’s already all around you.

The man could have kept going. He had every reason to. After all, Jesus told them to go to the priests- that was how you were officially declared clean in the Ancient Near East. That’s how you got your life back, your job back, your seat at the table back. He could have hurried on with the others, ready to step into the future that had just opened up before him. But something in him said, wait.

Gratitude has a way of interrupting us. It turns us around. This man realizes that his healing isn’t complete until he goes back to the source. He doesn’t just feel thankful; he acts on it. He retraces his steps, shouting praises, throwing himself at Jesus’ feet. Gratitude pulls him toward God like a magnet. It’s more than emotion- it’s movement. And that movement reshapes him from the inside out.

Many of you know that I am one of those crazy people who gets up before the sun rises to go to the gym. One thing I’ve learned by lifting weights is that you don’t build muscle by doing a movement once. You build it through repetition. Though showing up again and again, training the same muscle until it becomes stronger. Gratitude works the same way. The more we practice it, the stronger our faith becomes.

And just like a workout changes your posture and balance, gratitude changes how we carry ourselves through the world. It makes us more aware, more responsive, more grounded in grace. The man who turns back in Luke 17 isn’t just flexing good manners; he’s been reconditioned by mercy. Gratitude becomes his new reflex.

When the man falls at Jesus’ feet, Jesus says,

Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.

In Greek, that last word-well- can also be translated as “whole” or “saved.” Ten were healed on the outside, but only one experienced wholeness on the inside. His body was restored, yes, but so was his spirit. Gratitude didn’t just acknowledge the gift. It deepened the healing.

That’s what gratitude does. It finished what grace starts. It transforms blessing into relationship. It takes us beyond the miracle to the One who gave it. And in that turning- that moment of connection- something in us becomes whole.

I think that’s why Jesus asks, “Where are the other nine?” Not to shame them, but because he wants that same wholeness for them too. He doesn’t just want their bodies healed; he wants their hearts free. And that’s the invitation still open to us today- to live not just healed lives but whole ones.

Gratitude helps us live whole lives because it roots us in reality- not the illusion that everything is perfect, but the awareness that grace is still at work even when life isn’t. Wholeness isn’t about having every part of our lives neatly arranged; it’s about being connected- to God, to others, to ourselves- through the steady rhythm of giving thanks.

Gratitude keeps us from getting lost in comparison or scarcity. It shifts the question from What’s missing? to What’s here? From Why Me? to Thank you, God, for being with me even in this? It loosens our grip on fear and control, and opens our hands to receive whatever comes next.

This week I got a text message from a friend who is also a pastor. She texted to tell me that a preschooler in her congregation passed away from complications of a DIPG tumor. A DIPG tumor is a highly aggressive and inoperable brain tumor that occurs in the pons, a critical area of the brainstem that controls vital functions like breathing, heart rate, and movement. It primarily affects young children, usually between 4 and 11.

For months my friend has attended to this little boy and his family. She worked closely with pediatric neuro-oncologists, pediatric palliative care, and the boy’s support network to make the most of their remaining time. Despite her best efforts, he still passed away in pain.

I called my friend yesterday to see how she was doing, and she said she was sad and grieving. But she was also feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude that God used her to bring a dying boy and his grieving family a little bit of comfort. She couldn’t take away the family’s pain. She couldn’t make a little boys tumor go away. But she could bestow grace in an unimaginable situation. And for that she gives thanks.

If I’ve learned anything about gratitude. I’ve learned that people who practice gratitude don’t have easier lives- they just notice grace sooner. They see healing even in small mercies, hope even in hard seasons, and God’s presence even in the ordinary. Gratitude doesn’t change all our circumstances, but it changes us. The way we walk through the world, the way we see, the way we love.

And that, I think, is what Jesus meant when he said, “Your faith has made you whole.” Gratitude is what faith looks like when faith is fully alive.

When I think back to those stacks of thank-you notes my mom made me write, I realize now she was teaching me far more than manners. She was teaching me to stop, to notice, to name the gift before rushing on to the next thing. She was teaching me to notice the people God placed in my path to support me as I grew up. She was teaching me gratitude.

Jesus does the same thing for us. He meets us on the road, hears our cries, and offers mercy we could never earn. And then he waits- to see if we’ll just keep going, or if we’ll turn back.

“Thanksgiving 101” isn’t about politeness, it’s about posture. It’s about learning to live turned toward God, to see every breath, every act of kindness, every hospital room, every sunrise, every moment of healing as a reason to praise God.

The Samaritan shows us what a whole life looks like- a life that pauses to notice, turns back to give thanks, and walks forward changed. May we be like him. May we see the grace that’s already at work in us. And may our lives become one long thank-you note to the God who heals, restores, and makes us whole.

Thanks be to God.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.