When it comes to saying “Thank you,” Jesus notices …
Someone with some time on their hands once compiled a list of responses to “weird” gifts. Here are eight of them:
8. “Well, well, well, now, there’s a gift!”
7. “No, really, I didn’t know that there was a Chia pet tie! Oh, wow! It’s a clip-on, too!”
6. “You know, I always wanted one of these! Jog my memory — what’s it called again?”
5. “You know what? I’m going to find a special place to put this!”
4. “Boy, you don’t see craftsmanship like that every day!”
3. “And it’s such an interesting color, too!”
2. “You say that was the last one? Am I glad you snapped that baby up!”
And the number one thing to say about the gifts you didn’t like is: “You shouldn’t have! No, really, I mean it, you really shouldn’t have!”
It’s interesting how people can struggle with how to respond to receiving a gift, or the expression of a kindness, or when someone does something for them. There’s probably no better way to respond than with a sincere and humble, “Thank you!”
When people are grateful, they say “Thank you!”
And people take note, and feel appreciated.
That includes Jesus.
Not only does He notice when we say “thank you,” He also notices when we don’t, a fact captured in scripture as follows:
“As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, crying out, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ He looked at them and said, ‘Go show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy,” Luke 17:11-14.
Among the worst things that could happen to someone physically during the time Jesus walked the earth was to be diagnosed with leprosy. There wasn’t a cure. You would physically rot away until you died. And because you were “unclean,” you were cast out from society, including from your own family.
It was a horror.
Imagine, then, being a person suffering such a horrendous circumstance and suddenly, “out of the blue,” meeting a man with the power — and desire — to heal you.
It would change your life in every way.
Wouldn’t you be grateful for such an act of grace?
Wouldn’t you at least say “thank you”?
Jesus took note of the response of these 10 healed lepers:
“One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, ‘Praise God!’ He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, ‘Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?’ And Jesus said to the man, ‘Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you,'” Luke 17:15-19.
Nothing so utterly destroys life in every way than does sin.
Jesus has provided our salvation and redemption from it.
What’s your response?
During this season for giving thanks, let us remember what Jesus has done for us, what He continues to do for us, and what He has promised to do for us in the future … and say, “Thank you!”
He notices.
Scotty
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