Sermon Title: How Do You Say “Thank You?”
Sermon Text: Luke 4:38-41
Sermon Date: Thanksgiving
(We have spent many
weeks in the fourth chapter of Luke. I
urge you to go there and read all of it before you read this passage.)
Luke 4:38Jesus left the synagogue and went to the
home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and
they asked Jesus to help her. 39So he bent over her and
rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on
them. 40When
the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of
sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41Moreover,
demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!"
But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was
the Christ.[h]
Story written at a
manuscript bible story over the summer:
It
isn’t their house. It is mine. I know the story will get handed down that
Jesus came to the house of Simon and technically it is, but in truth, it is my
house. I moved into that house with my
husband (Simon’s father-in-law) when we married. His mother was still alive but his father was
gone so we moved in with her (so okay, it was her house first). Upon his father’s death, the house came to my
husband, along with the care of his mother.
Over
time we had three daughters and one son, and since it is a small house, pretty
soon we were coming out of the windows.
My husband and I often slept on the roof in nice weather. It was a breath of fresh air to be alone with
him, away from my mother-in-law’s prying eyes and the antics of rambunctious
children.
Time
passed. My mother-in-law died. Our children grew up and married. Then my husband died, followed by my
son. I was devastated to lose them both
so close to each other. My oldest
daughter then moved into the family home, along with her husband Simon (you
know him best as Peter) and their three children.
And
now I’m the mother of three grown children and a mother-in-law. I try to not pry or interfere but now I must
admit that I have more understanding for what my mother-in-law went through
when we moved in here. I moved into HER
house and took over. No wonder she was
so grouchy. Now I am in her shoes and
maybe I’ve taken it too far. Who is to
know what is right?
I
tell you all this because I wanted you to know why I was so desperate to get up
quickly and serve Jesus.
You
see, I had been sick. Very, very
sick. I thought I was dying, in fact,
only in childbirth have I been in more pain.
And being so sick meant that my daughter (God bless her soul for she is
a good woman) insisted that I lie in their bed and not on my cot in the corner
where I have lain trying to stay out of everybody’s way.
My
daughter has carried the burden of the household since Simon and his brother
Andrew met Jesus, the new rabbi in town.
Simon has been out following Jesus and going from place to place,
leaving my daughter behind with a sick mother and three children. She does all the cooking, cleaning, dealing
with tradespeople and taking care of me.
See why I say she is a good woman?
I mean, Simon was gone a lot when he was fishing but at least he was
making a living. Now he is fishing a lot
less and following Jesus a lot more. I
worried about how we were going to make ends meet so I wasn’t taking too kindly
to this rabbi Jesus. Besides my illness
made me very ill-tempered.
Then
they came to our home for a meal and to rest and Simon asked Jesus to heal
me. You know, he had the darkest eyes
I’ve ever seen. Dark, intense and
deep. You know, the kind of eyes you
could get lost in….that deep. Well, most
of Simon’s friends have ignored me but he took one look at me and walked over
and without saying a word, he took me by the hand and this shock went through
me and I was healed. No, more than
that. I felt whole, down to the core of
my being. In that moment my sickness was
gone but so was my resentment of having to live in my daughter’s home. Gone was my old resentment of my
mother-in-law. Gone was the resentment
of having to sleep on a cot in the corner.
Gone was the anger at my husband for dying and leaving me alone.
Suddenly
I was whole and filled with gratitude that my daughter and son-in-law were
taking care of their old mother. I was
grateful for the small children that now slept in the other corner of the small
house. I was ready to laugh and
dance. And to serve Jesus and the men
their meal. I didn’t have to do it. I wanted to.
I
hugged my daughter and asked her to forgive me for being so cranky. She hugged me back and said that I had never
been cranky but she was being kind. And
then I made her let me serve her too.
So
you see, I had to serve him….and the others.
My soul was filled with joy and I was made whole. I had to say “thank you.” (written in manuscript bible study last
summer)
How
do you say thank you? I don’t mean just
sitting here thinking about what you are thankful for. I mean how do you say thank you?
Do
you thank the person who bags your groceries by looking them in the eye and
saying the words, or just grab your bag and leave the store?
Do
you thank your doctor or nurse or just expect that they have gotten paid for
the job they did and that is enough thanks?
Do
you thank your spouse or children for the things they do for you or just assume
they know it?
How
do you say thank you?
Are
you grateful to a neighbor who brings you your newspaper every day? The woman who cleans your house or the man
who rakes your leaves?
You
don’t need to show your thanks with money or gifts. Notes with words of affirmation are a lovely
gift. Time spent with someone is a
wonderful way to show your appreciation.
A single flower could say more than a dozen roses. Offering to do dishes could absolutely stun
the cook, particularly if you don’t usually enter the kitchen except to open
the refrigerator. Watching their favorite
television show instead of your own shows gratitude. How do you say thank you?
This
Thanksgiving don’t use words like “grateful or thankful” cheaply. Show the people you love how grateful you are
to have them in your life by showing them your love. Show the people you work with that you are
grateful for their good work with words of affirmation. Show everyone who enters your life – as a
checker in the grocery store or your mechanic – that you value their
contribution to your world.
Show
First Baptist how much you love her with your faithful attendance and support.
And
let God know that you are grateful for your life and God’s presence in it by
giving God your time, talent and treasure.
God may not need your words to know how you feel but God needs you to
say them, to show them, to live them.
Actually you need to say them more than God needs to hear them.
We
have presidents to thank for this national holiday of thanksgiving beginning
back in 1789. But we have God to thank
for our lives. This year pass on the
cheap thanks and go right to the heart of the matter. Make your attitude of gratitude real and
lasting.