“Pause to Praise”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen. It was about ten years ago that we first got a DVR, Digital Video
Recorder. The younger generation who grew up with this technology take it
for granted, but some of you may remember what an amazing new thing it was to be
able to hit the PAUSE button, not only playing back recordings, but in the
middle of live TV. For a few days each year, our entire nation hits the “pause” button on
our normal lives, to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. Work, school, the
daily rush of activities and events, and the all rest of our regular routine are
put on PAUSE. But, WHAT are we pausing for? The ten lepers in today’s Gospel Reading had been hit with a very
unwelcome pause in their lives. Leprosy meant that they were separated
from society, isolated only with other lepers, unable to work, permanently apart
from their families and friends and community. During this enforced,
unpleasant pause in their lives, they had plenty of time—too much time—to
PONDER. To ponder their miserable fate and their gloomy, hopeless future. Although this is a real story that actually happened and not a parable,
their leprosy DOES have a symbolic meaning for us. The fatal sickness of
their bodies symbolizes the fatal sickness we all have in our souls. As
one of our hymns puts it, “the leprosy of SIN.” What the lepers faced
physically, we face spiritually. On account of our sins, we deserve a
miserable SPIRITUAL fate, a gloomy, hopeless future in hell. At Thanksgiving we first of all pause to PONDER. To ponder our
sinfulness, and God’s righteous judgment; our unworthiness, and God’s mercy.
As Abraham Lincoln said in the proclamation which marked the beginning of our
nation’s modern celebration of Thanksgiving Day: “It is the duty . . . of
men . . . to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow . . . we
have forgotten God.” In their enforced pause, as they pondered their fate, the ten lepers
received a ray of hopeful light, piercing the gloomy darkness of their lives.
A wonderful rumor had gotten through to them from the outside world about a
carpenter turned rabbi from Nazareth. It was said he worked great
miracles. Some even said he could be the promised Messiah. According to the rumors, he gave sight to the blind, made the lame
walk, raised the dead, but, most of all, most importantly to them, he had even
cured a man of leprosy. If he could do all that, maybe he could work one
more miracle, for them? Maybe he could cure their leprosy too. As he passes by them that day, they take a wonderful PAUSE from their
years of hopeless gloom, a wonderful PAUSE from their sorrow, for they are
filled with hope for an unimaginable possibility: to be cured, to go home again.
They pause to PRAY: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” Could it really be that
simple? According to the Old Testament civil and ceremonial law, the
priests were supposed to examine them and confirm that they were free of
leprosy. Could it really be that simple? Can he really have healed
them of their horrible leprosy that easily, with just a word, “Go, show
yourselves to the priests”? This also is symbolic for us. Our spiritual healing comes about
not because of our own efforts, but by God’s declaration, “Your sins are
forgiven.” Paul puts it this way in 2nd Corinthians, “God made him who had
no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God.” Christ took upon himself all the sickness of your sin. He
carried it for you to the cross, suffering all the punishment in your place.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God.” Because of his Son’s sacrifice for you, God
declares that you are forgiven, holy, righteous in his sight. Yes, it’s
really that simple. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Like the ten lepers, pause to
PRAY. As we say in our Liturgy, “I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto
you all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended you and justly
deserved your temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them
and sincerely repent of them, and I PRAY you of your boundless mercy and for the
sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of your beloved Son,
Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor sinful being.” “‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were
cleansed.” In the same way, the Apostle John declares, “The blood of Jesus
his Son cleanses us from every sin.” Like a leper healed of that horrible,
incurable disease, you have been miraculously, completely cleansed from “the
leprosy of sin.” There is one final pause, but by only ONE of the ten lepers. “One
of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He
threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.” Like the grateful leper, on
this Thanksgiving Day take a pause: pause to PRAISE. As the psalm says,
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgives
all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from
destruction, and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires
with good things.” It is wonderful that our government encourages us, as Abraham Lincoln
said, “To set apart . . . a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent
Father who dwells in the heavens. . . that God should be solemnly, reverently,
and gratefully acknowledged” But, actually, God himself ALREADY set apart
exactly such a day: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” God already set apart a day for “thanksgiving and praise” on which he
is to be “solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged.” Not just one
day a year, but one day a week. The word “sabbath” means “rest,” a weekly
PAUSE from the normal concerns of life, the day each week we pause to PRAISE.
As the psalm says, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts
with praise; be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” Can you imagine what was going through the lepers’ minds as they were
healed? So many wonderful things would happen, so much to do! To
return home to their families; to be joyously reunited with wives and children;
to start again with their work; to reclaim their lives. Amidst all this excitement, one leper takes a pause from his new life.
A pause to PRAISE and thank the one who GAVE him his new life. Like the
leper who returned to give thanks, take a PAUSE—not only on Thanksgiving Day,
not only on the Sabbath Day, but every day. Pause to PONDER; pause to PRAY; pause to PRAISE. Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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