Pastor Timo’s sermon,
Oct. 14 2007
Luke 17:11-19
Translated by Katja Kupari
I remember the storm that swept across the Pacific North
coast and left hundreds of thousands of homes without
electricity last December well. When you got a cup of hot
coffee and a warm bread at the coffee shop on the other side
of Lake Washington after the first cold day, and when after
two days your own house again had electricity and warm
water, it almost felt like a celebration. And some of you
had to wait for the electricity to be restored even longer;
my guess is that you remember how good it felt to be in a
warm home and eat warm food again. The most grateful moments
in life may be discovered only after something you take for
granted has been taken from you.
One classic description of human needs and motivations is
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The core of this theory was
originally that humans have basic needs that must be satisfied
first, after which we start looking to satisfy "higher" needs.
First we have physiological needs; heat, water and food, after
which we need safety and security, including health. Next come
the need for love and belonging, then recognition and lastly
need for self-actualization.
Quite often our basic needs in wealthy countries have been
satisfied and our problems have to do with satisfying so called
higher motives and needs. Are we getting enough love and
recognition, are we able to use our gifts and actualize the way
we would want to? Now, this often proves to be problematic for
westerners.
Therefore there should not be any reason to invalidate
anybody’s dreams to advance and improve at school or at work or
minimise problems in personal or professional life by comparing
them to the missing healthcare or famine of the developing
countries. But we must first secure the basic needs of humans.
And those of us that have them secured and protected must help
those who do not, both far away in third world countries and
here around your neighbourhood.
Sometimes I hear a person belittling his own prayer request to
get through a tough meeting at work, when at the same time there
are bigger problems in the world, wars and famine. But the
Heavenly Father specifically asks us to tell Him all our needs.
One could say, then, that you shouldn’t forget your brother or
sister who lives in poverty, but neither should you minimise
your own or your friends’ issues that are important to you
today. Humans are created to have more than just the basic needs
satisfied. We are much more valuable than that. Jesus says:
”Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you
will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is
not life more important than food, and the body more important
than clothes?” Matthew 6:25-26
Today’s gospel talks about gratitude. People can be grateful or
ungrateful notwithstanding if they are rich or poor, healthy or
sick. 10 lepers were healed. During Jesus’ times this disease
was not only a cause of personal suffering, but also a sickness
that isolated one from the rest of the society. When the lepers
became well, they were part of the society again. According to
the "Maslow way of thinking" their basic needs for safety,
security and health were restored and once again they
were able to be a part of a community, belong to a family, to a
village.
Nevertheless only one of the ten healed lepers remembered to
thank Jesus. It may sound surprising, and Jesus, too, wondered
how no one else thanked God. Perhaps a doctor today would be
absolutely surprised if he received even one thank-you card from
a patient when his illness was cured by the doctor. Should we
perhaps try that sometimes?
The only one to thank Jesus for his healing was the Samaritan,
the second-class citizen of those times. He maybe had the
deepest experience of a miracle healing. The rejected Samaritan
did not take the miracle performed by a Jewish healer for
granted.
We may find the same ratio of gratitude and ungratefulness
(1/10) when we think about everyday life. We can certainly be
grateful when something serious happens and we come through ok,
but we may take many daily things and people around us for
granted and don’t always remember to be thankful for them. And
for many it is unfortunately not until the day of the funeral
that we bring beautiful flowers and put into words how special
someone was. It is sad the person did not hear the words when he
was alive.
I was trying to say something about our different needs and
individuality. If we think about gratitude, it should cover all
of our needs. There is actually nothing that is for granted,
when we really think about it – it is all a gift from God.
According to the Bible gratitude should not end even when we
live in need. Gratitude and faith walk hand in hand, just like
in today’s gospel. The Samaritan believed that God had healed
him and he praised God. According to Jesus’ words, his faith
made him well.
It is often when we notice that all of our needs have not been
met that our faith in and gratitude for God can disappear and is
replaced by ungratefulness and bitterness - and this may be the
challenge of today’s gospel for us all.
How could we learn to be grateful and trust in God even when we
are going through a difficult phase, when it feels like we are
missing something. Then, too, we could thank God for having
promised to turn even this thing around and for not delaying His
help and for not forsaking us. ”Give thanks in every condition,
not because of a condition. Rejoice in the Lord, not from your
sufferings” (Rick Warren).
We can then ask today who is it that we ultimately feel
gratitude towards and how we can show it in our lives? Who
brings us health, safety, security, connection, love and the
ability to actualize ourselves.
Our answer to this question shows not only our gratitude and
faith in God, but also our own deeds and attitudes with one
another. When we have received a gift, are we ready to pay it
forward to those who suffer the most and to support and
encourage each other to experience meaningfulness, love and
safety, all the good things that God wants to give you and me.
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