David Bahn – Reflections

And Jesus said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! ² It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. ³ Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, ⁴ and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ⁶ And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

⁷ “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? ⁸ Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? ⁹ Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

¹¹ On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance ¹³ and lifted up their voices, 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 cleansed. ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? ¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

The Christian faith is anything other than one-dimensional. It’s beyond two-dimensions. It is multi-faceted, multi-dimensional, and multi-textured, weaving together theology, community, and personal experience. In these verses from Luke 17, we have an interesting interplay between faith, forgiveness, humility, and gratitude.

I want to focus today on the interplay between faith/faithfulness and gratitude. It’s possible to have one of a sort without the other. Consider people who have great supposed faith but no gratitude. They would see the Christian life as mere duty. There is no fullness of heart in their service or worship. They do what they’re supposed to do because they’re supposed to do it.

There are also those people, sadly, who have no sense of gratitude nor any true faith. Theirs is a life of meaningless apathy. They don’t really care about how God is leading them nor do they recognize him as the giver of every good gift. Some people live with lots of gratitude. But it’s not focused on God. It’s merely a desirable character attribute. It goes nowhere. But those who live lives of faithful gratitude are filled with true joy. Their worship is rich and authentic. Their service is free and gracious. They know their sins have been forgiven, rejoice in that grace of God, and seek to serve him with good and thankful hearts.

We have people recognizing their need for greater faith, and then being challenged to recognize it’s not the size of the faith but the strength of faith’s object that matters. We have Jesus calling his followers to a life of humble service. And we have 9 out of 10 lepers who exhibit only faith and no gratitude.

But the one! One of the lepers who called out to Jesus in faith also returns to him in gratitude. His is the fullest and purest joy. The other 9 may have joy in the moment of their healing. But this one will have an eternal joy having been dismissed by Jesus with the incredible blessing: “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

The fullness of joy is found in a life of faithful gratitude. I’m thankful to God for his faithfulness, and grateful to him even as I pray, “Lord, increase my faith.”

PS: Here’s my diagram of the interplay between faith and gratitude. What do you think?