Chapter 6 - Un-thankfulness

Lets return to our continuing analogy again.

You are walking down the street. I come up to you. We don’t know each other. I beg you to give me a sandwich. You go into the store, buy a sandwich and come back out and give it to me.

How would you feel about that transaction if, as soon I grabbed the sandwich from you, I turned around and walked away from you without another word to you? Well, you’d probably feel what Christ feels more often then not.

Luke 17:12-19
12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
(KJV)

The nine, the nine, where are the nine?

One time I knew a Christian who had spent a good deal of his very limited free time counseling a young Christian who had come into his particular meeting. The young person had a number of difficult issues to deal with, and took up a lot of time. After about a year of counseling and help this young Christian then decided to up and leave and go to another meeting because of a very petty issue.

This faithful counselor told me about this, and I reminded him of the story about the nine lepers and the one who gave thanks, and told him “that’s about the right ratio.” And he replied, “Well, I’m not Christ. If that had been me, I would have gone “swoooosh!” and given the nine lepers back their leprosy!”

Eventually, he got over it.

The nine, the nine, where are the nine?

There are two good English words in the King James Bible that have taken on evil connotations. The first word is “charity.”

1 Cor 13:13
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is
charity.
(KJV)

In the context above “charity” simply meant the agape love that loves without much expecting to be loved back. In time, the word “charity” came to also mean specific acts of “charity,” like giving things to indigents out of love.

And then people started to say “I don’t want your charity!” And the word developed an evil connotation.

The other word is “condescend.”

Rom 12:16
16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
(KJV)

It has always been understood by Christians that Christ is the ultimate example of true condescension:

Phil 2:5-8
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross.
(KJV)

This is the kind of condescension that caused generations of missionaries to leave their comfortable homes in the developed worlds to lose their lives in discomfort in the underdeveloped worlds.

But people began to say “Don’t you condescend to me!” And the word took on an evil connotation.

The nine, the nine, where are the nine?

One of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s fictional characters is a science-fiction writer named Kilgore Trout. In one of Vonnegut’s novels, Trout has a short story called “The First District Court of Thankyou.” It is a court that is established in the future specifically for plaintiffs to sue defendants for not being properly grateful for something a plaintiff did for a defendant. The penalty for a defendant losing a case is a choice between finally saying “thank you,” or being put in solitary confinement with bread and water for one month. It that future, eighty percent of the defendants chose the black hole for a month. Hmmm. About the right ratio.

The nine, the nine, where are the nine?

Perennially, Christians argue whether the Social Gospel means more than the actual spiritual Gospel. Well, Rousseau thought one could “force them to be free.” But that is something not even God tries to do. But that also means that one is free to break one’s heart trying. Knock yourself out! But don’t get bitter if no one thanks you and nothing comes of all your labor in the end. That’s in the cards from the start.

The nine, the nine, where are the nine?

The nine are us, unless we write down what we pray for, expect and look for an answer one way or another, and keep at it, AND REMEMBER TO THANK HIM when each prayer - however small or however answered - is answered.

But the saddest thing is that Christ will continue to do things for us no matter how unthankful we continue to be.

Matt 5:44-45
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
(KJV)

2 Tim 2:13
13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
(KJV)

The un-thankfulness of unbelief is the daily open wound of Christ’s heart, whose love never ceases. He cannot deny Himself, because He, Himself, is in us through the Holy Spirit of God.