Thanksgiving: The Theological Holiday (Luke 17:11-19)

Luke chapter 17 verses 11 19 hear the word of the lord On the way to jerusalem.

He was passing along between samaria and galilee and as he entered a village He was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance

And lifted up their voices saying jesus master have mercy on us When he saw them he said to them go and show yourselves to the priest and as they went they were cleansed

Then one of them when he saw that he was healed turned back praising god with a loud voice And he fell on his face at jesus's feet giving him.

Thanks Now he was a samaritan Then jesus answered we're not 10 cleansed.

Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to god except this foreigner

And he said to him Rise and go your way your faith has made you well

May the lord add his blessings to the reading of his holy word Thanksgiving we got the real fun of black friday and then

Small business saturday yesterday cyber monday And you go online and you buy all the stuff that you couldn't find on black friday,

I guess or from small businesses We're so used to that We don't see what a bizarre really absolutely bizarre juxtaposition

Of contradictory impulses that that it is going directly from thanksgiving

Understand what that's about expressing gratitude for all the blessings We have are so happy and content for them from going from that to the very next day and to the consumerist

Selfish greedy urge to grab everything that I think I need that is black friday

Of course now black friday starts on thanksgiving itself And so, you know people are thinking now let's just cut this big meal short

So we can go to the mall and buy the stuff that will finally make me happy This stuff that i'm supposed to be happy about for this holiday.

Besides. I don't like turkey that much anyway consumerism has now consumed Thanksgiving itself but to blame the destruction of thanksgiving on consumerism really misses the point

Consumerism is the culprit you can shout. Well, it sounds like there's some foreign force That has invaded our lives that if only we can rid ourselves of this invasion we can then return

To being thankful and content and satisfied and worshipful like we really all want to be

Consumerism is the ideology that says that the meaning of life is in the things that we possess So if you want more life

You get more or better stuff And you get a new gadget

You know your current smartphone isn't quite good enough they come out with a new one or a new or even higher definition tv

Somehow there'll be more definition of the tv than there is in real life soon new car or whatever

So the consumerist thinks that's where you get your life from and that's what much of this Season commencing on friday.

No, excuse me on thursday itself is all about but some people could think then well if the problem

Is with these stores opening up on early on friday and now on thursday And drawing in people with their deals the problem is with the capitalists trying to cash in on our free time

If the problem is an ideology Consumerism, then let's teach a new ideology

So if we could then what we need to do is make the stores close we could do that We could just shut down the capitalists.

We could ban the term black friday then maybe We'd finally be thankful and content and satisfied and worshipful

Really what we'd be is just bored sitting at home Eating our leftover turkey and just eaten up with discontent

The problem is deeper than consumerism if the poisonous fruit If the fruit is greed the living for stuff

The selfish craving for whatever the newest thing the consumption of thanksgiving by black friday

That's the fruit then the tree Is consumerism producing that fruit

But the root is our faith in ourselves our narcissism our fundamental belief

That my chief end Is to enjoy myself for as long as I can and everything and everyone including god himself

Exists to help me do that And if they can't Well, we'll dispose of them

Such people may even be religious but when they survey the wondrous cross

They see a piece of art I'd like to have that on my wall and it's on sale now in black friday I'll get that cross put on my wall great story about love and sacrifice them.

It's all about them not something that Demands my life my soul my all so They say oh that turkey was wonderful So was that pecan pie?

Now let's go to best buy and see what's on sale That's the new american holy day turkey day black friday

And that's a travesty because thanksgiving Is our truest and most christian holiday?

We see why that is true here in luke 17 where the one who has faith real faith that saves not only from leprosy

But from what the leprosy represents from sin is the one who is thankful. You notice how Thankfulness is the fruit produced by the salvation thankfulness sincere

Heart -filling utterly amazed gratitude is one of the surest signs of salvation

Here in luke chapter 17 jesus passes by 10 lepers and they're at a distance Lepers by law had to stay outside the towns in the cities.

They had to stay separate So these lepers stood at a distance in verse 12. They see jesus and they cry out jesus master

Have mercy on us Notice the way they talk they call him master A lot of respect reverence they plead for mercy

They know the right words so jesus says back to them Go show yourself to the priest

Very simple very direct Now the priest in israel acted as a kind of health inspector

To see if someone was really cured of leprosy and they could then come back You had to get the approval of the priest to come back into regular society back into the towns and cities

And go shopping in the mall on black friday. They could return leprosy in their terms Was what we now would know of is a variety of skin diseases

Including the most serious of the skin diseases what is now called hansen's disease It's an infection of the skin and nerves that leads to a loss of sensation particularly starts in the extremities

It gets numb The nerves are destroyed by the bacteria and then the people with it can't feel those areas affected areas anymore

And they get infected or they get wounded and they don't heal and they some just drop off sometimes

So extremities become deformed and eroded We saw lepers in ethiopia missing fingers.

I don't mean just like one or two here or there sometimes whole hands with no fingers body disfigured by leprosy

Leprosy also serves in the bible as a symbol for sin Leprosy is contagious and disfiguring because it's contagious

Leopards were required to stay separate from the rest of society like here when other people came near They were required to call out unclean unclean

Warning to them like sin leprosy spreads and so must be ostracized So it destroys relationships when people are eaten up by sin.

It separates them from others It makes us unclean to god and to each other like leprosy sin disfigures us

We were made in the image of god to be thankful to be worshipful to be gracious and loving and giving like god is

But when we get eaten up by the selfishness of sin We become these monsters who consume everything who take every gift as if it were our right

And when we're done with it, we just move on to the next next relationship next neighbor next

God next church to devour for ourselves Here jesus encounters those with this most serious form of leprosy.

They rightly call out for mercy Okay, their words are right They know the right words to say but their actions will show if they really saw healing as a gift of mercy

When you know something is something you get because it's mercy, you know It's not deserved and you you're grateful for it

And we'll see here whether they're really where they really see it is is mercy or whether they think it is something

They have a right They have a claim to it it's kind of a deserved pay they get because of what they did or maybe

It's it's it comes their way because of who they are because of their status They say they want mercy

If that's what they really thought healing was They would be filled with thank thankfulness when they get it

So we'll see As in james, it's not a matter of talk remember it's a matter of actions jesus tells them to go

To act based on his command notice even before they're healed He doesn't like lay hands on them and heal them and then send them to the priest notice

He says go and in verse 14, they are only healed as they are going in other words.

They're already on their way to the priest To show them that they're healed they set out to go to show them they're healed even before they're actually healed

So they're required to do this act of faith, but they had such faith in jesus They went at his command, even though they weren't healed yet when they started

And they are all healed You notice that that's important. They're all 10 of them are healed. They receive this miracle of healing

Now we normally think assume people are they're not made grateful by run -of -the -mill gifts by things

They think they earn by by their food and their shelter and their friends and their family You know, we get it that people aren't made grateful for that because they think they earned it or they they just take it for granted

But surely we think People would be made thankful by a miracle

A miracle of mercy surely that would make anyone thankful Surely we're not so hard -hearted.

Are we? that even miracles Don't make us thankful Are we really that hard -hearted

Here after 10 miracles only one man is made thankful When he saw that he was healed rather than go to the priest and then maybe went back home.

He turns around And he comes back to jesus And as he's coming to jesus, you know, just kind of when he sees him from a distance

He loudly just praising god. He's just gushing out praise and shouting it out to everyone that hears

Hallelujah, you can see this guy going down the road waving his arms and shouting hallelujah And when he sees jesus it comes to him.

He falls down. He's just prostrated on the ground He's flat on his face on the ground before jesus is giving him. Thanks.

He's saying hallelujah. Thank you lord He's thankful now. This Is true thanksgiving.

He knew that he was not owed a healing He knew that it wasn't his right Something he wasn't something he earned by doing the right ritual or saying the right confession or by being a moral man

Or not something by birthright because he's in the right nation like something he inherited

He knew it was a gift given to him So he was thankful The others

Yeah not so much It was also a samaritan Now normally the jews and the samaritans didn't hang out together, but lepers such outcasts.

Well, they just didn't care All the society rejects us who cares if we hang out with the samaritans do that He was a samaritan was probably a large part of what made him exceptionally thankful If the rest were jews, then maybe they thought they deserved healing.

Is there birthright? I'm a son of abraham We will inherit the kingdom of god.

So this is what we get we get healing Maybe I thought healing was something that owed them a right to claim

Not a blessing bestowed but this man though He was different His head hadn't been inflated with the kind of ego boosting talk about what is owed him about what he deserves

That he deserves the healing the money Your best life now that it's all yours by right if you'll only name it and claim it the type of religion that panders to Narcissistic people who take everything for granted the narcissist thinks that every good thing that comes his way is deserved

His or her baseline of expectations. In other words, what do you expect and anything more than that you think is a bonus?

The narcissist baseline of expectations is everything Everything he or she wants is expected if he or she has leprosy then getting healing it's expected

I should get it they think Anything other than that in their mind is the worst injustice that I don't get

The job, I don't get the money. I want I don't get the relationship. I want I don't get the car.

I want I don't get the helix. I want this is horrible. They're they're wrong. They're cheating me

God himself is wrong having leprosy in the first place would be the they would think an undeserved travesty That now the narcissist may cry out have mercy as a necessary means for getting whatever he or she wants

But once it is given Once the healing comes once once they've been given the gift once you've done them the big favor they think

Well, that's mine. That's my right That's my earned wages That's what

I deserve because of who I am. Don't you know who I am? I'm the one who deserves healing

That's my birthright This man though the samaritan man didn't think that way The samaritan ex -leper is on the ground shouting his hallelujahs to jesus and jesus notes

You know, we're not 10 cleansed Where are the nine? Why do they think they deserved healing that they're not even grateful for it?

Was no one found jesus says was no one found to give praise to god Except this foreign it just occurred to me.

The man is giving praise to jesus and jesus says he's giving praise to god Now the implication though was that the rest the the other nine that they weren't foreigners

They were probably jews and so they should know better Right. They should have been raised on the word of god from a child hearing hearing the promises of god the instructions about god

They should be praising god too. They should be filled with thanksgiving, you know, this this odd Overwhelmed heart -feeling gratitude instead they think yeah,

I got what's coming to me finally What I had a right to yeah, you can't earn the gratitude of ungrateful people

I mean, that's sad. That's a sad reality, but that's the reality you cannot earn the gratitude

Of ungrateful people. It doesn't matter what you do for them You can't earn their gratitude. You can even heal them of leprosy

Miraculously, and they'll shrug their shoulders and think well, it's about time But the one who knew he didn't deserve it

He was filled with thankfulness So jesus says to that one rise and go your way

Your faith has made you well or it could just as easy to be translated your faith has saved you

Saved him from leprosy Saved him from the wrath of god If you've been saved through faith be overwhelmed by the

Indescribable gift of your salvation if you've been saved through faith realize you didn't deserve that It wasn't owed you

It's not it's not something you should kind of expect just you begin with this baseline of expectation.

God's gonna save me It's what I deserve. No Seeing something he did for you purely because He is gracious And once you see that Your heart will be filled with thankfulness

And you'll be transformed by a sincere heart -filling utterly amazed gratitude

You will look at your life astounded and think So much good

I received So much good All thanks to god

It's that understanding that gave us the holiday of thanksgiving It came directly from what the puritans believed and experienced

Now the typical way of telling the thanksgiving story is to tell about the first group of puritans who came to america Now commonly called pilgrims landing on cape cod in the fall of 1620 barely surviving their first year

Many of them dying of diseases because they were weakened by malnutrition and was the harsh conditions

In north america compared to what they were used to but when they had survived that first year They had a good harvest.

They felt now they were established That they were now it looked like we're going to make it after all They thought that this was an occasion to thank god for sustaining them.

And so they had a great celebration They had a thanksgiving inviting the local indians, you know to share the wampanoag then they said

They said we assume they didn't really say this this this was fun. Let's do it again next year And so a tradition was born

So Now the first part's true the second part about the assumption that that's not that's not what really gave us ongoing

Thanksgivings the puritans had ongoing thanksgivings Because they believed that every like from the book of james every this or that Was under god's control

And so they responded to god what god was doing Every this or that and some of those this or that's

Are good things That means god gave it to you and you respond with thanksgiving and that and so that's where thanks

Ongoing thanksgivings come from on the other hand if events showed that god was displeased with them They would call days of fasting and humiliation if there were droughts or shipwrecks or severe indian attacks or epidemics

They saw those events as whips in god's hand to discipline them. They believed that all Things were under god's control so they would obey what we saw.

Remember in james 5 weep and howl For the miseries that are coming upon you and they would call they would weep and howl

And call a day of fasting and prayer days of humiliation They said that these days of humiliation were for quote

Do examination of our ways toward god and consideration of god's ways toward us

So they would they said quote make a solemn and real profession that we justify god

Otherwise these bad things are happening in their lives. There's epidemics people are dying Disasters and they would justify god they would say to god your ways are right.

Oh god what you're doing to us is what we deserve justify god and judge ourselves

It says a lot about us and our culture That we've abandoned This fasting day days of humiliation

And only kept the feasting day Maybe that's why now our feasting day our thanksgiving day is being consumed by our greed and hollowed out by our consumerism our dissatisfaction

They were more thankful precisely because they were more repentant more grieving over their sins more aware

Of those sins of their own depravity And so more aware That what they really deserved

Was judgment They were happier at their thanksgiving days Because they wept more on their fasting days

The great early puritan pastor john cotton wrote besides the celebration of the lord's day every week

We sometimes appoint extraordinary occasions either of notable judgments Do set apart a day of humiliation?

or upon special mercies We set apart a day of thanksgiving

You notice the puritans in thanksgiving were celebrating god's work in the present

What he had done for them lately It was the public expression of an ongoing relationship with god

It wasn't like a lot of people think today that they had that first thanksgiving is this one surviving their first year Their first harvest and then celebrating sort of the anniversary of that every year after no, they saw god's hand at work

Now Recent things that had happened maybe a full harvest maybe peace for the indians healthy children a revival among the youth

Whatever good thing has happened and then in response to that They would call. Hey, look what god has done good things.

Let's have a thanksgiving between 1632 and 1686 They called 61 days of thanksgiving.

That's 61 thanksgivings In 55 years a little more than one a year of those 20 thanksgivings were called for improved harvest and better health 31 thanksgivings were called for peace and unity for good leaders for victory in battle and better relations with england

Five thanksgivings were called for the well -being of england and peace in europe And then there were five thanksgivings they called because things are going pretty good like god is is blessing us

It's not destroying us no specific reason given that it was spontaneous and dynamic

It was about the present not the past Is what makes it kind of difficult for people today to understand because almost all our other holidays are anniversary things

I mean remember, you know when christ was born or a new year or whatever things like that But this was supposed to be you know, god's done something good.

We're gonna have a thanksgiving Now we've confined it to a scheduled day of the year. So we made it cyclical and repetitious

Which obscures what it means obscures that it's supposed to be an impromptu response to what we perceive god is now doing a spontaneous response of something from our hearts of being filled with an utterly amazed gratitude because God has done something new in our lives a blessing and we realize we don't deserve it.

So we're thankful but I'm glad we still have thanksgiving Even if we pinned it down the other thing that makes it difficult for people to understand

What is this vestige of a tradition that we have left over from the puritans called thanksgiving is that it is a theological holiday

It's not simply an anniversary of a harvest meal But it's the reaction sort of a chemical reaction when two doctrines mix in our hearts

Right like putting two chemicals in a beaker and stirring it and it blows up you put two doctrines in our hearts and stir in our life and you get

Thanksgiving when two or three doctrines that the bible teaches and the puritan believe come together They combust and they explode in a reaction called thanksgiving and those two doctrines are two main ones are depravity

And providence or the sovereignty of god in all things Now first the bible teaches and the puritans believed in the doctrine of total depravity

Human depravity is one of the most clearest and forcefully taught doctrines in the bible.

Don't believe me Let me quote some verses on that genesis chapter 6 verse 5 The lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil

Continually try to find a loophole in that Psalm 51 verse 5 says behold. I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin

Did my mother conceive me isaiah chapter 64 verse 6 says we all we have all become like one who is unclean

And all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick Who can understand it?

John chapter 3 verse 19 says people love darkness rather than the light Because their deeds were evil in john chapter 8 verse 34.

The lord. Jesus says truly truly I say to you Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin

And romans chapter 3 verses 10 to 11 says none is righteous No, not one

No one understands No one seeks for god Finally ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 says we are dead in sin

And there are others and that being what we are like That's the description of us left to ourselves without god's grace in our natural condition

Always inclined to evil sinful from conception Desperately sick dead in sin lovers of darkness by nature slaves to sin

Not seeking god even when we think we're being religious Since that's what we're like What do we deserve

No good thing Now far from the narcissist who thinks that he or she deserves every good thing

And takes it for granted far from that We actually don't deserve any good thing we deserve torment and wrath and hell hell

Should be our baseline of expectation That should be what we know we have earned anything better than hell

That we get for even a second is a gracious gift better than we deserve

And yet we have so many gracious gifts So much of our lives is better than hell, isn't it?

now the question is Why? Why do good things happen?

to bad people That's the real philosophical conundrum that we should just be baffled and amazed by Why do good things happen to us bad people?

Why? Here we are We're soiled from head to toe We're covered in the leprosy of sin.

It's eating away at us. It's disfiguring us completely It's cutting off the spiritual nerves in our heart.

It's numbing us to spiritual things to the things of god unclean

Unclean, that's who we are and we're standing before a holy god and we're asking him arrogantly

Why are you treating us like we're dirty? What we should be asking as the old song goes

Why me lord? What have I ever done? to deserve even one

Of the blessings i've known Why me lord? What did I ever do?

That was worth love from you and the kindness you've shown Why do good things happen to bad people?

That's the amazing question And you could ask I guess well either God is not holy

And so he's not holding us to his standards why he's allowing us to have good things because we're so bad We should be bad things, but maybe he's not holy.

He's not holding us to his standards Well, we're shown throughout the bible like in isaiah 6, you know, holy holy holy that he is holy We we know that's not true.

So we can mark that out or Maybe some people think I don't know anyone that really thinks this but try to be logical all the

Explanations maybe we us bad people get good things because like before god's not

All powerful. He's not in control that he really wants to punish us for our sins

But we keep getting away and we keep getting the good things that he doesn't want us to have Well, the bible teachers and the puritans believe that god is in control as we saw in james chapter 4 verse 15, you know

We ought to say If the lord wills We will live and do this or that because whether we live

And do this or that is totally according to what he wills

So even the little this or that Of our business life every little good this or that we enjoy

Is under his control and so he gave it to us so you can count that out the only option left the third option

God is generous to us Despite how bad we are So we should be thankful So Thanksgiving is such a genuinely christian holiday because it recognizes that god is indeed in control of it all

Then the theological chemical reaction in our hearts when we believe in our depravity believe in god's holiness and god's sovereignty leads to Thanksgiving thankfulness comes when we really believe that there is a god who is at work

Giving us all the good things We don't deserve So when we look at all the good we received

Whatever it is, perhaps a good family or a loving spouse good children a home of rewarding work food and drink

Churches where others are thankful to a country where we're free to attend and support those churches You know that wasn't luck

It wasn't just because we worked hard and we worked smart we did the right things and so we built this

No a gracious god gave it to us Because Part of what makes it hard for us to understand thanksgiving is that we often think just like modern secular people think

That god is there. Yeah, he's the god of miracles god can do miracles But the rest of the world that's not miracles kind of the cause and effect the things of science the things you can understand

The natural laws that that's all out of his control He's not involved in that that the world is like a machine churning away

And he's not involved in that he's he's the god of miracles not the god In this world, so we think then well we could be thankful for miracles

Like if I got healed of leprosy by jesus i'd be thankful for that But if we got leprosy and we were cured by doctors prescribing the right combination of antibiotics

Well, we just pay the bill and we go about as if god had nothing to do with it There's very little understanding

Today even among christians of the doctrine that made the puritan so thankful And it made them so thankful that they founded a holiday all about expressing that thankfulness

That that doctrine and distinction to the ignorance of so -called luck and the arrogance of the self -made

It's called providence Providence means that god is in control of even the natural things the this or that the cause and effect things

That we think we understand, you know, like the weather our jobs our grades A good harvest we plant the seed it's watered and it grows and we think okay, that's all science

Yeah, but that's god's in control of that science Providence can be a cure from a disease like leprosy hansen's disease if we take the right medicine all of that It's providence.

It's under his control now whether god heals leprosy through miracles or antibiotics Is still just as much the work of god either way

Now think about it because that's that's hard for us to understand but just think think about it for a second You know god is all powerful right god all powerful

So since he's all powerful Which is it more more difficult? for god to do heal leprosy or cure it with antibiotics

Which is more difficult for an all -powerful god to do Last 20 years say 16 million people have been cured of leprosy by the medicines the antibiotics

Jesus here healed 10 by a miracle now, which is more difficult for an all -powerful god to do

Neither all powerful. Nothing is difficult in any way for you. God can just as easily do either

Which is more under god's control put it that way the miracle Is that that's under his control it's a miracle or the antibiotics the doctor prescribing the medicine you go to the pharmacy

You get it. You take it your cure, which is more under his control neither They're both equally fully 100 according to his will

We don't always get that because we think we understand one And we don't understand the other when god acts beyond the laws of nature like here in luke 17

We call it a miracle. Ah, we see wow god's at work when he acts through the laws of nature Like in healing through medicine we call it providence but both

Are equally his work? according to his will The only problem really is with us

We see god acting through providence. We see providence act we see Things happening and we think we understand it so we don't see god behind it often

And we take it for granted we can fail to see god willing Every this or that As though nature is out of his control

As though it's just luck or us working hard and smart mastering the laws of nature with our science

So the cure then is our right as something we've earned something We've we've mastered we've harnessed by our own willpower and god's out doing miracles

And we ever need a miracle we'll call it them then but until then we can manage fine without you for now

Thanks god. That's the attitude. The result though is we're not thankful It just happens these natural things we think we are we made it happen

As abraham lincoln said when he established the regular the national holiday of thanksgiving

He said because these bounties Are the the blessings of good harvest the food we have the clothing the prosperity the health and so on he says because they are so constantly enjoyed

Because we have them constantly we repeatedly regularly We're used to them every day

He said quote we are prone to forget the source from which they come

Now think about it if nine of the ten lepers could forget the source of their healing When it's a miracle

Take the miracle for granted how much more likely? Are we to be ungrateful for the blessings of providence for all the good things that the lord provides?

through means Through jobs and family and medicine and machines like cards and computers and ovens and smartphones

Things that we think we can understand We're so prone to be ungrateful not only because we're narcissistic often

Unaware of the judgment we deserve our baseline of expectation is we take all the blessings for granted.

Not only are we like that Unaware of the judgment we deserve But because we're so flooded with blessings regular blessings constantly blessed

We just get accustomed to it And we shrug our shoulders and go on Then if one little thing we don't have when we get bitter by that Now, I don't know whether the story in luke chapter 17 is meant to be a statistical analysis of human gratitude but if it is 90 of people are not made thankful by miracles

That's pretty astounding, isn't it? How much more likely are we to be left ungrateful? by providence

So we take his blessings for granted We make his constant provision of gifts the baseline of expectation and then get dissatisfied when we don't get more than that The lord jesus told us in matthew chapter 5 verse 45 that the father sends his sunshine

On the evil And on the good we all need it And he blesses the evil with sunshine and good people.

He sends rain Also a blessing by the way in a semi -arid land where most of the people were farmers

If you lived in a place like israel, you definitely want rain and he sends that on the just Those right with god

And on the unjust those who are not right with god. He blesses them all But few are made grateful for it in acts chapter 14 the apostle paul

Right after healing a man crippled from birth a miracle and the pagans were just amazed by that They brought out their pagan priests and they were going to sacrifice a sacrifice to and give thanks to paul

They thought he was a greek god paul says that the true god has already been Giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons satisfying your hearts with food and gladness

You know, it's right that what we do on thanksgiving is eat God's given us food is a blessing.

You know what for? To eat it We all of it is good. He's paul says if received with thanksgiving

We're surrounded by god's generous gifts And yet we're so seldom thankful for it

I've known people who have had great favors done for them from small favors like looking after their kids Without taking any pay to having their lawns mowed when they're out of town to big ones like being given the career the business

They wanted just basically just handed to them as a gift and yet they're still not grateful They take it for granted and they end up in fact accusing the people who gave them so much.

I'm not loving You you can't earn the thankfulness of unthankful people

Because the problem isn't a lack of a holiday or lack of thank you cards. The problem is the heart

What is needed is a change of heart? We need a miracle We need a miracle like jesus healed these lepers, but this time we need the healing

Of what the leprosy pictures the heart deep Deep spiritual nerve destroying infection of sin the only cure

Is a miracle a new heart for god to remove That old dead heart consumed with greed for whatever shiny new thing that looks good at the moment the miracle of suddenly seeing something

That you were blind to before that you were numb to you couldn't feel it before The goodness of god the sunshine the rain the life and breath

Every morsel of food every drop to drink that it's all a gracious gift

That you don't deserve You see that And having a heart a new heart now

That's been amazed by that And even more amazed That the father sent the son to heal my dead heart