The Ten Lepers and the Tithe of Thanksgiving

 

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. Vs15

… was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? vs18

…Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well. Vs19

 

This morning I would like us to consider that the story of the 10 lepers is a story about TITHING. It is a story that Creator (God) wants us to hear and take to heart, so that we can live out this Gospel story in the world.

 

First let us remind ourselves what it is to tithe:

A tithe is: a one tenth portion of annual produce or earnings given as a contribution, generally to a religious organization and charity. To tithe is to give 10% of one’s income to God’s work.

Tithing is an ancient practice recorded in Ancient Near East writings, in Hebrew Scripture, and continuing today as a principle in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism.

 

Often when wrestling with the principle of tithing the conversation is about money. An important conversation and a principle we should continually wrestle with – but this morning, let us draw our attention to the offertory prayer we have said so many times together as a community. Blessed are you, O God, maker of all things. Through your goodness you have blessed us with these gifts: our selves, our time, and our possessions. Use us, and what we have gathered in feeding the world with your love…

Tithing is not just about giving a portion of our incomes. Tithing is about giving of our selves, our time, and our possessions.

 

Returning to the story of the 10 lepers. We hear the Good News that Jesus had compassion on the lepers and the lepers were healed. One healed leper returns to the source of the healing -Jesus- to give thanks and praise. 1 of 10. It struck me that within the story there is a TITHE of thanksgiving, 10% of the group offers thanksgiving.

 

Hearing the story this way has me wonder: are we called to the be 10%? Is this how our lives can share the Good News? Is this what the celebration of thanksgiving is about?

Consider that the people of the world – all the people of the world- are represented by the group of 10 lepers. The people of the world, all of us, are leprous: sick, anxious, discombobulated; pot-marked by war, inflation, climate crisis; and at disease in body, mind, and spirit. Humanity – we- are worried, weary, and worn.

We may be feeling this way, and yet, we have come to gather with others to give thanks.

Maybe, just maybe, we (Christians gathered across the country) are 10% of the whole, a tithe of thanksgiving, offered to Creator God.

 

It is an interesting thought. What makes up a tithe in a world that is plagued with infirmity, instability, and injustice?

Tithes are often connected to charity work – sharing resources with those who are hungry, unclothed, and unhoused. Anybody can do this work. We have something else, and it is wrapped up in the tithing of our selves.

The answer to the question, “what makes up a tithe in a world that is plagued….in so many ways,” comes down to the essence of church and what makes Christian living different from simply being a good person. Our tithe grows from God, God’s grace, and faith community. It is rooted in a belief and experience that we receive and share a peace that the world can not give; in hope that sees resurrection in death; and a community where the weight of the world is a shared burden that is carried -let go of - in the weight being lifted to God in prayer.

 

Hearing the Gospel story of the 10 lepers with one who was the tithe of thanksgiving, excites me- not to get down on the nine who go about doing what Jesus told them to do, but getting excited that a tithe was enough, that it happened. I want to be that tithe – a tithe that keeps thanksgiving empowering healers like Jesus, resurrecting thanksgiving in what was infirm, and being Good News told generations down the road.

 

This story tells us of a sacred trust. For the health and healing of the world it takes a tithe of 10%. In this case a tithe of thanksgiving.

 

In the realm of kindom there is much to tithe. Grace. Compassion. Forgiveness. Love. Thanksgiving.

 

For those who like numbers – you have 24 hrs in a day, 2 ½ hrs would be a tithe of time and your self in that time; for a traditional work week of 40 hrs, 4 hrs would be a tithe of time and your self. In the period of a day, do you give a tithe of thanksgiving (grace, compassion, forgiveness); in a work week do you give a 4 hr tithe of thanksgiving, grace, compassion, forgiveness in the office, to your co-workers? In a week consider a thanksgiving tithe that could be part of your social media time.

 

Recent conversations I have had with parishioners have begun in commiserating about the state of the world, the troubled times in which we live, and difficult decisions about the future of the church. In the end conversations have come to conclusion in affirmations of the sacred trust that rests on us as a faith community. A sacred trust to be a tithe of thanksgiving! And from hearts filled with thanksgiving to boldly proclaim grace. To boldly proclaim hope. To boldly proclaim resurrection…to the glory of God.

 

Get up and go on your way, your faith has made you well.

Could it be that this sacred trust of tithing thanksgiving is faith enough to heal the world?

 

God – empower us to be a tithe – tithing thanksgiving, hope, resurrection, and grace:

To be about thanksgiving in a world where many walk in infirmity;

Hope in a world where many walk in insecurity;

 Resurrection in a world where many walk in injustice;

And grace, much grace, upon a world that is ill.   Amen.