Luke 17:11-19
11Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" 14When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. 15One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." (NIV)
Introduction
Imagine one day on your way to the market a beggar came to ask you for money. Out of your compassion and kindness, you gave him $6 and left only $1 in your wallet. When the beggar saw that you have another dollar left, instead of feeling sorry for you, his covetousness ruled over, grabbing the $1 remained and ran away. What would be your first reaction towards such a ruthless and unthankful person? Furious? Angry?
Imagine that you are a rich man providing free meals with only one condition: every tenth meal received must be given out for free. Believing that there are still many people struck with hunger, your kind act would help many to survive. And the only condition set would help those who survived, in return helping others also. Unfortunately, one day you found that one of the people you have been helping turned round and exploited the meals you provide. He did not share the tenth meal received with the poor and needy. Worse still, he misused the provided meals for extortion and illegal trades, to earn more than he should have. Again what is your reaction to such an unthankful man then? Will you be angry with him? Will you still provide him with free meals or will you put him to jail until he repaid every cent he owed you?
The story in Luke 17:11-19 is about 10 lepers being healed by the Lord Jesus and only 1 returned to give thanks and praises to God. Where were the other 9 persons? Why were they so ruthless and unthankful? What are the lessons we could learn from here?
1. Some observations
On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus heard 10 lepers calling to Him from a hill some distance away. They stood far away because they were lepers and were considered unclean in those days. They were socially outcast and abandoned by their families. Perhaps they have heard about the miracles of Jesus and that’s why they cried out for mercy (Luke 17:13). In response Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests according to the Jewish customs. A person who had been healed of an infectious skin disease was told in the Law to show himself to a priest so that he might be examined and then certified well. And the declared healed person was then to required offer the prescribed offering to God (Leviticus 13:2).
Hearing what Jesus said, the 10 lepers hurried away to do just this. And the bible says, “as they went, they were cleansed” (Luke 17:14).
The story did not stop there. Unfortunately out of the 10 lepers healed, only 1 turned back, praising God in loud shouts, and thanked Jesus. Interestingly this only 1 returned was a Samaritan, a race that was considered impure by the majority Jews. The other 9 were so called children of God who should have understood what was meant to offer a thanks offering once they found themselves cleaned. Yet they did not perform their duty.
2. What are the lessons?
a. The lepers demonstrated their faith with action.
When the lepers heard that Jesus asked them to go and be examined by a priest, had not waited for the outward evidence of the disease to disappear. That showed the faith they had in Jesus. They went, confident that their need had been met, and that healing was theirs. Faith impels us to obey before we see the full evidence of God's work within us.
Many people said that seeing is believing but real faith is not by sight. Real faith is like a young child resting in his daddy’s bosom, crossing a rough river in the darkest of night. Real faith is like some chicks resting peacefully under the wings of the mother bird in the stormy blasts.
b. Real faith accompanied with real action.
As mentioned above, according to the OT laws, whoever is cleansed from leprosy was required to be examined by a priest. The declared clean person then offers a prescribed offering as thanksgiving to the Lord. The 9 lepers had knowledge about this requirement as they were Jews and yet they did not fulfil it. On the other hand, this Samaritan leper acted accordingly. His faith is accompanied with action in thanksgiving. He took his head knowledge down 18 inches into his heart and made it into action. As James said, “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:17)
Conclusion
Though all 10 lepers were cured physically, only 1 cured also spiritually. It is my prayer that all of us are like the one thankful leper who gave thanks to God for his healing.
Do you still remember the imagined story of you being robbed by a beggar? When we are angry with the beggar who robbed the $1 remained, we need to ponder for ourselves. Sometime we acted like the beggar ourselves. God has given us 6 days to work and many a times we wanted to rob the remainder 7th day.
Again, do you still remember the imagined story of you being the rich man who supplied free meal to the poor and needy with only one condition: that was to give freely to others the tenth meal received? When we feel angry with whoever exploited your good deeds, we need to be mindful of ourselves also. We sometimes do forget to offer one tenth of our income for the house of the Lord. May God help us to be grateful and thankful.
One of the greatest gifts we received from God is salvation in Christ. We were once like the lepers spiritually unclean and humiliated with sins and guilt. This spiritual uncleanness kept us far from God’s presence until one day He met us in Christ. In Christ we are now cleansed thoroughly, washed in His blood and eternally pure in God’s sight. Our spiritual cleanliness is examined by the Holy Spirit as Paul testified: The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. (Rom 8:16)
Also, as the author of Hebrews said, “The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. (Heb 10:15-18)
Since we have received this spiritual healing and cleansing, let us share this extraordinary joy with others. As a gesture of thankfulness, let us offer our time, our talents, our money for God’s ministry.
This year we set the month of November as mission month. In the mission month we will emphasise mission and evangelistic outreach. We also set aside a weekend to train our people for mission and evangelism. Let’s begin with praying for this project, praying for church leaders, praying for all members of St Mark, that we shall work hand in hand and side by side. May God stir our spirits and hearts so that we will be strong and courageous to go and tell all nations that Jesus is Lord. We have plenty of room for new comers, friends and relatives.
Let us dream for the Lord that one day we will see the church be filled with people from all directions and experience a mini scenario as described in Revelation 7:9-10 -- After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
