This week we'll look at a leper who was healed, and see that the greatest blessing of following Jesus is the relationship we get to have with God, rather than the gifts He gives us.
This message is based on Luke 17:11-19. To read now, click here. Greg Anderson, in Living Life on Purpose tells a story about a man whose wife had left him. He was completely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, in God--he found no joy in living. One rainy morning this man went to a small neighborhood restaurant for breakfast. Although several people were at the diner, no one was speaking to anyone else. Our miserable friend hunched over the counter, stirring his coffee with a spoon. In one of the small booths along the window was a young mother with a little girl. They had just been served their food when the little girl broke the sad silence by almost shouting, "Momma, why don't we say our prayers here?" The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around and said, "Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?" And she turned and looked at the rest of the people in the restaurant and said, "Bow your heads." Surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down. The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, and said, "God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food. Amen." That prayer changed the entire atmosphere. People began to talk with one another. The waitress said, "We should do that every morning." "All of a sudden," said our friend, "my whole frame of mind started to improve. From that little girl's example, I started to thank God for all that I did have and stopped majoring in all that I didn't have. I started to be grateful." We all understand and appreciate the importance of gratitude, and how it can radically change relationships. In fact, one of the first things we were taught as children, and one of the first things that we teach our children, is to express our gratitude. If someone gives them a piece of candy, we say: “Now what do you say?” And the child learns from an early age that the appropriate answer is “Thank you.” And certainly we all know as adults that we appreciate being thanked. Yet, when it comes to giving thanks to our heavenly father, we often miss the mark. When it comes to giving our thanks to God, I don’t suppose there is any story in the Bible that is a better example, so timelessly appropriate, as the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers. We have all heard the story many times, but like so many Bible stories, we never tire of it. The story begins: “As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance” Don’t ever think for a moment that death is the worst thing that can happen to a person. It’s not. And the scene this morning is a case in point. These ten men walked the earth. They breathed, they ate. They had hopes and fears and aspirations and feelings just like you and me. Yet, there was a tragic sense in which they were already dead. They were walking dead. Leprosy was the most dreaded of all ancient diseases. It ate away at the body and left its victims maimed and disfigured. There was no known cure. In their hopes and dreams for a family life, a useful occupation, plans for the future—they were like dead men. Their situation was made worse because leprosy was believed to be highly contagious. We know now that it is not. The scripture made it quite clear that as these lepers approached Jesus they stood at a distance. Jewish law clearly prescribed that a leper could not get within fifty yards of a clean person. Everywhere these poor men went, they heard familiar words yelled out: “Unclean,” “Leper.” And then some would hurl stones at them to keep them away. If they were close enough to be hit by a stone, they were too close. There is some growing question as to whether the leprosy mentioned in the bible is the same disease that we know of as leprosy. Many now are saying that it was a term used for any general skin disease. I am assuming this morning that it was the same disease we think of. The thought back then was that diseases were thought to come from an unclean heart, and the symptoms of leprosy, or any skin condition, were thought to be one of the first signs of that uncleanliness before God. They were required to live outside the city, they couldn’t come in contact with anybody else. They not only had to live with their physical disease, but they had to live in isolation. They had to live in loneliness. That isolation alone can do more to drain a person’s energy for living than the most horrible of diseases. Which, I think, brings us to the first point of the story, which is simply this: even in the midst of our problems there is always something to be thankful for. Some of you may be thinking: Well, that’s easy to say, but you don’t know the problems and circumstances that I am dealing with. And I know some of you have very real concerns, health issues, family issues, very real problems that exist. But let me suggest that there is no one sitting here this morning who has it worse than these ten men did. What could possibly be worse than that situation? Yet, they found something to be thankful for. But even in the midst of this horrible situation these lepers had something to be thankful for. In their common misery they had found each other. It is interesting to note that one of these ten lepers was a Samaritan. Now a good Jew in that day would have nothing to do with a Samaritan. For the Jew, Samaritans were dogs, half-breeds. Yet, in their common misery, these men had forgotten that they were Jew and Samaritan and realized only that they were men in need. There is very real power in fellowship, especially the fellowship of people who have a common need. Something else that they could be thankful for, is that when they cried out to Jesus, He heard them. Though they were at a distance, and needed to stay away, Jesus heard them. We can all be thankful that Jesus hears us. Even when sin or disobedience has us feeling far away, standing at a distance, Jesus is there. And we can call out to Him, and He will hear us. God loves you and He hears your concerns, and He stands ready to heal you. Ready to cleanse you of whatever it is that separates you from Him. A third thing they could be thankful for, is that they had the faith to be obedient. This may seem like a no brainer, but think about it. They had leprosy. The law demanded them to stay away from everyone. If they were to somehow beat this disease, and get better, before approaching anyone, they had to go to the priest and be declared clean. But these ten men weren’t healed, they still had the disease, yet Jesus told them to go to the priest and be declared clean. And they all went, no questions asked. To me, that’s a miracle in itself. Ten people with leprosy being told to go to a priest so he could tell them they don’t have leprosy. On the surface it sounds preposterous. Yet they all went. That’s an incredible act of faith on their part. Do we act out of that kind of faith? Do we have so much faith that we will do what we feel God is calling us to do, no matter how incredible it may seem? Can we put aside our feelings of inadequacy, our physical limitations, past hurts, and step out in faith, knowing that God is with us, and He will provide our deepest needs? It was because they all went, that they were all obedient, that they were all healed. They stepped out in faith, and because they did, they were healed. Now here is where I begin to wonder about the story. The ten were told to go to the priest and be examined and declared clean. Ok. But when they were healed, one turned back. I wonder why he turned back. The text says that “One of them, when he saw that he was cleansed, came back praising God in a loud voice.” He never got to the priest, yet that was what he was told to do. He praised God in a loud voice, that’s significant because I understand that one of the effects of leprosy is a loss of voice. His healing was apparently complete because he got his voice back. That might just be a significant part of the story. It think it’s in there for a reason. Jesus holds this one up, he came to say thank you, and to praise God. He did what was right, though it wasn’t what he was told to do. Praising God is always the right thing to do. If doing what we think is God’s will doesn’t provide for our praising God, then it’s not really God’s will. If it interferes with a thankful heart, it’s not God’s will. God wants our praise. Maybe you feel a need for God, a need to know God, and need to be with God. God feels that too. He desires your presence. He longs for your praise. He loves to hear you sing, to pray. To seek Him and be with Him. You can almost hear some disappointment in Jesus’ voice when He asks, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?” He feels almost robbed that the others are not there also. He desired to be with them, to celebrate life’s victories with them. To share in their joy, but they didn’t include him. He longs to be with you in your victories. He longs to share in your successes. Remember to come to God when your thankful, to show your gratitude and to include Him in your joy. Why didn’t the nine go? I think that they were going to see the priest. That’s what Jesus told them to do. But more importantly, that’s what the law would require them to do. If one was a Samaritan, the others were probably all Jews. They were following the law. What they did was to act out in obedience to the law. What did Paul say about the law? What’s the purpose of the law? The law is to convict us of our need for a savior. Jesus is that savior. He came to fulfill the law. He’s the next step. Is the law still important? For some. But once the law has done its part, once we realize that we can’t follow the law and save ourselves, then we need the Savior. And when we put on the Savior, once are reborn in Christ’s image, we follow Christ, not the law. We are no longer motivated by the law. We see here in Jesus a precursor to what Paul will be preaching twenty years from now. Once we have Jesus, we need to keep Jesus. We need the Old Testament to point out our need for Jesus. If we still try to obey the law, we are still trying to save ourselves, and we will disappoint Jesus. That’s what the other nine were doing. They were obeying the law. They didn’t come to Jesus, they fell back on the law. Jesus only pronounced one to be healed. And in a way, he was a double outcast. A leper, and a Samaritan. But he was the one who heard the words, “Rise and go, your faith has made you well.” Were the others healed? Yes. Did they acknowledge Jesus? Did they praise Him for what He did for them? No. The one that acknowledged Jesus, the one that praised God for his healing, was the one that got Jesus’ blessing. We to can get Jesus’ blessing, when we turn to him and praise him. When we acknowledge that He is the reason we are made well. He is our hope, He is our healer. He is our savior.
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