Please read the scripture first: Luke 17:11-19
A wealthy businessman lay on his deathbed. His preacher came to visit and talked about God’s healing power and prayed for his parishioner. When the preacher was done, the businessman said, “Preacher, if God heals me, I’ll give the church a million dollars.” Miraculously, the businessman got better and within a few short weeks was out of the hospital.
Several months later, the preacher bumped into this businessman on the sidewalk and said, “You know, when you were in the hospital dying, you promised to give the church a million dollars if you got well. We haven’t received it as of yet.” The businessman replied, “Did I say that? I guess that goes to show how sick I really was!”
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The scripture lesson today tells a story of Jesus healing ten lepers and only one came back to thank him. The unique part of this healing story is that there was no physical contact in the process. There was no rubbing of spit or touching of Jesus garment. All Jesus did was asking them to go and show themselves to the priest. In those days, only the priests have the authority to declare someone clean. The Bible says, “... as they went, they were made clean.” That means they were healed by their faith in the word of Jesus Christ.
I would like to highlight three important action steps that God is calling us to take based on this passage.
The first action step is...
1 – Be Alert to God’s Presence
One thing that amazes me from this passage is in verses 11-13, “As Jesus entered the village, these lepers approached him, keeping their distance, and called out to him, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’” First, how did they know that Jesus was someone who has the power to heal them? Second, how did they know that Jesus was passing by? Third, why did they call him “Master,” which is the term used mostly by his disciples?
In those days lepers are regarded as unclean by the Jewish ritual laws, and they were relegated to the outskirt of the towns. Out of sight, out of mind! The Levitical law mandated that they announced their uncleanness to the world. Leviticus 13:45 says, “The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, “Unclean, unclean.”” One of the ways the world has always managed to keep marginalized people in their place is to have them acknowledge their own condition.
Maybe it’s somewhat like the way we want to treat the undocumented immigrants, forcing them to acknowledge themselves as illegal and always stay under the shadow of the society, earning under-minimum wages. I don’t have the answer; I am one of those that want our borders secured and our citizens safe. However, this passage is calling us to think whether we want to keep them outside of our borders is so that we don’t have to face the poverty abroad that we are partially responsible for creating; another out of sight, out to mind attempt?
Within our own communities in the nearby deteriorating cities like Paterson, Newark, and Jersey City, we build affordable housing and as the poor people moved in the rich moved out leaving the formerly thriving areas to become ghettos.
How about our own lives? Have you ever encountered in your life that you have been put down by the society and labeled as “unclean,” just because you have done certain things in the past, behave certain ways, or talk in certain accent? In our lives we are often defined by people. Has anyone defined you because you are divorced, or poor, or in some kind of condition that is beyond your control that the society finds it unacceptable and keeps you in the outskirt of their lives?
These ten lepers are no different from what you would see outside of the gates and walls of most towns and cities in those days. What’s admirable about these ten lepers is that they never succumb to their condition. They kept their ears and eyes open about the world around them with hope, and they were aware of the coming of the savior to their village. They must be reading the newspapers regularly and found out about this man name Jesus! It seems that they already wanted to follow him when he heard him in the news and maybe that’s why they called him intimately, “Master,” even though they just saw him for the first time.
They are somewhat like the shepherds in the field that heard the announcement of the arrival of the savoir, while the rest of the world including the royal family were oblivious to what was happening in the manger, except those wise men from the east. The lesson for us is that no matter what condition we are in, we must not let our condition blind us or deafen us from being aware of God’s presence among us.
You must not allow the definition of the society become an obstacle between you and God. Always be alert to God’s presence in your life and be ready to receive his blessings and see the miracles happening in your life because God loves you the way you are, and God will never leave you they way you are when you wait for him and pray, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on me.”
The second action step is...
2 – See the Blessing in Disguise
Most of the times, our unfortunate situation is not a curse. It is, more often then not, a blessing because life transformation usually begins with our distress. That’s why Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs the kingdom of God.” It is in our poverty in spirit that transformation beings. As long as we are full of pride and arrogance, thinking that we can do everything with our own strength, we will never have a transformative experience. As long as a caterpillar refuses to be entombed in a cocoon, it will never become a butterfly. Jesus said, I came for the sick not for the well. To be healed we must first see our condition and know that we are sick.
Misfortune is not always bad because it forces us to self-discovery and face the reality. Our Thursday night small group has been studying the book of Revelations. In chapter 3, Jesus pointed out to the church in Laodicea saying that, “For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” When everything is running smoothly in our lives, we tend to think that we are rich and prosperous and need nothing, and we don’t realized that we are in fact, through the spiritual eyes, wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Realizing our poverty in spirit gives us a chance to allow God to enter our lives and perform miracles. Realizing our poverty in spirit allows us to be able to cry out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” That’s a cry of faith, and Jesus said, for theirs is the kingdom of God because they are in touch with reality.
The Bible says, “When Jesus saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean.”” All ten of them went to the priest. That tells us that they all had faith in Jesus words. They didn’t wait for Jesus’ touch, but they believed that his word is enough to bring healing. For those who have faith, God’s word is enough. Like Abraham says in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, for those who don’t have faith, it won’t make any difference even if they see someone rose from the dead. God’s word combined with our faith—may it be a small as a mustard seed—is already enough for transformations and miracles. The danger of prosperity is that it can make us have faith in our prosperity itself. Poverty can force us to have faith in God.
A suggestion: During the down time, you must keep your sense of humor. There is a story of a poor widow, who prayed daily for God to help her. Her next door neighbor, an atheist, heard her prayer everyday and got annoyed. So one morning, he placed a basketful of groceries in front of the widow’s door. The widow came out and saw the food and praised God, “Thank God for answering my prayer! Oh, thank God. God is so good.” The neighbor jumped out and laughed, “Oh for heaven’s sake, wake up! There is no such thing as God, it was me that brought those groceries to you.” And the widow looked up to the heaven and prayed, “Oh God, how wonderful you are! You not only provided me with these foods, but also made the devil paid for it!”
The third action step is the most important...
3 – Give Thanks to Attain Wholeness
Sometimes our spiritual illness is more serious than our physical illness. Jesus said in Matthew 10, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Along with their physical healing there is a spiritual healing that needs to be taken care of. One of the ways to heal spiritually is through thanksgiving. I have discovered that the most miserable people are not those who suffer from poverty or some terrible disease, but those who are thankless. I have to admit that I am sometime guilty of this sin too, forgetting to thank God for what I have, and only remembering the things I don’t have. I feel myself spiritually healthier and more effective when I keep my attitude of gratitude alive.
Jesus was concerned not just for the lepers’ physical illness, but also their spiritual illness. He sounded annoyed to see that nine out of ten failed to attain wholeness by giving thanks to him and praise God. He said, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (v. 17-18) Even though all of them were physically healed, only this foreigner came prostrated himself at Jesus feet and thank him. That’s where the real healing happened, and Jesus said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” This word “made well” was translated from the Greek word (sozo) that means to make whole or to deliver, meaning to provide complete wellness.
The advancement in psychology in our time has made a lot of discovery that a lot of our physical illnesses are more of symptoms of deeper psychological and spiritual problems. Yesterday on CNN, I saw a report about “bad marriage could damage heart.” It says that a bad marriage not only makes you unhappy but also creates health problems. The announcer asked the doctor, “What should you do then, if you are in a bad marriage, get out of it?” The answer was, “No, because divorce could make your health even worse. The best solution is that you fix the problem.” In fact a marriage problem is a relational problem; a relational problem is a spiritual problem. Jesus didn’t come to establish a religion he came to restore relationships, between God and us and among ourselves, because well all have relational problems—particularly with God.
This Samaritan’s thanksgiving heart heals a broken relationship. His prostrating at Jesus feet, a Jewish rabbi, symbolizes healing of relationship between two races. The Jews despised Samaritans because they were not purebred. Samaritans disliked the Jews because they claimed that God is only in Jerusalem. They hated each other religiously. In chapter 9, a Samaritans village refused to receive Jesus because Jesus was headed to Jerusalem. Now a grateful heart forgets about the racial boundary. Notice two things this Samaritan did, he came to praise God (v.15) and thank Jesus (v.16). His gratefulness healed both vertical and horizontal relationships, completing the cross.
Let us be alert to God’s presence so that we don’t miss out on an opportunity to heal. Let us see the blessings in disguise when we are poor in spirit. Most importantly, don’t forget to attain wholeness by giving thanks to God. More than the Samaritan leper, we have a great reason to give thanks to God because Jesus has broken the barriers between us and God and between each other, by dying on the cross for us. The resurrection of Jesus Christ shows us that the adversities of this fallen world, the tragedies of broken relationships, and even the death of our bodies can no longer build walls between us and God, and each other.
Jesus invites you to carry your cross and follow him today. What does it mean by carrying the cross? Always remember that the cross has a vertical line that represents our relationship with God, and a horizontal line that represents our relationship with one another. “To carry the cross and follow him” is to become like him who uses his life to break the barriers between humanity and God and among human beings. In other words, “carrying the cross to follow him” means to be peacemakers. And based on today’s lesson, before you become a peacemaker, you must be a thanks-giver, giving thanks for what he has done so that you are aware of what he has done for you and what you need to do to be a peacemaker. May God bless you all!
