On the Road with Jesus: The Leper
Luke 17:11-19
March 17, 2019
Last week we began our Lenten series entitled, “On the Road with Jesus”. During Jesus ministry he traveled throughout Palestine bringing a message of hope and love. Jesus most often taught in the local synagogues but he wasn’t restrained to it. As Jesus traveled he also performed many miracles. Some of them are recorded in the gospels but many of them are not. Most of the recorded miracles are miracles of healing.
Many were healed at the touch of Jesus. While this made many happy and these actions helped many to believe in the message that Jesus was teaching, others were not so sure. The religious elite had many confrontations with Jesus. On more than one occasion Jesus life had been threatened but each time Jesus was able to escape unharmed.
Jesus safety around the city of Jerusalem was suspect. The last time Jesus had been near Jerusalem some had wanted to stone him and so Jesus had largely stayed away from Jerusalem until Lazarus. At great risk to his own life Jesus came very near to Jerusalem to raise Lazarus from the dead. After doing so it was decided by the Pharisees that Jesus was too great a risk to public safety and to their political position. Jesus was a wanted man.
In these final weeks Jesus would make his return to Jerusalem. These are the stories of the people he encountered on his way. We heard how last week he raised Lazarus from the dead and gave him life.
This week we hear from another sick man. His story is found in the gospel of Luke 17:11-19.
As you listen to his encounter with Jesus some creative liberties have been taken but his encounter with Jesus is true. You are encouraged to read the story for yourself. This morning however you invite you to hear this first person account when he encountered Jesus on the road.
Begin by yelling…..Unclean! Unclean! Unclean!
Oh I guess I don’t need to yell that anymore now do I? Old habits die hard I guess. I had leprosy for so long that I’m still getting used to being back around people again. That’s right I used to have leprosy.
Leprosy is such a nasty disease. I don’t know what I did to get leprosy. Most would say that it was a curse from God because of the sin in my life. I just remember that I started to get some strange spots on my skin. They first started to appear on my hands and my feet. I can’t really say that they hurt that much. I thought maybe I had gotten into something that I was reacting too but when it didn’t go away I was afraid that it was something much worse.
I was afraid to go and see the priest. I was afraid of what he would say. I had tried to cover it up but I just couldn’t any longer. When we had a skin problem we were to go and see the priest and see what he had to say about it. All the way back in the time of Moses guidelines were established about diseases of the flesh. Leviticus 13 and 14 instruct the priests on what to do with certain kinds of skin disease. I couldn’t put it off any longer and so I went to see what he had to say.
I could tell by the look on his face that it was not a good sign. He looked at my hands and at my feet and he asked me when I first noticed the spots. I told him that I couldn’t remember exactly when but I had it for a while and it didn’t seem to get any better.
He told me that for now I was considered unclean. I would not be allowed in the synagogue. He told me that I would need to be in isolation for the next seven days. He would examine me again in seven days but it needed to be outside of town. I was still hopeful that it would go away but I think I knew in my heart already what was going on.
I spent the next week by myself. I missed my family. They had put provisions out for me so that I would have the necessities that I needed but other than that I had just kept to myself, away from everyone else.
My skin wasn’t getting any better in fact it seemed to get a little worse. I went back in seven days to see the priest like he said. He confirmed what I had feared. I had leprosy. He told me that I was unclean and that I was not to come into contact with people because I could give them this disease.
If people approached me or if I came across people I was to yell out, “Unclean, unclean” so they would know to stay away. So there I was all by myself. Alone with this horrible disease. I didn’t even bother to go back home and tell my family. I think they already knew and if not the priest would tell them.
I just left. For the first while I was on my own and by myself. People would walk the other way when I came near. Children would give me funny looks and run away. The disease slowly spread and the spots soon covered most of my fingers. I was beginning to lose sensation in my fingers.
Then one day I heard someone else calling out those same words that I had to say, “Unclean, unclean.” There was a group of guys walking along the path and it was obvious that they were suffering from the same affliction as me.
As they came closer I noticed something very interesting. In this group of guys were many different nationalities. I was a little surprised at first because you see, I am a Samaritan and we didn’t really mix with those that called themselves Jews.
There was a time when we worshipped side by side but it hadn’t been that way for centuries. The Jews accused us of not being of “pure” blood. Just because some of our ancestors had intermarried with those that had settled into our land after many had been led away in exile.
When the Jews were permitted to return from their exile in Babylon my people were ready to welcome them back. The welcome was rejected however. I know that some had mixed in worship to other gods along with worship to Yahweh but most were still on the right path.
My people had wanted to help rebuild the temple in Jerusalem but again our offer was rejected. You can imagine the tension and hostility that came to exist between our peoples. Since we were not allowed at the temple in Jerusalem we built our own temple at Mount Garizim.
Over the years the hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans only grew. In fact most Jews would actually go out of their way when traveling from a northern area to get to Jerusalem. They would add length to their journey just so they wouldn’t have to walk through Samaritan territory.
So you can imagine my surprise when I saw this group of men with both Jews and Samaritans in it. For the first time since the priest had pronounced my unclean with leprosy I felt a bit of hope. I approached the group, hoping that I would be included.
I can’t say that they were overly welcoming but they did not turn me away and I was allowed to join them. We soon joined a larger group camped outside of a town. Everyone here had leprosy. I didn’t matter where you were from anymore because wherever you were from, you were not welcome there anymore.
We were all outcast. Jew and Samaritan both looked down upon us as unclean sinners, condemned by God. Suddenly all of the things that divided us seem to give way to the one thing that united us and that was our disease of leprosy.
While it was somewhat comforting to not be all by myself, I can’t say that being in this leper colony was all that satisfying. There were all men in my camp. Everyone was in different stages of this disease. In many ways it was very depressing.
As the disease progresses it really attacks your nerves and you lose all sensitivity. One of the guys grabbed a pan of food that had been cooked over the fire. The pan was still hot but he didn’t know that it had just recently come out of the fire. He grabbed it to put some food in his bowl and severely burnt his fingers. While he felt no or very little pain, he now had to take care of a new wound.
Stuff like this was common. Infection would set in. Many of the men had lost fingers and toes. It seemed like every day someone would die. Leprosy is a horrible disease. I guess the sins in my life caused me to get this disease?
I don’t know, I mean I was far from perfect but well, I wasn’t that bad but what other explanation could there be for getting such a horrible disease? If only I could find someone to set me free from my sins. There wasn’t much hope for us. Death was really about the only thing we could hope for.
We didn’t get a lot of news because we don’t have a lot of contact with the outside world but as new guys would come we began to hear more and more about this Jesus, this holy man. I had heard some things about him before I got sick but I had never met him.
I know that he did not hate the Samaritans. I had heard the story how he and his disciples were not like the other Jews that went out of their way to stay out of Samaria. When Jesus traveled he went right through our area. He had even stopped in one of our villages and talked with a less than reputable woman at a well. Word had traveled how he stayed there for several days and many people came to believe that he might be the Messiah.
Yes, we were waiting for this Messiah just like the Jews were. As time went on there was more and more talk about the possibility of this holy man being the one. We didn’t know if it was true or not but we had even heard that he had healed a man with leprosy once, that he had actually touched him. It seemed like too much for me to believe in, hope is a dangerous thing.
We were surprised to hear that Jesus was around. For some reason he wasn’t welcomed by everyone. When word drifted in of what he had done in Bethany it got our attention. It had been reported that he had raised a man from the dead. We didn’t know all the details other than it sounded like the man was a friend of his and that he had been dead for 4 days and Jesus actually called him out of the tomb. Boy would I like to have seen that.
Things must have gotten a little unsafe for Jesus because after he did this he traveled north and he was now very near us. A group of us decided to see if all of what we had been hearing was true. If we had any hope of being healed it would be by this Jesus man.
And so 10 of us set off to find him. I was the only Samaritan in the group but no one seemed to notice. There was a mood of excitement and anticipation in our group. The more we talked the more we became convinced that all we had heard….well this man….we all began to believe that he could do it!
We saw him as he was headed towards a village and we called out to him as best as we could. One of the other effects of this disease is that it gets into your throat as well and so our voices were raspy at best. But together we had some volume and so we cried out to him, Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
We kept our distance like we were supposed to and we waited for his response. We had his attention, we knew he heard us as he looked at our group. He told us to go and show ourselves to the priests.
As I look back on it I can see that he was testing our faith. I really thought if he was going to heal us that it would be much more dramatic. Like a clap of thunder or something. We set off to go see the priests. We trusted Jesus because we didn’t have anything to lose. Jesus is a great place to go when there is nowhere else to turn.
Yes, of course! The priests would have to determine if we were healed. There was a whole process that you had to go through. So we set off. I looked at my hands and saw no change but we believed in what he said. We hadn’t gone far when one of the men began to yell hysterically. I turned to see what was going on and he was pointing at me and yelling to look at my hands and my face! I looked at my hands and the rotting flesh was gone and replaced with beautiful skin.
By then we were all shouting and jumping up and down as each and every person had be restored to health. We hugged each other. We began to run, we needed to find the priest so we could begin the process to be officially called healed!
Suddenly I stopped and I tried to convince the other to go back with me to say thank you to Jesus. There was no stopping them. They were off to the see the priests. They got what they had wanted from Jesus.
I turned around and headed back to Jesus. I suddenly understood what was happening. Jesus had tested the little bit of faith that I had. We trusted that whatever he told us, well that was good and that we should follow what he says.
This man had healed me, I had to say thank you. I had to express my gratitude. This was no mere “holy man” but he must be, could he be???? When I saw him with his followers I let my praises be known. I had my full voice back and I fell at his feet to worship him.
How could I have missed it the first time? I wasn’t going to miss it this time. I had been in the presence of God! This Jesus healed me from a death sentence. I was a sinner. I was a Samaritan. This man, the Jesus was not a racist! I wasn’t allowed into the temple because I was a Samaritan but this Jewish man healed me. I didn’t need to see a priest. God didn’t dwell in the temple in Jerusalem or Mount Garizim, no God dwells in Jesus. I needed to be back in the presence of God.
So I fell at his feet in a posture of worship and thanked him through the tears. He asked about the other nine. I couldn’t really even answer him. He was talking to me but also to this disciples. He even identified me as a foreigner, but he knew.
He knew the others were only interested in getting rid of their disease, as did I. I wanted something more however. If sin were the cause of this disease then the only way to be truly rid of it was to be rid of my sin and I believed that the only one that could do that was Jesus.
He looked me in the eye and said to me, “Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you.”
Jesus healed me but more important, Jesus saved me. I had never me this man but he changed my life in an instant. He didn’t care about my nationality, my past, my health. He just cared about me and my faith.
My encounter with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem was life changing. I was a saved man. I went back home to tell my family and anyone else I could about my encounter with Jesus. Have you met him? Do you know that he can heal whatever ails you?
The most important thing though was that he forgave me sins. I heard about his death and his resurrection. Doesn’t surprise me, this was God. Go searching for him or maybe just open your eyes because I bet he is searching for you. If you just have faith in him and fall before him in worship you to will be saved.
Amen.
There is no copyright on this message. Please use it any way you like. If you would like pictures to go with this message please email me - jamiebogaard@gmail.com. I took an old shirt and cut it up for costume.
