Healing the Hurts You Don’t Deserve:
The Healing Process
Scripture Reading: Luke 17:11-17
Good morning. My name is Bob Hostetler, and
I’m not a patient man.
I know--I know,
some of you are shocked.
I know my kids are thinking,
“Yes you are, Dad, you’re VERY patient.”
But it’s true.
I have a character flaw that tends to expect
fast food (when I’m hungry, FEED ME NOW),
miracle diets (whaddya mean I can’t lose 15
pounds TODAY?)
and quick fixes.
My wife Robin and I had been married
only a few months
when our kitchen sink clogged up.
Now I knew
--and she did not hesitate to remind me--
that I could drive to the grocery store for some Drano and be back in less than 15 minutes.
But why should I wait 15 minutes
when I could poke
an unfolded wire clothes hanger
down the drain and
have that thing unstopped NOW?!?!
Oh, yeah, I also happen to be cheap,
and Drano cost money,
and the clothes hanger was already there.
Of course, I ended up poking the hanger
through the u-joint below the sink ,
and making things much worse--
and more expensive--
than they would’ve been if I had
just taken the time to go to the store.
I tend to do the same thing
when it comes to healing.
When a cut or a sore starts to heal,
I can’t leave it alone.
I know I shouldn’t pick at the scab,
but I have a hard time just giving it
the time it needs to heal.
And though I hate to admit it,
I’m often no different when it comes to
internal hurts, the emotional kind,
the kind we’ve been talking about
these past few weeks.
This morning at Cobblestone Community Church we’re in the third week of a four-week series of messages from the Bible, entitled “Healing the Hurts You Don’t Deserve.”
Three weeks ago, we studied John 5,
and discovered step one in the healing process,
and that is “The Healing Choice,”
choosing healing over hurt.
Two Sundays ago, we looked at John 11,
and discussed “The Healing Power” of comfort,
and the necessity of receiving comfort from God and from others as another important step in the healing process.
Last week, we looked
at a parable Jesus told
in Matthew, chapter 18,
as we talked about “The Healing Path” of forgiveness.
This morning, in our final installment in this series on “Healing the Hurts You Don’t Deserve,” we’re going to discuss “The Healing Process” as we turn in the Bible to the Gospel of Luke.
Now, if you worship here regularly, I encourage you to get in the habit of bringing your Bible with you so you can read for yourself
with your own eyes
from your own Bible
what’s being taught up here at the front.
If you’re here without a Bible of your own this morning, please feel free to use on of the copies we provide for you in the center of each table.
And if you don’t have a Bible of your own, we would love for you to take one of ours home with you. . . Consider it your souvenir.
So, having said all that,
I would like for you to turn in your Bibles, please,
to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 17. . . .
Luke, the seventeenth chapter . . .
And our text in God’s Word this morning will begin at the 11th verse of that chapter. . . .
So, beginning at Luke 17:11, we’re going to consider an extraordinary passage of Scripture
that has much to teach us about
the final step I want to cover in the process of healing the hurts you don’t deserve.
So, if you’ll look with me at Luke 17, verse 11,
and, by the way, I’ll be reading from the New International Version--we read:
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.
Jesus was making a lengthy and dusty journey, on foot, from Galilee to Jerusalem, on a route that lay between Samaria and the region sometimes called “Galilee beyond the Jordan” or Perea.
Finally, his tired, sandalled feet approached a village, where he might be able to rest or eat.
But as he approached the town, his attention was diverted by a group of lepers, ten of them, who- because they were lepers--
had to stay outside the village,
in isolation from everyone except other lepers,
lest they infect others with their dreadful disease.
Look at verse 12:
12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance
13 and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"
Now, here’s something interesting:
notice they called out to him by name,
from a distance. . .
How did they know this was Jesus?
Luke doesn’t tell us.
It may be that one or more of them had seen him before;
or maybe they recognized one of his disciples;
or maybe the news of his approach had already
reached the village, so when they saw a rabbi surrounded by a group of rough-hewn Galileans, they just figured it out --
but in any case, when they saw him,
this HEALER they had heard about,
this MAN who could work MIRACLES,
they lifted themselves onto their decaying feet and
began as best they could to wave their rotting hands,
and shouted as loudly
as their failing strength allowed,
crying out for his attention
to their great and horrible need.
And Jesus, as he had done many times already on this trip to Jerusalem, stopped along the road,
arrested by their cries.
You see, Jesus, when he stopped and looked at these ten men who were huddled together outside the city, saw ten wretched,
forsaken,
miserable men.
Leprosy in that day was a grim and gruesome disease, and though we know much more about the disease now, in those days there was no way to treat it . . . except to cast the leper totally out of society,
away from his home,
away from his family,
away from his friends,
so that his curse would remain his alone.
And so, Jesus knew that theirs was a desperate, fervent cry for help and healing.
And I want to suggest to you that there are some really cool parallels between what happened next,
and “The Healing Process” that we must go through today if we hope to heal the hurts we don’t deserve.
Assuming that you have hurts like the rest of us,
whether they’re of recent or ancient origin,
whether they’ve been caused by a parent,
or child,
or spouse,
or boyfriend or girlfriend,
or spouse,
or pastor,
or brother or sister,
and assuming that you’ve done the things we’ve talked about so far in this series--
•made “The Healing Choice,” choosing healing over hurt,
•experienced “The Healing Power” of comfort from God and from others, and
•walked “The Healing Path” of forgiveness--
there remain three things that I believe you can do, three parts of “The Healing Process,”
that are exhibited--almost hidden--in verses 14 and 15 of Luke’s 17th chapter.
And, just for fun, I’ll capsulize each one of these in just three words each from the Scripture reading.
The first part of “The Healing Process” from this point is . . .
1. Move On
Look at verse 14, please.
When Jesus saw these ten lepers,
he did not go to them--
he often did go to lepers, even touching them--
but in this case,
he did not even move from the road he traveled.
He simply spoke to them:
"He said, Go . . . "
Those are the 3 words I want you to focus on.
Now, in doing that, he was telling them to go into the city,
into the temple,
and there present themselves,
according to the Law,
so that the priests could certify them
as having been truly healed.
And I believe our gracious Lord is saying the same thing to some of us here this morning.
Some of you who were here three weeks ago
might remember Jesus’ words to the man
by the Pool of Bethesda:
"Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."
In other words, “Go.
Leave your hurt behind.
Move on.”
If you’ve chosen healing over hurt,
experienced comfort for your pain,
and by God’s help forgiven whoever hurt you,
Move On.
You see, you and I so often choose
to stay where it hurts,
to go back and dip into the pain again and again,
when God is urging us to “GO,”
move on,
find someplace else to be,
something else to do,
something new to focus on,
someone new to think about.
So the first part of “The Healing Process” from this point is to Move On. But that’s not all. The second step, also found in verse 14, is . . .
2. Move On In Patient Faith
Verse 14, just the last sentence, says:
And as they went, they were cleansed.
You see, Jesus had said to these ten lepers, "Go, show yourselves to the priests."
I can imagine that these men, upon hearing Jesus’ instructions, might have looked at each other with puzzled expressions;
They might have examined their hands, noticing that the flesh was still pasty and decayed.
They had experienced no change.
They had felt nothing.
But it might have happened that,
instead of turning away disappointed,
one of the lepers decided within himself,
“Well, I haven’t felt anything,
I don’t seem to be healed,
but I will do what the Healer said.”
And so, as he started walking toward the city,
the others, who were still standing around
with confused looks on their disfigured faces,
shrugged their shoulders and followed him.
And AS THEY DID SO, a strange thing happened.
Verse 14 in God’s Word, the Bible, says,
as they went . . .
Those are the three words I want you to focus on--
as they went, they were cleansed.
The first steps those lepers took were steps of
faith . . . they hadn’t yet experienced a miracle, but Jesus said “Go,” so they went.
And it’s not hard to imagine that the next steps
they took were steps of patience . . . For Luke doesn’t tell us whether they had taken a few steps or a few hundred before any change took place.
But even as they moved on in patient faith,
even as they were putting feet to their faith,
the Bible says,
they were cleansed.
Healing is a process.
It takes time,
a lot of time for some of us,
and for some kinds of hurts,
it takes more time than for others.
But the healing most often happens
as you go, just as it did for the ten lepers.
As a young boy, C. S. Lewis, the author of Mere Christianity and the Chronicles of Narnia, was terrorized by a sadistic teacher in his public school. For decades after, Lewis carried the burden of hurt around with him, and was bothered by his inability to forgive that teacher’s cruelties. But then, not long before he died, Lewis wrote a letter to an American friend, and said:
Do you know, only a few weeks ago I realized suddenly that I had at last forgiven the cruel schoolmaster who so darkened my childhood. I’d been trying to do it for years; and like you, each time I thought I’d done it, I found, after a week or so it all had to be attempted over again. But this time I feel sure it is the real thing (Smedes, FAF, 95).
And as they went, they were cleansed.
Move on in patient faith . . . believing as you do, that healing will come.
And there’s something else you can believe in. David Seamands, in his book, Healing for Damaged Emotions, says,
Not only will God and His grace be with you in every step of the healing process, but God will be pleased with you at every step of the process. In the Bible the word grace is always woven into the presence of the Giver of grace. We should never use the word grace as if we were describing some kind of commodity that God dispenses. Grace means a gracious God coming to you . . . . A loving, gracious God accepts us as we are, offers Himself lovingly to us right here and now, not when we shape up.
God is as pleased with you when you are in this healing process as loving parents are when their child starts learning to walk. Those are exciting days in a home . . . The child stumbles, knocks over the furniture, may even bend the lamp a bit. But do the parents scold him, tell him how displeased they are because he isn’t doing a perfect job? Does Dad shout, “You ought to do better than that, kid”? [Of course not.] . . . God will be pleased with you, every step of the way (HFDE, 76-77).
So, the first step in “The Healing Process” is to Move On. The second step is to Move On in Patient Faith. And the third step, which we’ll draw from verse 15 of our text, is . . .
3. Move On In Gratitude
Look what happened next, starting at verse 15:
15 One of them [that is, one of the ten lepers], when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.
16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan.
As the lepers, on their way,
looked at their hands and arms and feet,
and realized that they’d been healed,
only one stopped in his tracks,
turned around,
and ran frantically back to the place
where Jesus had heard his cry,
all the time shouting out hysterical praises to God,
until finally,
having caught up to Jesus and his party of disciples, he sprawled in the dust at Jesus’ feet,
mingling his tears with the dust of the road,
and poured out his gratitude
for what Jesus had done for him.
Those are the three words,
packed with meaning for us today,
that I want to emphasize in verse sixteen:
“and thanked him.”
One of the ten--only one--displayed gratitude.
Now, I could do a lot of “preachifying” on that text, and on what Jesus says in verses 17-19, but I’ll exercise a little restraint--just a little--and say,
if you would fully experience
healing for the hurts you don’t deserve,
then in addition to
Moving On,
and Moving On in Patient Faith,
you must Move On in Gratitude.
In fact, let me suggest a great starting point,
a prescription,
a prayer to pray as often as you can,
as often as needed:
“Thank you, Lord, that you are healing me according to your perfect schedule.”
“Thank you, Lord, that you are healing me according to your perfect schedule.”
Can you pray that prayer?
Can you move on in gratitude?
Oh, I know, maybe your healing isn’t complete.
The Healing Process may be far from over
in your heart and soul,
but can you begin this morning to “Go,”
to move on,
to leave your hurt behind?
Can you move on in patient faith,
believing as you do, that healing will come,
believing that a gracious God will be pleased with you every step of the way,
even when you stumble,
like a proud father watching his child take those exciting steps toward healing and wholeness?
Can you move on in gratitude,
can you say,
“Thank you, Lord, that you are healing me according to your perfect schedule”?
Can you thank him
for the progress you’ve made already?
Can you thank him for every baby step
of forgiveness
and healing you take from now on?
I invite you,
in the final moments of our time together,
as we sing a final chorus or two,
to reach out to God in prayer,
in petition,
in gratitude,
and let his gracious healing power
touch you and fill you
as we worship together.
And as usual,
counselors will be available
throughout this room
wearing a name tag like this one;
if you would like someone to pray with you
and encourage you
as you let God begin--or continue--
the healing process in your heart and life,
I urge you to simply tap one of them on the shoulder or grab ‘em by the arm
and they’ll be happy to talk with you
and pray with you.
