LUKE 17:11-19
“HAS YOUR FAITH SAVED YOU?”
By: Rev. Kenneth Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
Leprosy was the most terrible disease in Jesus’ day.
The leper was considered utterly unclean--physically and spiritually.
A leper couldn’t approach within six feet of any person including family members, and
as Leviticus chapter 13 reads, “The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn
clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and and cry out, ‘Unclean!
Unclean!’As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live
outside the camp.”
Lepers were the outcastes! They were totally ostrasized from society.
Just imagine the anguish and heartbreak of the leper--being completely cut off from
family and friends and society.
Imagine the emotional and mental pain.
And who are the lepers in today’s society?
Who are the outcastes?
Who are the ostracized?
I’m sure we can think of many.
There are those who are outcastes in schools and on playgrounds because they just can’t
quite fit-in with the other children.
There are those who are outcaste and ostracized because they have mental disabilities.
And there are people living with certain diseases like HIV and AIDS who are often
cut-off not only from society , but also by family members, friends, and in some cases....the
Church.
But as we see in our Scripture lesson for today, Jesus does not ostrasize anybody!
We see in verse 11, that Jesus was in the middle of a journey.
He could have been heading for an important meeting, or He could have been tired and
exhausted, with no time for interruptions.....but out of desparation the lepers interupted Him
anyway.
“They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
And that’s exactly what Jesus did....Jesus did have pity on them.
They called out to Christ, and He heard their cry, as the Bible declares in Romans chapter
10, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
And all ten of them were healed of their physical illness......
But as verse 15 declares, “One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising
God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him.”
All of them had been healed, but why had only one of them come back and shown his
appreciation?
And this man was a Samaritan.....
Not only had he lived with the disease of leprosy, but he was also the most despised and
rejected of people....
He lived with a double curse....Jews did not associate with Samaritans.....they did not
believe that Samaritans were part of the Kingdom of God....Samaritans were “sinners” and
“outcastes” ....they were foreigners....they weren’t part of the “in” crowd.
But here was this Samaritan who had been healed of the disease of leprosy by the Son of
the living God....and he was worshipping Jesus.
But what happened to the other nine people whom Jesus healed?
They didn’t return to the Lord in order to give Him thanks....apparently they were just in
too big of a hurry in order to get back to their former lives....to get back to the things of this
world.....to start enjoying the pleasures of the flesh once again....
But this Samaritan....this Samaritan was different....he was giving praise to God....he
chose God over the world.....and the things of the world.....
Sure he could have gone back to his former life...before he had come down with
leprosy...he could have gotten caught-up in the things of the world....but instead...he got caught
up in the things of heaven!
He decided to return to the one who gave him his life back....and now he was ready to
dedicate this life to God....
He realized that Jesus had given him everything that he had, that Jesus was the one who
had healed him....and now he was ready to give Jesus everything back....because after-all it was
Christ’s in the first place.
It was through grace that Christ healed the leper..... he had been the most rejected, and
he was also the most thankful.
As the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2, “remember that” “you were separated from
Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise
without hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus you who were far away have been brought near through the
blood of Christ.”
This Samaritan leper had been exluded from citizenship in Israel...he was a
foreigner....but through Christ...all this had changed!
Despite the fact that he had never known the real promises of God and that he had been
without God in this world, he now knew God, and his heart just broke forth to give glory to
God!
The other nine men who had been healed of their leprosy had been healed
physically....but now....this one man....this foreigner....this outcaste of outcastes was about to be
healed spiritually as well.
Jesus said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
The verb “made well” literally means “has saved you.”
Jesus was telling this man that his sins were forgiven---He was giving the man the
assurance of salvation.
This man recognized his need for God....showed humility...and cried out to God for
mercy....he persevered....he believed and obeyed....and Christ saved him.
He came to Christ, and “threw himself at Jesus’ feet”.
And Christ accepted him...Christ made him whole....Christ saved him body and soul!
As Jesus declares in Matthew chapter 7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you
will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who
seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
And this is a promise to all of us.
And what a glorious promise!
Do any of you want to know God, but have not met Him yet?
Do you feel like the world has let you down?
Are you looking for something more in life than the mere fleeting and deceitful lusts and
pleasures of the flesh....then you are on your way....you have recognized your need....come to
Christ in humility, cry to Christ for mercy, persevere, believe and obey......and you will be saved.
This is God’s will for your life....this is what God wants for you more than anything in
the world....as the Bible says in 2nd Peter chapter 3: God does not want “anyone to perish, but
everyone to come to repentance.”
But He’s not going to force us....we all have free-will....God did not create us to be a
bunch of robots....he has given us a choice.....Adam and Eve were given a choice.....and look at
the result.....but God has still not given up on us.
Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners....which we all are....but so many of us
reject Him, and decide on our own....through our own free-will to go our own ways....but
God still does not give up on us......God cannot give up on us....because God is Love....and God
loves us more than we can even imagine....God loves us even more than we love ourselves.....and
we cannot even know love without God.
And more than likely, this leper....this Samaritan leper had never known love....and
Jesus was the first one to show him love....and once a person truly experiences God’s
love.....well, everything more than pales in comparison......so the leper went back to where he
had met Jesus...he didn’t even go home to his friends and family first....he went straight to
Jesus....He went straight to love made flesh!
And he loved Jesus right back!
As the Bible says in 1st John, “We love because He (Christ) first loved us.”
And Jesus told this samaritan leper that his faith had made him well....
That’s it! His faith! Just like Abraham, He believed God, and God counted Him as
righteous...as the bible says in Ephesians chapter 2: “For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one
can boast.”
Faith is a gift from God...even the ability to have faith is a gift from God....a gift that we
are all given....but a gift that too many of us never open....
We are saved through this gift of faith....not by anything we can do on our own...not by
what kind of family we were born into....not by whether or not we are part of the ‘in’ crowd on
the play-ground....not by our mental capabilities....not by good health and good living.....no! We
are saved by God....by His grace.....through faith....not by works....
There is nothing for us to boast about except for what the Lord has done for us....for
God has planned our salvation, and God has given us our salvation....all we have to do is accept
it through faith, and like the Samaritan leper praise God in a loud voice....throwing ourselves at
Jesus’ feet---thanking him!
Then Jesus will say to us, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
Rise and go tell the world.....rise and go do what God created us to do.....as Ephesians
continues, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God
prepared in advance for us to do.”
We have all been created by God for a purpose, but we cannot accomplish this purpose
until we have become new creatures in Christ Jesus.
Until we have been born again through Christ Jesus, until we have come to Christ Jesus,
praising Him, and worshipping Him, and begging him for mercy.
God waits patiently for us to come to Him.
Because God loves us, and God has a plan for each of us.
We have all been given our different talents and abilities for a purpose....and that purpose
is to use them for the kingdom of God.....to use them as instruments of love.
The Samaritan leper knew that he had been healed of his leprosy and given his life back
for a reason.....and that reason was to rise and go and live for God.....telling the nations what
Christ had done for him.
The other nine did not know or did not want to know why they had been healed.....they
wanted to go and do what they wanted to do.....as the Bible says in Romans “For although they
knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became
futile and their hearts were darkened.”
Oh what a great salvation those other nine lepers forfeited....oh, what a great salvation so
many of us forfeit.....
But how wonderful it is when we come to Christ looking for healing, looking for life,
looking for meaning.....and asking for these things....because what we find is more than we ever
could have imagined.
For when we come to Christ, we too will find ourselves---like the Samaritan
leper---praising God with loud voices and throwing ourselves at Jesus’ feet!
Jesus said to him, “Rise and go, your faith has made you well/or saved you.”
Has your faith saved you?
