Sermon Luke 17:11-19 Seeing is Believing 10/14/01
Verses 11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.
1. Galilee is a jewish country
2. Samaria is Gentile.
3. Significant Jesus on border between religious and not religious.
4. He walked the edge of faith so he could see the lost and those in need.
5. How hard it would be to reach out and touch the lost from deep inside.
6. Couldn’t reach that afar
7. So it was Jesus practice to be in the area where he could see the lost
8. On his way to the cross
Verses 12 - 13 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master , have pity on us!”
1. Torah regulated the treatment of Leprosy.
2. Numbers 5:2-3 commands Israelites “To put out of the camp everyone who is leprous.”
3. Lev 13:45 requires a leper to shout “Unclean, unclean!” to warn uninfected peole to keep their distance
4. Isolated from everyone and everything
5. People regard leprosy not just as a medical condition but also as God’s judgement.
6. That made people less compassionate toward them because they regarded leprosy as punishment for sin.
7. They were ignored
8. Confined together in camps on the fringes of society often on the city trash heap because they had no other means of food
9. Wrapped in cloths
10. Just sat their and waited to get better.
11. Must have heard stories about Jesus
12. AND THEN From a distance they SAW him - hey isn’t that Jesus
13. The one who can perform miracles, the one who can heal, the one who brings new life and they began to call out to him
14. as they hoped against all hope that perhaps today they could return home to their families
15. I image - Keeping their distance - them running across the tops of the garbage hills slightly ahead and parallel to Jesus.
16. Waving their arms, trying to get his attention - can’t you hear their desperation - Jesus, louder Jesus Master have pity on us.
But they didn’t have to worry because Jesus SAW them Verses 14 When he saw them …
1. Jesus saw them because he was looking for them
2. Most people ignored them - pretended they didn’t exist - would walk past with their eyes half closed - hooded from the truth of their pain and suffering
3. like we walk past the homeless the beggar the child who is abused…
4. with eyes that don’t see
(And) When he saw them, he said “Go show yourselves to the priests.”
1. Law requires that lepers be examined by a priest to determine if they had been cured
2. It was a 50 miles journey to the nearest priest
3. Whoa, wait a minute Jesus we want to be healed
4. GO SHOW yourselves to the priests
5. What? but Jesus, Jesus - how their spirits must have fallen - for a moment they had dared to look up - dared to hope that they could be healed but now…
6. Now, Jesus was sending them away
7. Okay, look, maybe if we do what he says when we come back he will heal us
8. Jesus will you wait here, wait for us to come back - and then you heal us right?!
9. GO SHOW YOURSELVES TO THE PRIEST
10. I believe the lepers were already healed at that moment - that the scars, the sores were gone but in their doubt they couldn’t see it
11. But Jesus did and he wanted the priest to SEE
12. See that no matter what they sin had been, no matter how bad, they were cured of their leprosy that their illness, their disease, their suffering wasn’t because of their sin
13. AND so they walk away
1. I image as they walked their heads must have been down, depressed had restored - their eyes were focused down ward as they walked on as they shout - (pause sigh) “Unclean”
2. we don’t know how far they went one mile, five, ten or perhaps even 50 before one or two began to realize they felt different, they felt stronger, wait a minutes, look look their hand it was healed, look their body was healed the lesions were gone, they were gone
1. We don’t know if they ever even got to the priest but can you image the celebrating that was going on - jumping up and down hugging each other, crying…running, shouting not unclean but Hallelujah look, look I am healed….
2. I imagine their was one - sitting looking, staring at his hands his arms, his legs, seeing them for the first time in years soft, smooth, clean and in his wonder, in his amazement he began to really SEE
3. I imagine as the other nine began running off in different directions to their homes
4. this one, turned and ran back to Jesus, running the whole way, “Run Forest Run” running back to Jesus not because he could SEE that he was healed but because he could SEE, SEE that this man, this Jesus, was no ordinary man, he WAS THE MESSIAH
5. verses 15-16 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 - and he was a Samaritan.
6. But this is more than a story of gratitude, a story of thanksgiving. It’s story of an outsider, a story of one who is lost - a Samaritan who in his seeing, seeing the miracle of God, seeing the truth, came to believe - is a story of “Seeing is Believing”
7. We talk of faith as believing in what one can’t see but what we miss is that first you must SEE, you must come face to face with God, you must come to SEE him as Lord to BELIEVE - not to be healed, not to enjoy the gifts of God
Verses 17-19 Jesus asked, “were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? The he said to him “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
1. This is a rhetorical question Jesus knew all ten had been cleansed.
2. Some say Jesus was miffed, mad if you will that only one came back but I don’t think so I think Jesus was disappointed, dishearten for he so wanted all ten to come back
3. AND then something happened - Jesus didn’t heal the man again - Rise and go your faith has made you well
4. Because you SAW and Believed you have been made well
5. In Greek this phrase Your faith has made you well - didn’t mean you had been wick but you were better - it meant you were SAVED, SALVATION saved
6. Ten had been healed, but one, this one, had opened his eyes to see the belessing of God and he SAW JESUS - Jesus Master Lord and he was filled with greace in a way that none of the other nine ever experienced.
That’s what happens when we open our eyes to SEE, to SEE the blessings of God - it becomes a matter of SEEING IS BELIEVING.
1. We don’t do that very much, you know.
2. (*from Richard Donovan ‘ Lepers Lose their Spots) We get up –eat breakfast—go to work—go home –eat diner – watch a movie—got to bed that’s about it? That’s life
3. Oh occasionally we notice a sunset - oh isn’t it gorgeous.
4. We coast through life with eyes half closed - not seeing the spectacular palette of God’s blessings spread before us.
5. We miss so much because our eyes are dim and are hearts are dull
6. that’s not the life Christ has called us to
7. He has called us to live lives that are lives of SEEING IS BELIEVING
8. To see the abundance of blessings in our lives
9. To see the rich the poor, the popular, the healthy, the ordinary, the sick, the lost
10. To live a life when they look when they SEE us they to become a people who live a life of SEEING IS BELIEVING
If we believe what we say we believe, than people should be able to see it.
1. to see Jesus
2. why is it people are so quick to blame jesus for the bad things in their lives, the tradegy the disaster of Sept 11
3. but when it comes to the good things the successes it is see what I have done!
4. SEEING GOD IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE, in the blessings, in the pain in the sorrow, THAT IS BELIEVEING!
5. SEEING the need of your fellow man, seeing the needs of your community, see the future of life with Christ
6. That is SEEING is believing
7. POEM!!
TO SEE IS TO BELIEVE! Amen and Amen.
