Luke 17:11-19, 2 Timothy 2:8-15, Psalm 111
Introduction: cast out
People, like the men in our gospel reading, who were suffering from leprosy were made to carry bells and shout ‘Unclean!’ so that everyone who heard them could get out of the way. Nobody wanted to catch their disease and that’s how they quarantined it. There was no hope for people with leprosy. All they could look forward to was that things would get steadily worse until eventually death brought the suffering to an end. It must have been pretty lonely for those who had any such disease. No wonder they got together in groups. At least it didn’t matter if they touched each other. Even in a group they couldn’t avoid the feeling of being unwanted, outcast.
I find it interesting that this particular group of cast-offs included 9 Jews and a Samaritan. The Jews didn’t usually have anything to do with Samaritans but clearly their outcast status enabled them to overlook society’s prejudice. Then, when they went off to show themselves to the priest, they were doing what Jesus told them and what they knew the law required. They were going to get their discharge papers so that they could re-enter society as healthy people. The Samaritan man may have figured he wouldn’t be getting his papers, the Jewish priest might not even see him. He also figured that Jesus was the source of his healing and gave thanks to the one who gave him his health back – the one who enabled him to rejoin his society.
The dearest wish
What would be the thing you most wish for? Even regardless of birthday or Christmas.
What would be the first thing you would do if you got that wish?
Those ten men were given their dearest wish – to be made well from a terrible disease. I think they would have rejoiced big-time as they rediscovered the wonder of a healthy body that they had thought they would never have again. Clearly the first thing that nine of them did was to race back to the priests and confirm that they were no longer unclean. And then? … did they go home to their long-lost families and friends, get their dream jobs or perhaps go into the town and enjoy being among people again? The first thing that the tenth man did was to go back to Jesus, the person who had given him this amazing gift, to say thank you. Jesus was able to send him on his way with a blessing and a promise that his faith had healed him for ever.
The greatest gift
What is the greatest gift that God has ever given us?
How about this: ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son’, (John 3:16). In his letter to Timothy, Paul says that Jesus is his ‘gospel’, which means ‘good news’. Just as Jesus healed the lepers from the disease that kept them apart from others, he has healed us from the sin that kept us apart from God. And, more than that, he’s healed us from the behaviours that keep us apart from one another.
Sin is like leprosy in that it gradually ruins the lives of each of us. Gradually it eats away, ruining our moral character, our health and our relationships. If we come to him and cry for mercy, Jesus can deliver us from the power of sin, giving us a new nature and his Spirit within us to enable us to live a life that is healthy and wise.
But how grateful are we for the salvation we have experienced? The apostle Paul warns us to be faithful to our Lord and Saviour. If we turn our backs on him, then he will one day turn his back on us (2 Timothy 2:12b). Rather, what we need to do is show how grateful we are to him for transforming our lives and giving us hope by living for him and, if necessary, dying for him.
If we say thank you for a present someone gives us but then put it into a drawer and forget it or give it to the nearest opportunity shop, it shows that we were not really grateful to receive it. Our thankfulness for God’s gift of healing and salvation will be shown, not just in our words and songs of praise, but also in how we respond to it.
We have so much to give thanks for – all that God has done for us – 10,000 and more reasons to praise God. Why not grab paper and pen and write 10 reasons to praise God – then put them up somewhere you will see them and let them inspire your praise to God.
The man healed of a skin disease was able to go on his way and begin a full life. In the same way, our salvation gives us ‘life to the full’ (John 10:10). As Jesus said to the ex-leper, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’