Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Self-Preservation is a deeply rooted emotion in our human species, isn’t it? From infancy we all have a natural inner drive to protect ourselves from danger and especially from death.
Yesterday we witnessed one of the greatest miracles of all time as Jesus raised Lazarus from having been dead at least five days, as recorded in John 11. Suddenly Lazarus had a second chance at life and everyone who saw or heard of this miracle had a new perspective on the powers of Jesus and how those powers might benefit the people of Israel living under the domination of the Roman empire.
Have you discovered the powers of Jesus? What difference is Jesus making in YOUR life today, my friends?
News of Lazarus’ resurrection from the dead spread quickly as did the euphoria of hope as some people considered what it would be like if Jesus would be their king? But others responded to the outrageous news of a resurrection with anger and fear.
John 11:45-52 tells us the religious leaders drew a dangerous conclusion: Jesus must be stopped and the most effective way would be to kill Jesus! So Jesus and His disciples withdrew to a remote place. (John 11:53) Jesus was watching the reactions of the people and the calendar very carefully. Jesus knew it would be most impactful for the Jewish nation if His earthly mission of giving His life as an atonement sacrifice for our sin was accomplished at the annual Passover festival.
Finally, a few days later, Jesus indicated to His disciples that the time had come. Jesus said: “We are going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him, insult Him, spit on Him, flog Him and kill Him. On the third day He will rise again.” (Luke 18:31-34)
While His disciples heard His words, they simply could not understand that these things could possibly happen to Jesus. They refused to believe it. But nonetheless, Jesus invited His disciples to follow Him and their final journey to Jerusalem began.
On His way, as Jesus and His disciples were passing through a village they were approached by 10 lepers! Wisely and appropriately the lepers kept their distance, announcing their leprous plight, but also calling out for Jesus to have pity on them. I wonder if they had heard the news of Lazarus and they presumed therefore, the healing power of Jesus might help them. Pause for a few seconds.
Imagine the scene… 12 disciples struggling to understand what Jesus had predicted was going to happen to Him in Jerusalem; and now 10 lepers asking Jesus for help! Dr. Luke describes what happened next with these words: “When Jesus saw the lepers He said, ‘Go show yourselves to the priests’. And as they went, they were cleansed.” (Luke 17:14) To you and me, those words don’t make any sense, but to these Jewish lepers it was great news, for they understood the instructions of Leviticus 14, that anyone, who felt they were recovering from an infectious skin disease, should go show themself to the priest, to be declared clean!
So off they ran with great expectations. But suddenly one of them turned back toward Jesus. Perhaps he had unwrapped his hands and arms from the cloths hiding his hideous sores and found his skin beautifully clean? Dr. Luke would have been fascinated by this event, and he describes it this way: “One of the lepers, when he saw he was healed, came back praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him – and this man was a Samaritan!“ (Luke 17:15,16) I have no doubt the disciples were stunned. Why would Jesus care enough about a Samaritan to heal him?
Jesus lifted up the healed Samaritan to his feet and then said profound words which reverberate to you and me today, 2000 years later: “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?’ And Jesus said to the Samaritan, “Your faith has healed you, go on your way.” (Luke 17:17-19)
Oh my, this was a very powerful moment with profound significance. During Jesus’ earthly life, far more people, especially Jews, rejected Jesus than accepted Him. Far more refused to listen to Jesus or thank Him for all the miracles, than ever took the time to tell Jesus how grateful they were for His messages of hope or His life giving miracles. Oh we are such a selfish, ungrateful species of beings, we humans, aren’t we, my friends?
After His death and resurrection far more Samaritans and Gentiles believed and celebrated what Jesus accomplished for their salvation than did Jews. As this one healed Samaritan was thanking Jesus while 9 other we presume Jewish healed lepers were running to town to celebrate, without a word of thanks to Jesus, it was a picture the disciples would never forget.
For the rest of their lives, as these disciples tried to tell the story of Jesus and offer His Gospel to any who would listen, far more people would refuse to believe than those few who would experience the deliverance of Jesus, and the assurance of eternal life!
Did you notice Jesus said to the Samaritan “Your faith has made you well”! I’ve often wondered if this Samaritan was healed permanently and never again had any recurrence of leprosy as His faith in Jesus kept growing; but perhaps the other nine, in their selfishness and ingratitude, may have had a recurrence of their leprosy later in life? Of course, the Scriptures don’t tell us anything about those nine, other than their ingratitude.
This brief story challenges me, how about you, my friends? Have you discovered the soul healing power of GRATITUDE and the soul destructive power of INGRATITUDE?
Do I look for any evidence of God working in my life, my friends and family, and do I celebrate enthusiastically and thank God, whenever I see even the smallest evidence of God’s touch? Or do I too often rush through life overlooking or ignoring the evidence all around me of God at work for His glory and my good?
I urge you to look closely at the “life lessons learned” notes below, giving them serious consideration, then look at your own life to see if you are long overdue for an expression of great thanks to Jesus?
Then worship with this great song, and I hope you have a worshipful weekend. And I’ll be here, ready for you on Monday, to continue the journey with Jesus toward Jerusalem, and what you and I both know awaits Him there!
Today’s Scripture: Luke 17:11-19.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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