I meant to post this weeks ago. Better late than never...
It was my full intention to read Luke's account of Jesus entering Jerusalem in hope of studying his final week of ministry. However, I decided to start in chapter 17 instead of 19 and got hung up on the cleansing of the lepers. Not sure why but it kept gnawing at me so I decided to stick with it a bit and here are the tidbits I discovered in my studies...
Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.
And they lifted up [their] voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
Luke 17:12-13
1) It is interesting how we open our circle of friends when we are in positions of despair. How quick we are to take any friend we can find when others won't have us. I say this because a few verses later we find out that there was a Samaritan in the bunch. Jews and Samaritans typically do not pair well, but in this case, their infirmity brought them together. If only we could see that we all have a "leprosy" of our own and not be so quick and selective in the company we keep. I am sure we would be astonished that the people who would most likely understand and appreciate our ailments are those whom we show indifference to and choose to keep outside our little circle.
2) They stood far off. They recognized and obeyed the law that demanded they keep their distance due to their disease. They were considered impure and were humble before the only Man that could remedy their impurity. Shouldn't we all recognize our own impurity before the Lord and humble ourselves before making our own petitions.
3) Jesus, Master. I love how Mathew Henry puts it so I will just let him do the talking..."those that expect help from Christ must take him for their Master, and be at his command. If he be Master, he will be Jesus, a Saviour, and not otherwise."
4) have mercy on us. I love that they did not ask for a cure specifically. They didn't need a medical cure, they needed the mercy of Christ. Sometimes I wonder if some unanswered prayers are simply a result of not asking for the right remedy. There is so much going on around us in the world that we are not permitted to see but are told about in the Bible. I am no physician and often have no clue that one ailment is often the effect of some other, often more severe problem. However, I do know that I am in constant need of divine mercy. It is the cure all for what ails us fragile humans.
So when He saw [them], He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the
priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
Luke 17:14
1) I love that He saw them. They had just lifted up their voices, the text could have easily said, "He heard them". No, He laid eyes on them. It was so much more personal (for both Jesus and the lepers). Not just the sound of a voice in need, but a face with desperate eyes and a body full of disease and the Lord of heaven and earth took the time to look at them in their totality.
2) show yourselves to the
priests. Really, that's the prescription? He didn't say you are healed, He just said "Go". Interesting how the act of obedience is the catalyst for the cure and not the other way around. I fear we too often approach God with a "give me mine, and I will give you yours" attitude. Oh the healing we are missing because of our mindset on how we think God should operate.
(a) I wonder how quickly it took for the healing to begin. Obviously their obedience was first necessary but did it happen as they turned in compliance, did they take but a few steps or did it take long enough for doubt to start to creep into their mind? Were they even looking for the miraculous right away or assume that something else must be in order?
3) they were cleansed. No one wants to think of themselves as dirty, in need of cleansing. That gives the idea that our filth may indeed be self inflicted and that is in complete contrast of how we like to see things. If I be dirty, it be because of some reason, surely not of my own devise. But the cold hard truth is that our filth is more often than not the product of our own hands, feet, mouth and mind. It's a good thing Jesus is in the laundering business because boy do I need to be cleansed.
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on [his] face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
Luke 17:15-16
1) One, only one returned. I am tempted to give the benefit of the doubt to the others. Maybe they are just following orders and the orders were to go to the priest. Maybe they didn't know what that one guy was doing. But the text reads that the one returning with a loud voice glorified God. Surely they heard and knew what was going on. After realizing that they too were healed not a single other person thought it a good idea to do the same? Perhaps after being healed their circle of friends was tightening and they were no longer in need of a Samaritan friend.
2) He fell on his face. The very face whose eyes not too long ago had only despair a anguish and was covered by a disease that most would turn in avoidance. But he fell at the feet of the Man who looked at him and delivered him from his scourge. I too often have been one of the ones that kept going, occasionally I may turn my head and issued a perfunctory thanks. Shame on me. The Samaritan, having been cured, knew he could now legally approach Jesus, but also recognized his position enough to know that being on his knees, face down, at His feet was were he needed to be.
And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where [are] the nine?
Luke 17:17
I cant help but wonder who was Jesus looking at specifically when he said these words. Was He looking at those traveling with Him to demonstrate the lack of gratitude within the healed group or was this a direct question to the single returning man? I personally think it was to the returning healed leper. Not entirely sure why I feel this but it reminds me that, yes, we are our brothers keeper. Maybe the returning man should have insisted that the others return with him, or at the very least point out that their continuing would be inconsiderate to the One who healed them.
And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Luke 17:19
I love that Jesus distinguishes this gentleman's cure from the others. The others cured by the mercy of Christ and their desperate petition, but this man, this non Jew, it was his faith that completed him. The others might soon forget their healing and the healer and perhaps not even care the means of their cure, but this Samaritan would never be able to shake the words of his Healer as it entangled him, a lowly, diseased man with the Son of God in an unbreakable bond that led to his healing. I love that God loves to tangle Himself in our everyday life and let us participate in our own healing.
