Luke 17:11-19 Gratefulness is Essential

In 2003 a joint study was undertaken by the Universities of Miami and California on ‘gratitude’.   A large group of people were enrolled and they were randomly divided into three groups.  Each group were asked to write a daily journal however the emphases were to differ.  One group was asked to focus on everything that annoyed them.  They were asked to record everything that was bad or frustrated them, whether massive or mundane.  The second group were to record everything that was encouraging, uplifting and that they were grateful for, whether big or small.  The third were asked to note both the good and the bad.

Over the coming years these three groups were analysed.  It became apparent that the group that were asked to focus on what was encouraging, who were taught to look up and out and look for the good had higher energy levels, slept better, exercised more and had better health with less trips to the doctor.

The reverse was true for those asked to look down and in.  They became more negative, had lower energy levels, slept worse, exercised less and went to the doctors more often.

This fascinating study shows that developing a sense of gratitude has links to our health.  Grateful people tend to be more helpful.

The story of the ten lepers

This story also demonstrates that Jesus is interested in holistic health.  He wants people to be healthy in body, mind and spirit, though what he means by spiritual health is quite different to what some ‘spiritual gurus’ mean today.  This is true both for individuals and for societies.  This passage encourages us to think, ‘Am I a grateful person?’ and ‘Am I in a grateful community?’  Have you noticed that those people who emphasise the negative tend to havemore problems in their life, whether social or health wise.

There are a few people who seem to think that being negative and miserable and always seeing what is wrong is the way they are made.  They would love Eeyore of ‘Wind in the Willows’ fame.  This characteristic tends to be learned and can be unlearned, if that is what people want.

The tern lepers were diseased and therefore outcasts of society.  We read,

“They stood at a distance .. .” Luke 17:3

Jesus and his disciples were travelling down to Jerusalem and, following Jewish custom, were travelling along the border of the Decapolis.  To Jews this region was considered ‘unclean’.  It was where the Roman garrisons were stationed and many Gentiles lived.  It was here that Jesus met these lepers.

Physical damage

In Israel at that time ‘leprosy’ was a category of incurable skin diseases that would have included the classical leprosy, Hansens disease, that we know today. In the Bible, leprosy  is often associated with sin.  It has long term devastating effects.  At first people do not recognise that anything is wrong. This is precisely the same as with sin.  Giving in to temptations seems to be inconsequential but ultimately the effect is calamitous.  In Hansen’s disease the bacteria attacks the nerves, especially of the hands and feet.  Sensation is lost so patients do not realise it when they bang, cut or burn themselves and the damage that results can lead to the loss of fingers, toes, hands andfeet.

Social damage

According to the Mosaic law (Leviticus 13:1-8, 45-46) suuferers with chronic skin diseases had to be assessed by a priest.  If the disease was confirmed the sufferer was condemned to live apart from the rest of society.  This did limit the disease’s spread but the impact on the sufferer was devastating.  They had to shout ‘Unclean, Unclean’ whenever they came near people.  Old friends would shun them and recoil from their presence.  They were separated from wife, children and family.  They were forced to live in isolation with other outcasts for the rest of their lives.

Spiritual damage

Their isolation meant that they had no access to the temple, local synagogue and therefore to God.  There was no way for them to have their sin forgiven through the sacrificial system. There could therefore be no assurance of peace with God.

Today many think of sin as just being a fit of fun. Is it that serious to have a bit of fun at the office, to watch a pornographic film?  Does it really matter to tell a lie to get out of an embarrassing situation or to lie on a tax return?  Just like the leper we may not realise the consequences at first.  We may not feel it but bit by bit it progressively destroys us.

Have you noticed how sin is addictive.  Little lies become more and bigger lies.  A little sexual flirtation, a little pornography can become a major problem.  Envy has the power to destroy relationships. A bit of malicious gossip so often leads to trying to damage another’s reputation, which itself leads to isolation.  A little sin can even lead to isolation from those we love most, a little flirtation can lead on to an affair and then divorce.   We further we fall into the chasm of sin the more we become separated from others.

Socially sin isolates us.  Pride makes teamwork impossible.  Constructive criticisms, meant for the good of the whole, can then be interpreted as being personal.

Spiritually sin shuts us off from God.  In Luke 17:12 these leprosy suffers ‘stood at a distance’.  This echoes the previous story Jesus told at the end of Luke 16 about the rich man and Lazarus.  In hell, Lazarus is eternally distanced from God and from everything that is good. Lazarus cried out, ‘Have pity on me!’ He was too late however.  The opportunity to repent only comes in this lfe.  When we die it will be too late to change direction. This is similar to what the ten lepers cried out:

“Jesus, Master, have pity on us.” Luke 17:12

Was it too late for them?  Will Jesus have mercy on them?  The wonderful truth is that he did.  He met them, healed them so they could return to living a new life.

The lepers had obviously been told about this remarkable man, Jesus.  They called on him by name, ‘;Jesus’.  They must have heard of his power for they added, ‘Master’ or ‘Lord’.  Perhaps they had heard of other lepers who had been healed by Jesus.  Earlier in Luke’s gospel we read of another man with leprosy who Jesus healed:

“While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”  Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said.  “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.” Luke 5:12-13

No-one had healed a leper since Elisha had healed Naaman at the end of the 9th century BC.  They had heard stories about Jesus but would he meet with them and was he really able to do what people had said?

They were certain of one thing.  They could not help themselves.  Can you see the parable that Jesus is telling us in this story.  We all have an inherent disease called sin that separates us from God as well as having other consequences.  Yet there is someone who is willing and able to help each of us in our hopeless situation.

“They stood at a distance and called out, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us.” Luke 17:12

The response of Jesus is beautiful:

“When he saw them he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’  And as they went, they were cleansed.” Luke 17:14

The wording is striking.  People with disabilities often comment that people don’t see them as people but a wheelchair occupants, a deformity, a speech impediment, crutches.  In contrast Jesus saw them and ‘had compassion’.  Today there are many who feel, ‘None sees me.  No-one really cares about me.’  They also can feel isolated in their situation.  If any reader feels this, they are wrong. Jesus cares deeply about each one of us, Jesus can and does see you and your problems.  Our choice is whether we are willing to trust God!

Jesus’ journey

Jesus is on his way down to Jerusalem.  There is something determined about this, even though he knew what the end would hold.

“As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” Luke 9:51

Luke repeatedly stresses this point:

“Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.” Luke 13:22

The question needs to be asked why Jesus had this focus:.  This he repeatedly explained to his disciples, though at the time they could not understand why:

“Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “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 delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him;  they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”  The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.” Luke 18:31-34

Jesus understood what the purpose of his life was and he was willing even for this, to die, because it meant that through his sacrificial death many would be saved and could enter God’s kingdom.  He made this choice even though it was very costly for him.  His death has enabled all of us who are distant from God to be cleansed and therefore to become acceptable to God.  There is no other way.  The Holy one of God was sent outside the camp, like a leper, and took our sin on himself so we can be cleansed and so be drawn into God’s own family.

When were the lepers healed?

Luke tells us an interesting detail in this story.  The lepers were not immediately healed:

“When he saw them, he said, ‘Go show yourselves to the priests.’  And as they went, they were cleansed.” Luke 17:14

In Leviticus 13 we read that if a person with ‘leprosy’ was to be restored they had to first show themselves to a priest and have the healing confirmed.  Only then could they be reinstated in society.  They were not healed until they acted on what Jesus had said.

The priest’s role

The role of the priest in restoring the healed person is important.  This was defined by the Lord through Moses and the process took two weeks.  The first event occurred outside the camp and involved the offering of two birds, one of which was sacrificed to the Lord and the other freed.  The healed person had to recognise that the healing came from God.  The ritual for the second week took place within the camp and involved the giving of two male lambs and one female lamb.  The priest offered to the Lord a grain offering when he presented the healed person at the gate of the Tent of Meeting. After this one of the male lambs was offered as a ‘guilt offering’ which doubled up as a thanksgiving ‘wave offering’.  Some of the blood of the sacrificed lamb was placed on the right ear lobe, the right thumb and on the right big toe of the ‘one to be cleansed’.  Then some oil, surely representing the Spirit of God, was sprinkled ‘before the Lord’ seven times and then some of this was put on the right ear lobe, right thumb and right big toe and the rest poured on the head of ‘the one to be cleansed’.  Then come two remarkable verses:

“Then the priest is to sacrifice the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from their uncleanness. After that, the priest shall slaughter the burnt offering and offer it on the altar, together with the grain offering, and make atonement for them, and they will be clean.” Leviticus 14:19-20

The role of the priest was clearly to bring the healed person back to God.  This was the Lord’s priority.  To be clean before God involves having sin atoned for.

This does not mean that their own sin was the cause of their disease.  When Jesus healed a blind man he emphasised, his disciples wondered if the blindness was the direct result of sinful actions:

““Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:3

The Bible is clear that it is because we all live in a fallen world that we are liable to all sorts of diseases such as bacterial infections or genetic weaknesses.  These are simply the effect of living an evil world.  This explains why Jesus and his disciples healed ‘all the sick and demon possessed’ (Mark 1:32).  This explains why a person who was mute was healed by Jesus  ‘driving out a spirit’ (Luke 11:14).  This also explains why the woman who was crippled with what we would call ‘kypho-scoliosis’ is described as being ‘crippled by a spirit’ (Luke 13:10).  Mark describes how Jesus healed a boy with epilepsy, who was also deaf and mute:

“. . . he rebuked the evil spirit, ‘you deaf and dumb spirit,’ he said. ‘I command you, come out of him and never enter again.” Mark 9:25

In heaven there will be no illness because Satan’s influence will be absent.

The Roman Catholic church has used this passage to justify the role of priests in their role as confessors.  They consider, from this passage, that a parish priest has the right to absolve people from their sin and so they argue that we too need to go through a human mediator.  However the Bible emphasises that Jesus alone can forgive our sin as he, being God, is the one who has been sinned against.  Only the person who has been sinned against has the authority to forgive that sin. Jesus said to a paralysed man:

“But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralysed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Matthew 9:6

In Mark’s version of this story the Pharisees rightly commented when Jesus had said:

“Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

“Why does this fellow talk like that?  He’s blaspheming!  Who can forgive sins but God alone.” Mark 2:5-7

We all have to make this choice, based on the evidence, ‘Was Jesus blaspheming or is he God?’

It so often the same for us.  If we want to be certain about whether Jesus is our Saviour we have to obey him first:

“Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” John 7:17

As elsewhere, the role of God’s people is, like the true priests in the Bible, is to point people to the need we all have for forgiveness.  Our illnesses and other problems all indicate that Satan is at the root of all of these.  It is God we need.

The Bible stresses that in Jesus we have the perfect High Priest who alone is able to forgive us.  We must never look to pastors or priests for forgiveness but to Jesus himself.

A Samaritan gets this right

Out of the ten lepers, only one realised the significance of his healing:

“One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.” Luke 17:15

This is what the Levitical law was meant to teach.  Perhaps the priest they saw had undergone the ritual but failed to interpret its meaning.  This Samaritan had previously had to go about shouting ‘unclean, unclean’ and separated both from people and God but now all was changed.  His gratefulness was to God and he returned to Jesus.  It is surely significant that it wasn’t Jesus he thanked but God.  Had he already grasped who Jesus is, the one through whom everyones salvation has to come?

This man was a Samaritan, hated and despised by Jews, with no access to God through the temple sacrifices.  If he can be a recipient of salvation so can all of us.  Jesus is the God and Saviour of all people, whatever their nationality or creed.

Notice that the story ends with profound praise and worship.  Gratefulness to God was in the heart of the Samaritan and he fell at Jesus’ feet.

“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.” Luke 17:15-16

But where were the other nine who were Jews?  Were they not thankful to God?  We learn nothing more about them.  They all drop out of the picture.  Jesus asked:

“Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?  Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Luke 17:17-18

Did the priest they saw fail to point them back to Jesus?  What a tragedy it is when doctors, nurses and even hospital chaplains fail to point people to the Lord Jesus who is behind all their healing, even if modern medical techniques are used.  It is so easy for us to be ashamed of Jesus.  Yet Jesus warned us all:

“Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?  If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:37-38

The Samaritan received much more than physical healing – he was made well both physically and spiritually, he was saved.

“Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:19

The Greek word used for ‘made you well’ is sozo, which is used elsewhere for spiritual salvation, being put right with God.  This man was now not only healed of his leprosy, he was also saved from the consequences of his sin.  Faith in Jesus, entering into a personal relationship with him which will be seen in our obedience to his wishes, is the only way to eternal life.  It s all too easy to be religious and yet not to beYou're invited: Science Network Autumn Gathering 2024 recognised by Jesus.  Jesus himself will say at the final judgment to some religious people, even religious leaders:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” Matthew 7:21-23

A profound personal gratefulness to Jesus himself is evidence of being accepted by God.  Indeed, without this gratefulness a person’s salvation is in doubt.  To many think that because they have beliefs or are members of a church that are safe or, using Biblical terms, saved. No, a personal love for Jesus shown in our obedience to what he teaches is what Goid requires,  Such commitment is the key to salvation.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia and raised by a pious mother and grandmother as a Muslim in Saudi Arabia.  In 1992, to escape from fundamentalist Islam and an arranged marriage, she sought asylum in the Netherlands.  She started life there with a cleaning job but later became a Member of Parliament in the Dutch Parliament.  After 11 September 2001 she turned her back on Islam and began to teach why the teachings of the Qur’an are wrong.  She then became a leading voice of the New Atheism movement with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens. The “New Atheist” label was given to these critics of religion and religious belief.  She was chosen by Time magazine as one of the hundred most influential people in the world and became a fellow of Harvard University.

However in 2023 she openly acknowledged that she had become a Christian.  Six months after ‘coming out’ as a Christian she  appeared in a debate with Richard Dawkins which can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBsHdHMvucs     Ayaan and Richard remain very friendly,  but he had written in an open letter to her,

“Seriously Ayaan, you a Christian?  You are no more a Christian than I am.”

In this debate he recognised he was wrong, and that she now believed in the divinity if Jesus, his virgin birth and his resurrection.

“Ayaan, you are a Christian,” he concluded.

She briefly explained why she had changed her mind after recognising the emptiness of atheism.  She had been suffering from depression, self loathing and anxiety and nothing helped this, her atheism could give her hope.  Then one of her therapists suggested that she might be ‘spiritually bankrupt’.  This caused her to turn to the God of the Bible for help and she prayed for this.  She felt connected to something higher than herself and her zest for life returned.  She realised that the cultural values of the west are the fruit of a spiritual movement, belief in the God revealed in Jesus, and that the enlightenment was the child of Christian traditions.  She recognised that the values of love and grace, emphasised in the Bible, are what society needs.  When reviewing her time with the New Atheists she stressed,

“The biggest mistake we made was to equate Islam with Christianity.”

When reviewing what is happening in prestigious places of learning she says it is obvious that reason alone cannot supply a basis for a good satisfying life.  Something is missing and it is this that Jesus has given her and to many others.

Neither Islam nor atheism can give what people most need.  Reason that excludes God excludes the basis for moral values and purpose, whereas Islam lacks an intellectual basis for saying it is true and can lead to radicalism with ruthless cruel consequences.  Ayaan is deeply grateful for the life she has discovered since accepting the rule of the Lord Jesus in her life – life now makes sense.  Just like the leper in our story she had turned to Christ in her need, recognised who he is, and found salvation.

A new start is needed

I was asked recently, how does a person get right with God?  The answer is simple.  Rather like the healed leper, whatever our situation, we must return to Jesus and figuratively bow before him and ask him to accept us and set us on a new path living for him.  The following prayer reflects the one I prayed when, as a first year university student I opened my life to the Lord Jesus.

“Father God, I am sorry for the ways I have rebelled against your rule, my unclean thoughts and my unfeeling heart.

I do not deserve your mercy, but rather to remain distant from you for ever.

Thank you for sending Jesus to draw near to me in love.

Thank you for his death on that cross, where he paid the debt for my sin, so that I can be forgiven and made clean.

Thank you for Jesus’ resurrection as evidence that I also will be raised up.

Please forgive me and change me.

Please help me to live a new life that reflects Jesus as my Saviour and Master.

Please help me to stay close to you and move my heart so that I too will be full of praise and proclamation of the Lord Jesus.

In Jesus’ name I ask this, Amen”

If you have prayed this prayer, go now go and tell a Christian you know that you have become a Christian, a worshipper of the Lord Jesus.

Genuine gratefulness to the Lord Jesus is essential for salvation and this will be seen in the way we live and talk about him.

BVP

This article is based on a sermon given by Andy Palmer at Christchurch, Balham