Luke 17: 11-19 “ I got to be the one “

Luke 17:11–19 (NKJV)

11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.

13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

14 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.

15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God,

16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?

18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”

19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

“ I got to be the one “

Communion Today got to be the one

Substitute — Justification — Reconciliation - Adoption - Redemption - Propitiation - Forgiveness

When you look back over your life — — You got to be the ONE

Our sermonic spotlight shines on

one of those familiar stories of scripture

That’s founded in the gospel of Luke

This particular story it Chronicles

The life of 10 medically infirm individuals

Who precisely placed themselves

Along the roadside

As Jesus was entering into a certain village

When you study this particular text

I believe that one of the things

That will leap off the text in your study time

Is the two different interactions

That Jesus has in this story

Jesus has two different interactions

In this text

The fact that Jesus had more than one kind interaction

Will arrest your attention

Because it spoke to the truism

That everybody don’t interact

With the Lord the same way

Two people can be sitting beside each other

They can hear the same words

And then react

Two different ways

Because everybody don’t interact

With the Lord the same way

Some people treat Jesus

Like a pair of shoes

They only interact with him

When their life is falling onto the ground

Some people treat Jesus like a spare tie

They don’t break him out

Until their life has become deflated

Some people treat Jesus like an umbrella

They don’t use him

Until their life is in a storm

But thank God others

Use Jesus like air

They interact with him

Every second of their lives

Because they understand

In him they live

And him they move

And him they have their being

Jesus has this Interaction

Of what I would describe

A perfunctory

Interaction with 10 men

Perfunctory

It was casual

It was routine

There was nothing special

About the interaction he has with

These lepers – it was perfunctory

Jesus according to the text

Is entering into a certain village

And he’s sees these 10 men

Who are stricken with a disease

Who are standing at a distance?

Who are straining to be detected

They are standing there alongside the road

They are stricken with a disease - they are lepers

They are standing at a distance - they are far off

They are straining to be detected - they have to lift up their voice together

This leprosy

This condition that they have

Has affected their vocal cords

They can speak just beyond a whisper

And together they have to lift up their voice collectively

To arrest the attention of Jesus Christ

Don’t miss this

Because Jesus is casually walking into a certain village

As he’s walking into a certain village

He Casually sees 10 men

Who are stricken with a disease

Who are standing at a distance

Who are straining to be detected

And in a casual routine

A perfunctory way

Jesus in verse 14 says

Luke 17:14 (NKJV) 14 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.

There’s nothing personal about this interaction

There’s nothing deep about this interaction

Jesus, just utters these words

“ Go show yourself to the priest “

And based on that word

Regardless of how casually it was

Their situation started to turn around

Let me pause and say this

Any words you get from the Lord

Regardless, when it is

Or how Casual the relationship it is

It’s enough to turn your situation around

Note: There’s someone in here today that feel you can’t handle how things are going, but ONE WORD from the Lord can turn things around.

Leprosy was the worst medical malady Of that day

Leprosy then was like the HIV virus today

It was no cure

It was something that you could not hide

It was the worst medical melody of that day

But they got a word from the Lord

And that word turned things around

It ain’t over till God says it over

I don’t care what the doctor say, I don’t care what the x-ray say, I don’t care what the papers are saying, I don’t care what you got in the mail,

One word from the Lord

Can turn things around

Now this is where the next interaction takes place

The second interaction that Jesus has

Is not with the 10 or the 9

But it’s with the one

Jesus has another kind of interaction

It’s not perfunctory

But it’s personal

Jesus has this personal interaction

With this one leper

But it happens after the turnaround

The Bible says in verse 14

That Jesus casually says to the 10

Go show yourself to the priest

And the Bible says

“ as they went “

Something happened as they went

Things in their life begin to turn around

When things turn around

We see the personal interaction

The one leper has with Jesus Christ

The barometer of your relationship with the Lord

Is not measured

Before the turnaround

It’s measured after the turnaround

Anybody can be faithful before the turnaround

But can you be faithful after he turned it around

Anybody can come to church before the trial

Can you come to church after God deliver you from the trial

What is your actions and attitude after God turns it around

I know people that was faithful

Before God turned it around

But went missing after he turned it around

I know people that was the first one to church

And last one to leave before God turned it around

But once the miracle got manifested

That same person went missing

Because it’s not what you do when you in need

It’s how You handle it when God comes through on your need

After the turnaround

After Jesus turns it around

We see this long leper doing several things

In this narrative, after Jesus turn it around

And three things I want to encourage each of us to do

1st He Broke from the Protocol

Luke 17:15 (NKJV) 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God,

The protocol of that day, Jews and Samaritans

Had no dealings with each other

Jews and Samaritans avoided one another

They didn’t interact at all cost

They didn’t like each other

Jews and Samaritans didn’t speak to each other

Jews and Samaritans had literally no dealings with each other at all

Let me paint my picture

In the gospel of John chapter number 4

Jesus was traveling from Jerusalem

And he said I must need go Through Samaritan

And Jesus decides to sit down on a well

He’s tied and he’s thirsty

And he decides to sit down on a well

While sitting on the well

Jesus has a conversation with a woman

Samaritan woman who comes to the well to get water

In verse seven of John chapter 4

John 4:7 (NKJV) 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”

And the woman speaks back to Jesus in verse 9

John 4:9 (NKJV) 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

This woman goes on record to remind Jesus

That Jews and Samaritan have no dealings

But note what this long leper did

When he had noticed that things had changed

He forgotten about the protocol

He forgot about Jews, and Samaritans have no dealing

He forgets about the racial barriers

That was built between both cultures

The Bible says he returns and goes back to Jesus

He decides he wants to break

The protocol

And what broke the protocol

Was the fact that he recognized

His life has been GRACED

He recognized on the word of the Lord

Things have been turned around

He recognized that God has been good to him

When you recognize that you have been GRACED

You should break protocol

It’s enough to make you do something different

When you recognize that the Lord didn’t have to do it

Didn’t have to Wake you you

Didn’t have to Start you on your way

Didn’t have to Put food on your table

Didn’t have to heal you

Didn’t have to save you from the car wreck

Etc..

What Jesus turned around should make you wanna go back to him

When you go back and look at this narrative

All 10 Lepers

Requested the Grace of God

Required the Grace of God

Received the Grace of God

But ONLY ONE RECOGNIZED the Grace of God that God has been Good to them

The grace that this brother recognize

Has nothing to do with wealth

Has nothing to do with material possessions

This Grace that this brother recognize

It has nothing to do with anything tangible

It wasn’t the grace of WEALTH, but it was the grace of HEALTH

Some of y’all got it bad

You don’t think that you have been grace

If you don’t have a new car

A new house

A big-time paying job

A pocket full of money

If you can’t shop where you wanna shop

If you didn’t put your shoes on your head

And your shirt on your feet

You’ve been grace this morning

So he breaks from the protocol because God has been just that good to him

Somebody needs to break from the protocol

You ought to SHOUT while everybody is SILENT

You ought to RUN while everybody is STILL

You ought to WAVE YOUR HANDS, while everybody else HANDS IS FOLDED

You ought to do something different because you got something different

You see you might irritate your Neighbor

But one of the things your neighbor do know

Is that God has been good to you

But they don’t know how good God has been to you

So you ought to break protocol this morning

He breaks the protocol

He goes back to see Jesus

Even though he is a Samaritan

And when he breaks the protocol

Then the Bible says

1st He Broke from the Protocol

2nd He Bows down in Praise

Look at it

When he goes back to Jesus Christ

He does two things

1st He Lowered his Posture

2nd He Lifted his Praise

He goes back to Jesus

And he humbled himself

As saying

My highest height is going to be at your feet

He does not go back arrogant

Are as if he deserves what Jesus done

Luke 17:15–16 (NKJV) 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

If you won’t God to raise you up, learn how to lower yourself down

Because God has a way of bringing folks down

Daniel 4:25-35

How dare you act like?

You are the only pebble on the beach

You are the only Tin can in the alley

You are the only chip in the bag

You are the only can in the six pack

The same God, that put you there is the same God that can take you from there

The same God that raise you up is the same God that can bring you down

You better humble yourself

This one leper comes back in humble himself

He lowers himself

The Lord does not have to bring him down

He came down on his own

Luke 19 – Zacchaeus

Is in that text with first time in history that divinity is looking up at humanity

1st He Lowered his Posture

2nd He Lifted his Praise

With a loud voice, he lifted up his praise

He got loud

That word LOUD in the GRK is “Megas” – where we get our English word “Mega” English

Superbowl – Today it’s going to get LOUD for men that ain’t gave you no GRACE or MERCY

Men catching a ball

Men intercepting a ball

Men will high-fives people they don’t know

But the Lord been scoring for you every week the Lord been intercepting for you every week

1st He Broke from the Protocol

2nd He Bows down in Praise

3rd He Bypassed the Process

Jesus has a conversation with this man

He says

Did not I cleanse 10

Where are the 9

Jesus says

There’s no one here

Except this foreigner

Then Jesus says Verse 19

Luke 17:19 (NKJV) 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Jesus allows this man

To Bypass the process

Verse 14

There was a process

Luke 17:14 (NKJV) 14 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.

When someone had Leprosy

There was a process

It’s found in the book of Leviticus 14:1-10

The process involved a

1st Examination

2nd Commemoration

3rd Declaration

The process was a Leper

Who thought they was cleanse?

Would have to go before priest

And the Priest would Examine the person

Examine the head – Examining their hands – Examined their skin

Because leprosy was something you could not hide

The difference between leprosy and Aids

Leprosy affected the outside in

And Aids affected inside out

So you could not hide it

It would mess up your skin

You get flicks in your hair like bad dandruff

Your face would turn different colors

You would lose hair and skin

So they would have to go to the priest

And the priest would examine the Leper

And if the leper passed the examination

Then the second process was

The commemoration

The Leper had to do something

And It involve getting two birds

A bowl and hyssop and Scarlet cord

That’s what the leper had to do

And what the priest would do is kill one of the birds

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And the blood from the dead bird would be placed in the bowl

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And the priest would get a sponge & dip it into the blood of the dead bird

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And take the blood from the dead bird & sprinkle it on the live bird.

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And the priest would take the live bird outside the temple

& let the live bird with the dead bird blood

fly free in the field.

‌And the bird never came back to the temple

That’s the commemoration

And now the Declaration

The Priest would say

Your sins are forgiven

Your leprosy is gone

And I can call the community together

Then I can make a declaration

That you are no longer a Leper

It was a process

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But look what this leper done

Because he was willing to Break the Protocol

Because he was willing to Bow down and Praise

Jesus tells him in verse 19

You don’t have to go to the priest

But go “ your way “

Because what I’m gonna do for you

Is that I’m going to allow you to bypass the process

Here’s the process

You got to go to man

Man got to get involve

Man got to have a hand in your deliverance

But when the man leave Jesus

He didn’t have to go to man

I’m going to bypass man