Merciful

Intro

In the last couple of years that I lived at home, for Christmas my parents would often let each of us pick out what we wanted to get. While this was cool because we each got what we wanted, it took away some of the anticipation and excitement that normally came with Christmas morning. When the morning came, we would each open the gifts that we had picked for ourselves that were from others. While we were excited that they were now ours, I lacked some of the gratitude for the gifts because I was expecting to get them. If I had gotten anything less than what I had picked I would have been disappointed about what I didn’t get rather than thankful for what I had recieved. This is often the case in how we approach God and deal with the gifts that He gives us. We often expect certain things are ours because He has given them to us many times already. Let’s see what we can learn from Jesus and the lepers today in Luke 17:11-19

Luke 17:11–19 ESV

11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

V 11

As we look at this passage, the first thing we should notice is that Luke reminds us that Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem. If we think back to Luke 9:51-56, Jesus sets His face toward Jerusalem. He is on His way to accomplish the Father’s will, which is to die on the cross. If we also remember from Luke 9, Jesus is in a Samaritan village when He sets His face toward Jerusalem, and because He is set on Jerusalem, the people of the village did not receive Him. The sons of Zebedee want to destroy the town but Jesus does not let them. Jesus is once again near the Samaritan’s and His focus is on Jerusalem. The regions of Samaria and Galilee were heavily Gentile regions. This is significant because in that time, both the Samaritans and the Gentiles were outsiders of the covenant God. The Jews were God’s chosen people and Jerusalem was the center of the Jewish nation, particularly their center of worship.

V 12

Jesus enters into a village, and ten lepers are there who are standing at a distance. In Leviticus 13:45–46 “45 “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ 46 He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.” and Numbers 5:2–3 “2 “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. 3 You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”” These ten are far from anyone else in the community because they are unclean. God gave this command to the Israelites in order to protect those who were not sick. It is a similar idea to how things were when COVID first started, the sick were to quarantine separate from the healthy to slow the spread of disease. These lepers were outcasts, forgotten, discarded because of their illness. Not only are they separated, but they must declare to all who come near that they are unclean so everyone keeps their distance. Just as these lepers are separated from normal life and all other people, so is every person separated from God because of their sin. In God’s sight, we are each unclean because of our sin nature we inherited through Adam and because of our sinful actions we willfully do on a daily basis. Each of us chooses to give glory to things other than God on a daily basis, and so we should be cast away from God.

V 13

Next, these men from a distance cry out to Jesus for mercy. When they address as Master, it can be understood as a prayer, like in the previous passage. In their cry for mercy, we see that these men understand that they are not deserving of healing, but that it is something they cannot earn. They are unworthy and the only hope they have is if Jesus shows mercy. Just as the only hope that these men have of physical healing is mercy, so our only hope is mercy from God. Our sin deserves punishment from God, we do not deserve anything else from Him. As Psalm 32:1–2 “1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” We need God to forgive us of our sins and not count them against us, otherwise we have no hope for eternity.

V 14a

Jesus responds to these lepers cry for mercy by commanding them to present themselves before the priest. Leviticus 14:1–3 “1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest, 3 and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person,” Moses continues by describing the process by which the person becomes clean through different offerings. When Jesus tells the men to go to the priest, He is obeying God’s Word regarding leprosy. The priest must declare them clean for them to enter into the camp again. We can infer from Jesus response that some of the lepers are Jews because they are told to obey the law of Moses.

V 14b

The ten respond in obedience to Jesus word and as a result they receive mercy. They hadn’t been healed yet, so it was not necessary for them to go to the priest yet, but they obeyed anyways. There are times where we will need to act in obedience to God’s Word even when we can’t see His provision yet. Just as Terry preached last week, our duty as God’s servants is obedience and when we obey we are still unworthy servants because we have only done what was asked of us.

V 15-16

In response to the merciful healing, one man returns to Jesus praising God with a loud voice. When he finds Jesus again, he falls at His feet and gives thanks to Him. In this act, we see that this man who has returned believes that Jesus is God. Luke helps us understand this in two ways. First, the man falls face down, worshiping Jesus. In every other place in Scripture where this happens it is either someone worshiping God or the person receiving the worship tells them to not worship them but worship God. Jesus does not tell the man to stop but accepts it, and so Jesus is confirming His identity as well. Second, Luke uses the Greek word eucharisteo, which is used 37 other times in the New Testament and every time it is used when giving thanks to God. So while Luke does not tells us this explicitly, we can know that this encounter gives us clues about Jesus divine identity.

Then Luke reveals the identity of the one who returned, a Samaritan. The good news and more importantly the true understanding of the nature of Jesus is given to a foreigner, an outsider of God’s covenant. Jesus came not only for the Jew, but also for the Gentile. Later, Paul clarifies for us that the children of the promise are not all who are physical descendants of Abraham, but are those who posses faith as Abraham did.

V 17-18

Jesus then asks three rhetorical questions concerning the nine who did not return. Why didn’t they return? Maybe they took the healing for granted, maybe they were so excited to see friends and family, or many other possibilities. Regardless of why they didn’t, the simple truth is that something was more important to them than thanking Jesus, God, for the mercy that was given them in physical healing. If we remember from earlier, at least some of the lepers were Jewish, and yet it is only a foreigner, one who had every reason to take for granted a healing from a Jew, who returns. The Jews, who should have been most grateful and expectant of the Messiah miss it.

V 19

The account of this interaction closes with Jesus pronouncement that this mans faith has made him well. At first glance in English, it may seem repetitive or unnecessary for Jesus to say this. Of course this man is healed, that’s why he comes back to Jesus. With a closer look, we will see that what Jesus is saying is that this man has been made well spiritually. He is saying that this man is saved by faith. Salvation is by faith in Christ alone. There is no other way by which a man can be saved. As we looked earlier, Paul explains in Galatians 3:9 “9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” Paul explains in Romans 3:21-26 that all who are saved were saved by faith. Some came before Jesus Christ in human history, but those people God passed over their sins as He looked ahead to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

They may not have known at the time what God’s provision would look like, but they trusted God. We are called to do the same. Now that Christ has overcome sin and death, the call is to repent, to turn from our sinful ways and trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation.

Through this passage, we have learned that every person is unclean before God, separated from Him just as the lepers were separated from the camp. We have seen that the only hope we have for wellness is God’s mercy, which is extended to us through faith in Jesus Christ. The proper response of someone who has trusted in Jesus Christ is gratitude, putting our face down before Him and giving thanks, because we know there is no other way in which we can be saved except through Jesus Christ.

Our lives should be marked by gratitude. When you consider your life, do you often give thanks to God, or do you take for granted the mercies He gives. Not only has he granted us eternal life with Him, but He gives us breath, He gives us family, He gives us friends, He gives us fellowship with other believers, we get to gather together without persecution and so, so much more. So let us give thanks daily to our God for His mercy.

We also see something in Jesus that we should emulate. He set His face to Jerusalem, He is on the way, and He takes time for the outcast, the unclean. He has taken time for us. We too should take time for the people that God places in our lives. It would have been easy for Jesus to see these men as an inconvenience as He headed to the cross, but He took time for them. Not only should we follow Christ’s example, but we should obey His command to make disciples of all nations. God has placed each one of you in specific places so that you can be a light to those people. You can bring them the message of hope that says they are unworthy, but God shows mercy to the humble! Just as Jesus passing through the village on the way to Jerusalem led to the salvation of the Samaritan, so you meeting someone on your way through life could be an opportunity for you to share the good news of Jesus to the hopeless. May we rejoice in our salvation and obey our Master by spreading the good news.

Let us pray

Psalm 32:10–11 “10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. 11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!”