One Came Back

Our text for today is Luke 17:11-19.

While you look it up, let me give you some color commentary.

Do ya’ll remember who Jerry Clowers was?

I had a feeling you might.

In case you don’t know him, Jerry Clowers was a fertilizer salesman turned Christian Comedian.

He could tell the funniest stories you’ve ever heard.

At least once in each bit, Jerry would say, “I was raised at Rt. 4, Liberty, Mississippi.”

I looked Liberty, Mississippi up on Google maps.

In 2020, it had a population of 560.

It has such interesting businesses as “The Moose Store” and “Melton’s Septic and Grease Trap.”

It’s the county seat, which doesn’t say much for the county that Jerry was raised in

Except, if he lived at Route 4, he had to have been raised in the sticks.

I resonated with Jerry Clowers.

I was raised at Route 5, Box 165C, Austell, Georgia on a little patch of dirt road called Magnolia Drive.

My granddaddy gave a strip of land to Cobb County so Magnolia Drive could be extended to reach Old Alabama Road.

With one condition.

When they cut the road, they’d pave it.

Cobb County gladly agreed and they cut the road.

It took them almost three decades to pave it.

It was probably 500 feet long.

Every road around was paved - except that little section.

And that’s the little section I was raised on.

 Magnolia drive was named for the Magnolia Tree.

Funny thing, I was in my early 20’s and about to leave home when the people up the street planted the first Magnolia tree on that street.

Up until then, no one had thought to plant a Magnolia Tree on Magnolia Drive.

I can still remember, as many of you can and may still do, what it was like to live on a dirt road.

You know how it is, sometimes in the spring, Magnolia Drive became a quagmire.

One good spring thunderstorm and everywhere you looked was water and mud – and plenty of it.

In the summertime, the hot Georgia sun would shine bright on Magnolia Drive

That springtime mud into turned into summertime dust.

Every car that came down our road created a billowing cloud of red dust.

That was back in the day before air conditioning.

Mom dusted the furniture in the house all of the time.

I can remember walking down that dusty road in my canvas tennis shoes.

Did you ever do that?

Look down at your feet and see the little puffs of dust pop up with every step you took.

Bath time was kind of fun as you’d see rivers of mud streak off your legs and go down the drain

To reveal clean legs read to do it all again the next day.

It was on a road a lot like Route 5, Magnolia Drive in Austell, Georgia that Jesus met 10 very sick men one day.

That’s where our story begins with 10 very sick men and one very dusty road.

Please follow along in your Bibles as we read Luke 17:11-19

Luke 17:11–19 ESV

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

This is the Word of the Lord, Thanks be to God.

Let us pray…. Amen

I can imagine folks looking off in the distance that day and seeing a great cloud of dust coming closer and closer.

That cloud was Jesus’ fault.

Not supernaturally but simply because everywhere Jesus went, he drew a crowd.

We often think that when Jesus traveled with his disciples it was just Jesus and the twelve guys.

But that’s wrong.

Lots and lots of people followed Jesus everywhere he went and you just know that all of those people stirred up an awful lot of dust.

The ten lepers would have been tucked away somewhere away from everyone else.

They were quarantined, you might say.

Totally and completely removed from normal society.

But you know they wondered what was going on as they saw the dust cloud approach.

And then someone ran past them and shouted, “Jesus is coming!”

Jesus reputation preceded Him everywhere He went.

The lepers knew that Jesus had healed people.

I can hear them think, “If he healed other folks, maybe, maybe, maybe, he could heal us too.”

When Jesus got within earshot, they desperately began to yell, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

Now, let’s pause the story and talk about the word Mercy for a moment.

I don’t know if you remember the 80’s, but there was a group called Mister Mister.

My favorite song they did was titled, “Kyrie” and it started with the words, “Kyrie Elieson.”

Now I was in seminary at the time and I was enamored by a chant I heard as a part of a Catholic Mass no less.

Kyrie Elieson, Christe Elieson, Kyrie Elieson.”

Mister Mister’s song came from right here.

Kyrie Elieson means “Lord have mercy.”

If the lepers were speaking Greek, which they could have been - Jesus refers to one of them as a ‘foreigner” doesn’t he?

If they were speaking Greek, they would have cried out, “Iesou, eleison.”

Jesus, have mercy.

What is mercy?

Mercy is to show kindness or concern for someone in serious need.

In serious need.

You could say the lepers were in serious need, couldn’t you?

Have you ever said, “Lord have mercy on me?”

Lord, show kindness to me because I’m in serious need.

I’m in serious need.

Have you ever been there?

Do you hear what might be a good prayer to pray when you are in serious need?

You might want to ponder on that for a bit.

Let’s get back to the story.

At first Jesus didn't hear them because of the distance and the noise.

But finally, He got close enough and stopped and said to them: “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

That was it – nothing more.

No abracadabra, no hocus pocus, no magical incantation, no ‘go wash in the Jordan.’

Just “Go...” 

So, they went.

Jesus had a reputation.

If they obeyed him

Then maybe he would to do something ‘merciful’ to them.

So they headed out towards the nearest priest.

That’s what the Bible says to do when a leper thinks they are cleansed.

Go show yourself to the priest - Moses wrote that down in Leviticus 14.

You can look it up.

Jesus knew what Leviticus 14 said.

They knew that Jesus knew.

They knew, if Jesus said to see the priest, then it probably meant that Jesus was going to heal them.

They began to walk away from Jesus, hurrying as fast as they could to get to the priest.

And as they were going, they began to notice that their skin was changing.

The deathly white of leprosy faded and the pink of new, healthy skin showed up in its place.

Can you imagine their reaction?

Don’t you figure they hooted and hollered and shouted for joy

And they took off running as fast as they could run to get to the priest?

They couldn't wait.

Once they show the priest, once the sacrifice is made, once they get pronounced clean

They are as free as a bird, they can live life again.

Can you imagine what that day was like for them?

Nine of them ran as fast as they had ever run to get to the priest.

Nine.

Not ten.

Just nine

Because one had stopped.

The others didn’t notice his weeping.

The others didn’t notice his trembling.

The others didn’t notice the little cloud of dust fading away in the distance and the one running back to Jesus.

But Jesus noticed.

He would have seen the man running toward him in the distance.

I suspect if we had been there, we would have seen a little smile curl on Jesus’ lips.

Jesus watched as the man came closer.

He heard the man’s cries.

He saw the man’s arms flailing the air as he ran as fast as he could.

Until he got to Jesus.

The man fell to on his face at Jesus feet.

He must have thanked God 1000 times for Jesus and for healing him that day.

After what would have seemed to be a very long time, he finally tires.

His cries become whispers.

“Thank you, Lord.”

“Thank you, Jesus.”

“Thank you.”

At just the right moment, Jesus spoke.

“Were there not ten cleansed?  But the nine – where are they?  Was no one found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”

After a moment, Jesus reached down and brought the man to his feet.

Looking straight into the cleansed man's eyes, Jesus said, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

After a few more thank you's and a lingering hug, the man ran off towards the temple.

After all, there was still a priest to be seen and people to tell.

A whole lot of people to tell.

I love stories like that, don't you?

It is the story of some men who Jesus healed, but only one came back to say thank you.

When we think of the story, we always think we’d be the one that came back.

Don’t we?

Now, let's ask some questions here.

Was this man who came back, any more healed that the nine who did not come back?

Yeah, I would say his healing was different.

The nine were healed no doubt – their bodies were changed

And they were excited as they should be

Because they could begin living again.

Living like everyone else.

But the one who came back, he wasn’t just healed.

His entire being was changed.

His excitement wasn’t simply that he was now clean.

He was excited because it was God who made him clean.

He was excited because the Lord had mercy on him

A good for nothing, leprosy filled foreigner

The Lord chose him to have mercy on him.

The New King James quotes Luke this way, “Now 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.”

If he had gone on with the nine, he would have been healed just like the rest of them

Going on to live a life just like everyone else.

He would have lived his life the best he knew how and whenever anyone asked or whenever he thought about it,

he would tell people that he had once had leprosy, but now he was healed.

“And life is so good!”

But this guy didn't keep going and that wasn't going to be his life.

He came back.

He came back to say thank you.

To show gratitude and to worship the One Who has the power to make someone new.

He came back and did something better than the rest that made his healing different from the rest.

Now, why does saying thank you make a difference? Why does saying thank you make you better than the rest?

In Psalm 50:23 the Psalmist says, “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!””

See the phrase, “offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice?”

In today’s language, we would say, “He who says thank you and means it from the depths of his heart, he whose life is changed so people can see it honors me”

And, AND, listen - “prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.”

The man that came back realized something the other's didn't.

The others realized they had been healed.

This man realized God had worked in his life.

The others realized that Jesus had spoken the word and they were made well.

This man realized that God had changed his life that day.

There is a big difference there.

I can imagine as the nine ran off and they saw they were being healed, I can almost imagine they shouted,

“Thank you God” and “Hallelujah” and all sorts of religious noises.

But they weren’t really concerned with God.

They were concerned that now they could live life just like everyone else.

The man who came back knew something different was going on.

He was overwhelmed that the great and holy, sovereign Lord of the universe took interest in him, a leper.

That the creator saw him and had mercy on him.

A man that no one could touch.

A man who, by their law, could have no contact with family.

If he had a wife or children, he couldn’t get near them.

He could not go to the store.

He could not go to church, or a birthday party or a wedding, or even a funeral.

People ran from him.

People looked at him with pity and horror and disgust.

He was a man alone in a world where God said it was not good for a man to be alone.

But on that day on a dusty dirt road, the Sovereign God entered this man's life and changed him.

 God gave him his life back.

But for what reason?

It’s almost to simple to be true.

God gave him his life back simply because God is merciful.

Remember their cry?

“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

Jesus had absolutely no reason to have mercy on them

And yet, He did.

So this man had to take a chance.

See, he disobeyed Jesus.

Remember what Jesus had told him, “Go and show yourselves to the priest.”

But instead of doing that, this man turned around and came back.

 He had to say thank you.

  He hadn’t just been physically healed.

He had been touched by God, his life was changed.

 His heart was exploding with gratitude, he was overwhelmed with awe and when he said thank you,

I believe God in heaven smiled and said, “Hold still boy, you ain't seen nothing yet.”

Listen, what did the Psalmist say?

“He who is changed and says thank you and means it from his heart honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.”

Now, is this scripture saying to us then, that if we sincerely appreciate what God is doing for us

And with grateful and worshipful hearts we tell him that, and we follow Him to the best of our ability,

Are we saying that we will see more and more of God in our lives?

Yes.

Absolutely.

Unequivocally.

That's precisely what this story and this psalm is saying.

Once we understand from our very core that we've been given something we don't deserve

We see the person who gave it to us in a completely different light.

We start noticing things we never noticed before.

 As we become more aware of what the Lord has done for us,

The Giver begins to show us things that we would never have understood before.

Listen, listen, it gives the Lord joy to show us more and more and more of Himself.

If happens because we come to him in true, real, not made up, not using church speak or Jesus words

But because we realize what mercy the Lord has had on us, it has changed us

And we say thank you from our hearts.

Listen to something Matthew tells us Jesus said in Matthew 11:25

Matthew 11:25 ESV

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;

Little children.

  There is not a single child alive that has a clue about what makes an airplane fly, but they love to see them fly, don’t they?

Talk to an aeronautical engineer or a pilot about airplanes and he will talk about lift and thrust and drag coefficients.

Talk to a child about an airplane and the child will say, “Look at that thing go!”

They are amazed.

They are awed.

They know when they see a plane fly that something amazing is going on.

Listen to me, we really need to hear this - God chooses to reveal himself to those who can be amazed.

He chooses to reveal himself to the one's who see something amazing is going on around them.

Someone like the dusty footed foreigner who came back – who was awestruck

By the fact that God Himself, the mighty God, the creator of all that is, came by where I was today,

And for no good reason other than God is merciful, and touched me.

I’m certain he told people, “God touched me you know.”

“He healed me, and I owe everything I am today to Him.”

That ought to be our testimony.

There is something amazing going on here.

The fact of the matter is simple and you aren’t going to like it.

You and I, if we are honest, honest like a child, have to admit that we cheat, we steal, we lie, we gossip.

We lust, we covet, we murder with our tongues and we regularly dishonor God with the way we act all the while wearing His name.

If God treated us as He ought, He would turn his back on us and never speak to us again.

But God is merciful.

He has looked on our pitiful selves and He showed kindness to people in serious need.

I do hope you realize that you were and really still are people in serious need.

I pray you aren’t satisfied with yourself and like the nine, are running off living like everyone else.

I pray we really are like the one

Or at least pray to be like him.

Because see, if you are a Christ follower, you will never die.

You have zero need to fear death and hell.

If you are a Jesus follower, Jesus gave you eternal life.

And if you are a thankful Jesus follower, he will show you mysteries every time you turn around.

You'll start to notice day by day that the things that were beautiful yesterday, are breathtaking today.

You'll notice the love you felt yesterday doesn't compare to the love you feel today.

You'll see yourself change as you become more and more thankful.

And you won’t be able to stop talking about what the Lord is doing for you.

So where do we start?

Start where children start, with the basics.

We were helplessly lost in our sins.

We were dead and could not save ourselves.

We didn’t sin daily - we were sin.

Everything we did was for us with zero thought for the Lord or really to many other folks either.

And we still do this sometimes too.

And yet, God in His mercy, looked down on us and his heart was moved with compassion.

 He showed kindness to someone in serious need.

If he gave us what we deserved, we'd die and spend eternity in hell separated from him and all that is good.

But we aren't going to get that.

We're going to get what Jesus deserved – eternal life, a home with the Father – peace.

So there is your place to start, right there.

Start there - simply continue to thank the Lord for your salvation until He leads you to see even more things He is doing.

Because He surely will show you more.

People who thank God with a sincere heart are paving the way for God to show them things they only dreamed of.

You and I deserve to die, yet we live.

Because a merciful Lord looked down upon us and showed kindness to those who are in serious need.

That’s what He did for us.

Give thanks and wait for the wonders the Lord wants to share with you.

Will you pray with me?