Returning to the Source

Intro:

Luke 17:17–19 NKJV

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.”

This morning Daniel and I are tag teaming a message about returning to the source. I am an athlete. I have been involved in sports my entire life playing baseball, basketball, soccer, football, and then running cross country and track.

For an athlete to be successful they need many things. Among these is a drive for success. The desire to push themselves to the limit repeatedly to make that limit farther away. As that limit gets farther away, they can work at higher intensity for longer periods of time before they become tired.

As you can imagine this takes its toll on the body. After workouts and practices athletes can be tired and sore. That is before they partake in a very important part of their success. An athlete, after a workout, must return to their source. As a runner there are a few sources that I must turn to after a hard run.

1) Stretching. Without stretching, my legs will be tight and sore for multiple days after a hard run, but if I stretch, I can relieve my muscles and give them a fast recovery. Stretching prevents injury and allows my body to work harder and have more success every day. When I stretch effectively there is no need to take days off.

2) Eating. When the cross-country team runs in the morning we always go from the gym (the ending point of all our runs) straight to the cafeteria. An athlete needs the nutrients to be restored to their body that they spent in their workout. Without the proper nutrients our bodies shut down and become exhausted.

3) And most importantly, I drink a lot of water. Most people know that most of a human body is made of water. When a person sweats and works hard they spend much of that water to cool themselves off. Approximately 85% of your brain is water and about 75% of your heart is water. We need water! So, after I run, I return to my physical source, water. Drinking cold water after a run is great! I am always extremely thankful for water after I have a hard workout.

If it weren’t for the source, I would not have all of the benefits of running. Working out and exercise should make a person feel good. A lot of people do not feel good when or after they work out because they do not take care of their bodies. I am thankful when I return to the source after a run because it allows me to reap the benefits of exercise while avoiding the consequences.

Today Daniel and I are speaking on the importance of returning to the source. Our spiritual source is Jesus. The 10 men in Luke chapter nine were all healed but only one returned to the source.

These are a few key points in this story that tell us why it is important that the one returned to the source, and how it should affect our lives. The first thing that the lepers noticed was…

1. Reputation of Jesus

Luke 17:11–13 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!”

Luke explains that Jesus was on the border between Samaria and Galilee. The hateful relationship between the Jews and Samaritans was extreme.

I knew this from reading scripture, but I did some extra research that really made it clear to me how bad their relations were. One of the ways that the Israelite people were disobedient to God’s word is they intermarried with other nations. The Samaritans were evidence of the Israelites disobedience, which made the Jews hate them.

The Samaritan people were a mixed race. They were descended from the gentiles, but they were also descended from Jews. The Jews emphasized that the Samaritans were gentiles and the Samaritans emphasized that they were descended from Abraham.

Therefore, the Jewish people completely cut off the Samaritan people. They were forbidden access to the inner court of the temple. The Jewish people did not allow the acceptance of Samaritan offerings or sacrifices. The Samaritan people were unable to practice Jewish law because of Jewish leadership.

Since the Jews kept the Samaritans from the temple in Jerusalem. They made their own temple on mount Gerizim. No matter how hard the Samaritans tried to follow the law, the Jewish people would not accept them.

The Samaritans would do everything that the Jews did but it was not enough for the Jews to accept them.

Jesus knew the tension between the two peoples, but this did not stop him from preaching the kingdom. There are two times recorded in scripture when Jesus goes to Samaria.

The first time Jesus goes to Samaria was in John 4 where he meets a woman at a well at noon. She was alone at the well. She was an outcast of Jewish society because she was Samaritan, and she was an outcast of Samaritan society because she was an adulterer.

This did not stop Jesus from speaking with her. It emphasized to the disciples that the barrier between Jew and Samaritan was not right. While talking with the woman at the well Jesus said this,

John 4:13–14 (NKJV)

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Both Jesus and the woman knew that she needed the water from the well, but Jesus knew that she needed more. She needed to return to her source spiritually.

Afterwards she went:

John 4:28–29 (NKJV)

28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,

29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”

Jesus’ travels were intentional. Everywhere he went he had a purpose. It was not only the Jewish people that Jesus wished to be saved. Throughout his ministry on earth Jesus grew his reputation. In Luke, Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, knowing that he had an appointment there to complete his ministry.

Luke 9:51-53 says, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.”

Luke 9:51–53 (NKJV)

51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,

52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.

53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.

It is possible that the men with leprosy were what Jesus sent people ahead of him to prepare. The messengers might have gone out saying, “one is coming who can heal your sick, make the blind see, make the lame walk, and cleans you of your sins!”

The men with leprosy in the passage from Luke recognized Jesus. Even though they were cut off from the Jews they had heard testimonies of this guy that had healing power.

From a distance the Leapers realized that this was the man that had done all the miracles throughout the land of the Israelites. They knew Jesus’ reputation and what he brought with him hope of healing and a return to life.

The next part of the ten’s healing story was…

2. Relying on Jesus

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.

Leprosy, now called Hansen’s disease, is a cruel skin disease. Not because it is painful, but because it leaves a person’s body disfigured. Leprosy attacks the nervous system. A person with leprosy does not feel pain. They become disfigured through years of overuse of ligaments, joints, and appendages.

Loss of limb and disfigurement that is common in Leprosy is not the symptom of Leprosy but rather the effect that the symptoms leave.

Since they do not feel pain, they do things that are bad for their body. They might even be missing parts of their bodies. Infection leads to loss of limb. They do not know and sometimes do not care that they are hurting themselves.

I read a chapter out of a book this week about leprosy to learn more about what the ten men would be facing every day. This book gave modern day examples such as a man who wanted to dress nice. He would wear shoes that were too small for his feet, causing foot injuries, which led to infection and loss of his toes.

For him looking good was more important than his body. He felt normal and acted normal but underneath his shoes were stubs.

Another story of a man that had lost most of his sight, feel, and smell. The one thing that was normal was his hearing, and so he was a musician. He was a devout Christian and would sing hymns and other songs and play his autoharp.

He would play his autoharp for hours every day. When he went for a checkup with his leprosy doctor the doctors realized that he had played his instrument so long that it had infected a blister on his thumb, the only part of his hand that he could still feel with.

In danger of losing one of the only things that he could still do normally he pleaded with the doctors to help him keep his thumbs. The doctors gave him special gloves to relieve the stress on his fingers so that the infection could be fought.

People with leprosy face a life without pain. They hurt themselves without hurting till they cannot function.

In first century, A.D. doctors and people believed that it was leprosy itself that caused the loss of limb and deterioration of the body. They would send people out of society to keep the rest of civilization safe. Because of this horrible disease the ten men could not approach Jesus.

The lepers felt normal, but they certainly would not have looked normal. Imagine feeling like you are the same as everyone else, but everyone else seeing you as sick with an incurable deadly disease.

The Leapers had to rely on Jesus’ healing power from a distance. Notice that Jesus did not heal them immediately! Jesus said, “Present yourselves to the priests,” not you have been healed, or your faith has healed you, or you are cleansed.

All the men would have known Jewish law, even the Samaritan. They knew that they had to present themselves before the priest once they were healthy enough to be pronounced clean.

Instead of going to the priest it would have been possible for the lepers to call back to Jesus saying, “But we still look sick! Our bodies are deformed and broken; we cannot yet be pronounced clean!” They could have even thought that they would never be clean.

However, this was not their response. The men immediately left to present themselves to the priest, and they were “cleansed as they went.”

3. Rejoicing in Jesus

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.

It is difficult to fully comprehend the faith it took for the lepers to leave their leper colony and go to the priests.

Jesus’s instructions for them to go to the priests was in obedience to the law of Moses. Leviticus 13-14 provides two chapters on what to do in the case of skin disease, read it sometime, it is very inspirational.

But the law required that a leprous person go to the priests so the priest could examine the skin and determine if it was clean or unclean.

I can’t help but wonder what the lepers thought when Jesus took notice on them and gave them these instructions. There are instances in Scripture where lepers were cleansed, but the two that reference the work of a prophet or another person in the healing.

2 Kings 5:10 NKJV

10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.”

In the case of Naaman, the prophet Elisha did not touch him, he instructed him to dip in the Jordan River seven times.

There was a stigma with leprosy. But Jesus came and everything changed.

Mark 1:41–42 NKJV

41 Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

He was willing to touch the lepers so that they could receive healing.

But when it came to these ten lepers, He instructed them to GO and be healed. Imagine the joy that came to them with each step toward the high priest.

As they went, God cleansed them. Their leprous spots disappeared, and by the time they arrived to the priests, the leprosy was gone and they were supernaturally healed.

No doubt rejoicing flooded their hearts. Their families would have celebrated. Their loved ones would have been ecstatic as they went from begging unclean to clean!

But Luke does not end with their healing. He shows us that of the ten only one...

4. Returning to Jesus

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.

Imagine, Jesus went out of His way to go to a Samaritan village to heal ten lepers, but only one returned to give thanks.

As I think of everything Ben showed us about the difference between the Jews and Samaritans, these verses come to light in a new way.

If the healthy Jews hated healthy Samaritans, we can guarantee that leprous Jews hated leprous Samaritans.

It is likely the priests were offended and indignant that the Samaritan even dared come before them to be declared clean from leprosy.

I can almost hear the Samaritan leper telling the other nine, we need to return to this man who healed us and thank Him. Perhaps they mocked him or berated him, but we know that they ignored him.

Luke does not tell us WHY they did not return. It could be that:

they were entitled, I mean they were Jews, why wouldn’t they get healed

they were busy, they needed to catch up with family and friends

but we do know that they were ungrateful.

The Samaritan was not though. He knew the pain of feeling like a social outcast. He knew the sorrow of being ignored. He knew the frustration of feeling just fine but seeing his body deteriorate.

He just couldn’t help himself, he had to go and give Jesus thanks.

Jesus noticed and responded.

Luke 17:17–19 NKJV

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.”

Why was Jesus so frustrated with the actions of the nine?

The ones who should have given him thanks and showed their appreciation ignored Him. That seems to be a pattern of His earthly ministry.

His own people rejected Him. They listened to His teaching, enjoyed His miracles, but they never got down to the root problem— sin.

The Samaritan, knowing his sins and unworthiness came back to give Him thanks. And Jesus saw his faith and told him to leave, restored in his body and soul.

Close:

Of all that happened in this part of Jesus’s life, I see returning to Him as the most important.

Jesus’s reputation will always remain the same:

He heals

He delivers

He sets free

He saves

He empowers

He accepts

He works in people

We will always need to RELY on Jesus. That will never change

Anyone who receives from Him has a reason to rejoice. And many people get this far.

They have a crisis, face a situation, struggle with a need, and they know where to turn. They know Jesus’s reputation. During the hardship, they rely on Him. And when He has come through, they rejoice and are happy.

But I wonder, how often do we actually RETURN to Him?

That is what hit me so hard when I read this passage?

How many times have we recieved from God and went back to life as normal?

How often have we called to Him and He answered, and then waited to call on Him the next time we had a problem?

Through the race of life, we must make time to continue to return to Him, over and over and over.

Jesus saved me when I was five years old, but I still need to thank Him for the grace of God every day.

Jesus baptized me in the Holy Spirit when I was seven years old, but I still need to thank Him for His power every day.

Jesus has healed me more than once, but I still need to thank Him for His healing

Jesus has helped me more than once, but I still need to thank Him for His strength every day

Jesus had directed me more than once, but I still need to thank Him for His guidance every day

We are all like the ten lepers, every one of us had a sickness called sin, and Jesus has freely cleansed us.

We get to choose, will we be like the nine who recieved from Him, but did not return to Him in thanks?

Or will we live like the Samaritan, the one who knew he did not deserve anything from Jesus, so he came to give God thanks.