Morning Message Text: Luke 17: 11-19
Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy
11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.
12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance
13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.
16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?
18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”
19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
Morning Message:
Where are the others? I counted the altar stones, and I found 8; eight out of sixty-one members of this church so far thinks that worshiping God is important. I am usually a very mellow and easy-going person. God has changed me from what I once was in order to allow me to do the work of a pastor. I find that I am more compassionate every day and more patient with people than I ever imagined possible. I know that God wants me to be loving, caring, and approachable. God has clearly taught me and shown me through the years that I should not be quick to judge others because I am not perfect, and before I came to Christ, I was guilty of the same attitudes that I see in other people. There are things that cause my spirit to be troubled to the point of anger, and times when I believe that God wants me to express a lack of patience. This is one of those times. As a pastor I am called to be the spiritual leader of this congregation, and I am thankful to God for that charge and for those of you who show up here on Sunday morning and allow me that opportunity. Please believe me, my uneasiness is not directed at you. How can I lead those who refuse to show up and worship God? People take solace in being on the membership rolls. It is more important for them to be on the rolls than in the pews. I think that we should do away with the membership list and replace it with the worship attenders’ list.
Where are the others? It may not seem fair to you that I spend so much time talking about the others, but Jesus said, “I came to seek and save the lost.” The other reason that I preach to you about those who are not here is because you have a certain amount of responsibility to contact missing members and extend an olive branch to them to come to worship. We are all responsible to each other in the Kingdom of God. You know people who have not been attending worship; maybe, even like me, you are related to some of them. Maybe they don’t listen to me because I am the pastor and they think that it’s just my job to encourage them to come. Listen, I know that when I stand before Jesus in heaven that I am going to have to answer for my actions and my inaction, and so will you. The members of this church who are not attending worship without good reason are the responsibility of this church family.
Ten men who had leprosy met Jesus and they cried out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” They stood at a distance because they were forbidden from coming in contact with others because of their disease. They were separated from their community, even from worship. We all know what it feels like to be outside of the faith. Before we come to Jesus, we are not part of God’s kingdom. We have all had to reach that point where we cried out to Jesus, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus simply says to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” Why does he say this? Because in Jewish law it was up to the priests to examine someone suffering from leprosy and pronounce them cleansed. Jesus is saying to them, “You are healed, now go and get back to normal life. You are free from this decease; I have made you whole; you have your life back.” That is exactly what Jesus does for us. He returns us to a right relationship with God and at the same time frees us to live.
Now listen, don’t miss this. One of them returned, praising in a loud voice, giving thanks to God for his deliverance, bowing at the feet of Jesus. His response was to worship the one who had healed him and made him whole. This is the right response. But wait, he is a Samaritan; he is not a follower of the Jewish faith; he was never a church member. Maybe, that’s the problem. People think that after Jesus reaches down and saves them, they can rely on the fact that they are a church member and not have to worship. What? You think that people don’t actually think like that? Go try to tell someone that they are being removed from the church membership list and see the response that you get. That’s not just here; that’s in every church. People would never admit to this, but in the recesses of their minds they think that when they stand before God, He is going to check to see if they are on the church rolls. There is only one book that God will look at, the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Jesus asks the question that he already knows the answer to. “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Where were the others? Where were these children of Israel that should have known how to praise God because they most likely grew up in the faith? I think that I know the answer. They got their clearance from the priests and quickly went back to their lives. Thankfulness wasn’t the first thing on their minds. They immediately busied themselves with the things of this world; after all, they had missed a lot during their illness. It didn’t occur to them that everything that they now had, everything that they could now do, the very hope that they now had for their lives and their future, was all thanks to Jesus. How could they be so dense? How can we? Where are the others?
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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