Luk
17:11-19 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed
through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into
a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar
off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he
saw them, he said
unto them, Go shew yourselves unto
the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were
cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed,
turned back, 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 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this
stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
They were 10 men united in
common misery, with a great need. Deliverance from the horrible disease of
leprosy. A Samaritan is mentioned among the company and
knowing that "the Jews
have no dealings with the Samaritans." John 4:9; it is of
interest to point out that antagonists are generally united through
troubles and suffering. These men were, in accordance with Jewish religious
law, outcasts from society and required to isolate themselves from the rest of
the population giving warning of their presence by the ignoble and degrading
cry of Unclean "And the
leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and
he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.
All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is
unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation
be." Lev 13:45-46
It was an isolated, ignoble and
intolerable life. Therefore they stood afar off as required by law and
cried out to the One who alone could help. Master Yashua! Have Mercy! They were
saying to Him, You can do it! You can heal! You can save! If you care
to! Doe He care? Is He concerned? Has He compassion? He MOST CERTAINLY does!
For He is LOVE INCARNATE! His very breathe is compassion and life! "For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life." Joh 3:16 "But God commendeth his
love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Rom 5:8 His power and ability was known to these desperate
men and so they cried to Him Who "is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Heb 7:25
The Master's response is surprising
and maybe unexpected but certainly challenging! Why so?
Because it was known to all Israel
that "This shall be the law
of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:
And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and,
behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper; Then shall the priest
command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and
cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: And the priest shall command that one of
the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: As for the living
bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop,
and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed
over the running water: And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed
from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the
living bird loose into the open field." Lev 14:2-7
Why challenging?
Because the
leper could only come to the priest for the confirmation
and stamp of approval if they have been cleansed and this certainly
did not appear to be the case here! Yet one is reminded here of
Mary's admonition to the servants at the wedding feast in Cana, "...Whatsoever he saith unto you, do
it." John 2:5
Certainly sound advice when awaiting
the Word from the Lord! Whatsoever He saith unto you do it!
"...Fill the waterpots with water." Joh
2:7
"... Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the
feast..." Joh 2:8
"...Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." John
5:8
"...Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, ..." Joh
9:7
"...Take ye away the stone..." Joh
11:39
"...Follow me..." Mat 9:9
The list goes on! He also said:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek
and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is
easy, and my burden is light." Mat 11:28-30
It may seem controversial,
contradictory and contrary to the normal and the expected but "...this is the love of God, that we
keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." 1Jn 5:3 It
is a good thing to remember we are receiving commands from the ONE by
whose breath and command all things came into being. For he
spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. Psa 33:9
and He is "...upholding all things by the WORD of his
power,..." Heb 1:3
What may seem contrary,
controversial and contradictory to man is certainly not so with God and is
certainly not to be questioned or doubted since He "...is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think, according to the power that worketh in us," Eph 3:20
He did not command them to be clean.
He simply said Go shew yourselves unto the priests.
He did not wave His hand over
them. He simply said Go shew yourselves unto the priests.
He did not perform some spectacular
power display. He simply said Go shew yourselves unto the priests!
Remember it is not what we expect or
anticipate from Him! it is what He in His Sovereignty commands. Remember HE
knows the end from the beginning even before there WAS
a beginning!
It's a very simple command and one that all of them could
do! Go shew yourselves unto the priests!
Now we come to a peculiar part of
the narrative: One turned back from the journey to the priests after
discovering he was healed! Why? Did he think it no longer necessary now that he
was cleansed? Did he think that because he was a Samaritan he was exempt?
Did he ...? NO! As he started out on the path of obedience along with the others he
felt the cleansing power of the Almighty flowing through him. He felt his flesh
returning to health. He felt dead cells and tissue becoming rejuvenated. His
whole body was tingling with new life and the radiant energy of health and all
he could think of was that the Master had healed him. His spirit was
overwhelmed with the awesome power of the Lord. His senses were
overloaded with gratitude to Him Who had done this marvelous thing in
him. His whole being required, nay demanded an outlet and release of praise and
gratitude resulting in Him putting God first before any earthly being
or authority. The Samaritan RETURNED TO GIVE THANKS!
The absence of the
others was noted by the Lord.
He questions the reason
for neglect of glory to God.
Curiously he told the
Samaritan man "...thy faith hath made thee whole" Were they
not all cleansed? They were!
REMEMBER! Jesus did tell
them to go show themselves to the priest and they probably continued onwards in obedience to Him.
Yet the fact that Jesus
remarked on their absence reveals something about God and the men.
The nine still required
verification from the priests that they were healed and kept going.
One recognized the
healing miracle and decided that thanks and glory to God came first.
Man can wait. "But seek
ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall
be added unto you." Mat 6:33
The Samaritan needed no
verification by earthly authorities. At least not yet! That would come later. THE
PRIORITY WAS THE LORD!
With a heart overwhelmed
by gratitude, thanks and love he rushed back to the Divine Healer and placed
God first.
His giving of thanks and
glorifying God released a wholeness into his life that
the remaining nine did not experience. His very act and expression of
gratitude to God resulted in a further release as he recognized and
acknowledged the source of his healing. He did what the Master had commanded!
Gratitude and praise releases something that is always good!
From this incident we are given a
beautiful insight into God's expectation. HE
EXPECTS GRATITUDE AND THANKS FROM HIS CREATION AND IF WE TRY TO STIFLE AND
SUBDUE THIS AND HOLD OUR PEACE, "...the stones would immediately cry out." Luk 19:40
It is interesting to learn that a
Hebrew word 'yadah' for praise from which the name of Judah is derived means
both praise and confession
Judah's name means the praise
of the Lord; confession (same as Jew, Judaea, Judas, Jude, Judea,
Judith) (Hitchcock)
"The ability to give thanks and
the ability to confess one's wrongdoing stem from a common source — the
recognition of truth. Indeed, the Hebrew word for praise derives
from the same root as the Hebrew word for admitting. A person who
is truthful will recognize and acknowledge the bountiful blessings the Divine
bestows upon him. By the same token, he will recognize and admit his
shortcomings." Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz
Praise and confession goes hand in
hand.
"Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that
the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against
the Canaanites first, to fight against them? And the LORD said, Judah shall go
up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand." Jdg 1:1-2
"And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the
house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first
to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall
go up first." Jdg 20:18
It appears as though the Lord is
saying let Praise and confession go up first.
O give
thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the
people. 2 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his
wondrous works. 3 Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them
rejoice that seek the LORD. 4 Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek
his face evermore. 5 Remember his marvellous works that he hath
done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; 6 O ye seed of
Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. Psa 105:1-6
Let
us therefore always remember to “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be
thankful unto him, and bless
his name. “ Psa 100:4
Interesting Illustrations
One
Thanksgiving season a family was seated around their table, looking at the
annual holiday bird. From the oldest to the youngest, they were to express
their praise. When they came to the 5-year-old in the family, he began by
looking at the turkey and expressing his thanks to the turkey, saying although
he had not tasted it he knew it would be good. After that rather novel
expression of thanksgiving, he began with a more predictable line of credits,
thanking his mother for cooking the turkey and his father for buying the
turkey. But then he went beyond that. He joined together a whole hidden
multitude of benefactors, linking them with cause and effect.
He
said, "I thank you for the checker at the grocery store who checked out
the turkey. I thank you for the grocery store people who put it on the shelf. I
thank you for the farmer who made it fat. I thank you for the man who made the
feed. I thank you for those who brought the turkey to the store."
Using
his Columbo-like little mind, he traced the turkey all the way from its origin
to his plate. And then at the end he solemnly said "Did I leave anybody
out?"
His
2-year-older brother, embarrassed by all those proceedings, said,
"God."
Solemnly
and without being flustered at all, the 5-year-old said, "I was about to
get to him."
Well,
isn't that the question about which we ought to think at Thanksgiving time? Are
we really going to get to him this Thanksgiving?
A
Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it
made no sense to go to church every Sunday. ‘I’ve gone for 30 years now,’ he
wrote, ‘and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the
life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my
time and the priests are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.’
This
started a real controversy in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ column. Much to the
delight of the editor, it went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
‘I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some
32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a
single one of those meals.
But
I do know this… They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do
my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead
today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be
spiritually dead today!’
When
you are DOWN to nothing….God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible,
believes the incredible and receives the impossible!
Thank
God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!
Rudyard
Kipling’s words not only made him famous but also brought him a fortune.
A
newspaper reporter came up to him once and said, "Mr. Kipling, I just read
that somebody calculated that the money you make from your writings amounts to
over one hundred dollars a word.”
The
reporter reached into his pocket and pulled out a one hundred-dollar bill and
gave it to Kipling and said, “Here’s a one hundred dollar bill, Mr. Kipling.
Now you give me one of your hundred dollar words.”
Rudyard
Kipling looked at the money, put it in his pocket and said, "Thanks!"
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