Return and Give Thanks

Luke 17: 11 – 19 (NIV): 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 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"  19 Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

     Leprosy is called Hansen’s Disease today and is treatable. It is a bacterial infection that does terrible things to you if you do not treat it. In Bible times, people feared it, and rightly so. They thought it was more contagious than it really was, though, and one of the worse things about having it was victims were cast from their families.

    These lepers seemed to have positioned themselves to encounter Jesus as he passed by. They knew who he was and that he could heal them. They cried out for mercy. Jesus had pity on them and told them to go to the priests.

    Leviticus 14 explains that a healed person must show himself to a priest, so this is what Jesus told the men to do. Remarkably, he told them to go show themselves before they were healed! The act of going proved their faith and their faith healed them. Remember, God cannot work in our lives without faith.

    When all ten realized they had been healed, only one returned to thank Jesus. I want to be like that one. I don’t want to take God for granted. I want to take time to stop and thank him for his goodness. He saved me and I want to show my thanks in my lifestyle and through giving back to him. We give back through finances, talents, abilities, pausing to say thanks in worship, and by living in such a way that shows we are thankful.

A Prophet Without Honor

Mark 6: 1 – 5 (NIV): 1 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 3 Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 4 Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.

    Why is a prophet not honored among his own people? It’s not that they felt he didn’t deserve the honor. It’s just that because they were familiar with him, they couldn’t give him the respect he deserved. If he had been a total stranger, there would have been more of a mystery surrounding him. Aesop said, “familiarity breeds contempt.” We tend to take for granted what we see every day. We tend to consider things common that may actually be extraordinary.  I’ve heard of people living in Colorado Springs who have never been to the summit of Pike’s Peak. To them it’s no big deal, just a mountain they see every day.

    So the people of Nazareth wouldn’t give Jesus honor because they knew him well, but not well enough. They watched him grow up; they watched him work with his dad as a carpenter; they knew his family. How could he perform miracles and teach like this?

    We must be careful, as we grow more and more familiar with Jesus, that we do not begin to think of him as common. We must give him the respect due him no matter how close to him we become.  We must never take him for granted or forget that he is God in the flesh and the creator of the universe. Jesus could not perform many miracles in Nazareth because of the townspeople’s lack of faith. Some were even offended by his teaching and claims.  Even though you have always heard of him, continue to give him your faith and respect. Then you will see miracles in your life.

Don't Be a Casual Onlooker

Luke 14: 25 – 28 (NIV): 25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? ... "

    We must look at this in context. Large crowds were following Jesus to hear him, be entertained by him, maybe to be healed by him. Jesus explained to them that there is more to being a Christian than looking on and being entertained. He used the shock value of saying they must hate their parents in order to be a disciple. We know that God does not want us to hate our parents or anyone else. This was a teaching device to catch the attention of his listeners. He means we cannot love anything in the world more than him; we cannot put anything in the world above him. He is looking for a total commitment.

    And there is a cost involved in being a follower of Christ. He wanted the crowd to understand this going in. When he says “whoever believes in me”, he doesn’t mean we believe that he existed, he means we put our complete trust in him for salvation. The one thing God does not want us to do is “dabble” in Christianity. He does not want us to accept part but not all of his teachings, for instance. And he wants us to be wholly devoted to him.

    I have heard it said that Jesus must be Lord of all or not Lord at all. But I also believe making Jesus Lord of our lives is a life-long process. Committing ourselves to him, however, and trusting him alone for salvation is not negotiable. He gave his life for us and wants ours in return. When he said “carry his cross”, his hearers understood that he meant “march to your death”. Jesus is not seeking casual onlookers, he is looking for whole-hearted disciples.

Nothing Can Separate Us From God's Love

Romans 8: 31-32, 37-39 (NIV): 31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ... 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

     Paul had just written that God works everything for our good—if we belong to Christ—and that God's desire is that every Christian become like Jesus. Because of this, Paul says, nothing in all of creation can ever separate us from God's love.

    If God didn't even spare his own son for us, will he not give us whatever else we need? And if he did not condemn us, but instead chose to forgive us, then no one else will ever bring a charge against us. Jesus, Paul says, is sitting at God's right hand interceding for us. He declares that we are no longer guilty because he has already paid our sentence.
    And no matter what we face we can never leave the grace or the love of God. Even if we die, we are still safe in God's hands. Jesus said in Luke 12:4 that we need not fear those who can kill the body, but after that, can do no more. So we have the hope that our loved ones are safe in God's hands even after they die. There are no supernatural powers that can separate us from God's love. Nothing happening now and nothing that might happen in the future. We cannot go so high that we are separated from God, and we cannot go so low that he can no longer reach us. And nothing in all of creation. Since God created the universe, this means nothing at all can ever separate us from God's love. We are safe in God's love and safe in his hands, and we will be for all of eternity.