Turning Back

REFLECTION

October 14, 2007- The Lagro UMC

Title: TURNING BACK

Luke 17:11-19

TEN HEALED OF LEPROSY

By: Arnel Oroceo

“And one of them when he saw that he was healed turned back and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at His (Jesus) feet, giving Him thanks.” –Luke 17:15-16 -KJV2000

INTRODUCTION

I have entitled this reflection “Turning Back” which I have taken from the lectionary reading- Luke 17:11-19. It is particularly about the ten lepers whom the Lord has healed of their leprosy. The literal message of this account is very simple. It is about the power of God to heal all manners of sickness and disease, and a man’s expression of deep gratitude. However, I would like to focus on the allegorical significance of the account. I have chopped it into five short points. Follow me in my observations…

EXPOSITION

1. THE LEPERS’ PRAYER

As He entered into a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers who stood afar off; and they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Teacher, have mercy on us!”- Luke 17:12-13

The Lord met ten lepers while on His way into a certain village. In Jewish culture, leprosy was a disease, which the Jews supposed that God might have inflicted for the punishment of a particular sin, and more than other diseases, a mark of God’s displeasure. In Leviticus 13:45, a person who had leprosy must wear torn clothes, his hair must be unkept and put a cover on the lower part of the face and cry out “Unclean! Unclean!” As long as the disease was on him, he must live alone outside the camp. You could just imagine the stigma against those men. God knew how these people were suffering and so Christ, who came to take away sin, and turn away wrath, took particular care to cleanse the lepers that fell in his way.

Observe: [1] They have stood afar off from the Lord Jesus but they lifted their voice to Him and called Him Teacher. They have been too embarrassed to come near the Lord because of their disease still; they have cried unto Jesus with boldness. At one point in our lives, that is how we have been. The mire of sin has covered us with spiritual leprosy thus; we could not go to the Lord. We, too, have been impure and like the ten lepers, we have cried unto the Lord with the confidence that He will forgive us and answer our prayer. The lepers’ prayer is a symbol of humility, boldness and trust. We should always keep a humble spirit yet with boldness as we approach the Lord. He is a holy God and we in our state of humanity are impure. We should remember that He is not a sort of genie who is a slave to our requests. We are His slaves. However, we can totally trust in His boundless grace and mercy. [2] The lepers asked for mercy. They could have had asked directly for healing but they did not. They cried for the Lord’s mercy. It was a cry of faith. Perhaps, they could no longer enumerate the hardships they were going through but they trusted God. They knew that the Lord’s mercy never fails. Sometimes, in the heaviness of our problems, we no longer know what to pray for or even how to pray. However, we know that when the Lord’s mercy begins to work in our lives, we could get more than what we could expect. In Psalm 66:10-12, the lectionary Psalm reading, it showed that in spite of hard times, the Lord delivers His people and brings them to prosperity and understanding.

2. THE LORD’S ANSWER

And when He saw them, He said unto them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And it came to pass that, as they went, they were cleansed. –Luke 17:14

According to the Law of Moses, the priests had quarantine powers and only the priest could pronounce that a leper was already clean.

Observe: [1] Jesus’ statement was a great test of obedience and the lepers showed great faith. He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests”. The lepers went as Jesus directed them. If you would remember the Old Testament account about Naaman, the Syrian general who had leprosy in 2 Kings 5, prophet Elisha asked him to dip himself seven times in the Jordan River and he would be clean. At first, he got angry because he expected the prophet to pray over him but he did not. He thought that what the prophet asked him to do was rather absurd because he believed that the rivers in Damascus were cleaner by far than the Jordan River if dipping into a river was the way to cure his disease. However, when he obeyed the command of the prophet of God, and he dipped himself in the Jordan River seven times, “his skin was restored again like unto the flesh of a little child”-2 Kings 5:14. The lepers received almost the same kind of instruction but unlike Naaman, they proceeded at once without question or hesitation. Imagine, the Lord have asked you to go to the priest while you can still see the leprosy on your skin! We can expect God to meet us with mercy when He finds us in obedience especially in things that seems beyond our abilities or against our expectations. When we choose to obey God no matter how difficult it may seem to be in our circumstances and choose to trust His wise judgment, He will surely not miss doing for us what we cannot do. Often we sing this hymn, “Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” We cannot separate the two since we cannot say we trust if we do not obey because we do not obey whom we do not trust. [2] The Lord’s statement also shows His respect for the ordinances of the Law of Moses and the priests who were responsible for those ordinances. In the same way, the mercies of God flow through the different ministries of our church. We should not be shy to approach our pastor so that he could pray over us. Let us attend our prayer meetings, Bible studies or Sunday school. We can experience the mercies of God intimately in our lives through our diligent use of those means.

3. THE GRATITUDE OF A SAMARITAN

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks; and he was a Samaritan” –Luke 17:15-16.

Observe: [1] The Samaritan leper turned back and glorified God in a loud voice. He could not contain the joy and excitement he felt when he realized that the Lord had healed him. He glorified God in a loud voice and so, all the people within the range of his voice must have heard him. When we receive the answer to our prayer it is only but fitting to let everyone hear about it. Let us boast about the goodness of God. Let us be witnesses for God’s power and kindness. [2] When he turned back, he worshipped the Lord. Gratitude ignites the fire of our love for the Lord. Sometimes, it is not enough to say thank you in prayer. We need to express it through worshipful service. Bowing down at the feet of the King means, you are presenting yourself to Him for service. You are submitting yourself under His authority and kingship with absolute loyalty. How do we serve our God and King? One is taking part in the ministries of our church. It is through such services that we find full satisfaction in our expression of love and gratitude toward God. [3] The leper was a Samaritan. The Jews have estranged the Samaritans from the observance of the Jewish religion. They could neither go to the temple or synagogues nor mingle with Jews. The Jews had regarded them as sinful people and despised them. Yet this man, though, he was far from the knowledge of God received a bountiful blessing from God. The Lord shows no favoritism. His grace is upon all. This Samaritan might have thought that God hated them but by receiving a miracle from the Lord, he realized that such notion was not true. A Samaritan went back to thank God and this was when the Jews, who call themselves the people of God, forgot. Gratitude leads us to become witnesses for God and ignites our service for the Lord.

4. WHERE ARE THE NINE?

And Jesus answering said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There was not found one that returned to give glory to God, except this stranger” –Luke 17:17-18.

Observe: [1] Ten were cleansed but only one returned to give thanks. The missing nine probably were Jews. Perhaps, they got so excited to get a release from the priests so they could reunite with their respective families. Perhaps, they had to finish the strict ceremony for purification (Leviticus 13) that they forgot the most important thing- to return to Jesus and thank Him. The Jews called themselves children of God and rightfully so but at the first instance of healing, turning back to the Lord was not their instinctive priority. Rev. Matthew Henry commented allow me to paraphrase: ingratitude is a very common sin. Of the many that receive mercy from God, very few return to give thanks in a manner befitting the grace that they have received. Often those who prove most grateful are those from whom it was least expected. Here a Samaritan gave thanks, and a Jew did not. Sometimes, many who profess true religion are out-done and quite shamed, by those who are outside the church, not only in moral value but also in piety and devotion... it also shows the ingratitude of the world of mankind, for whom he had done so much, and from whom he has received so little. There is hymn by Frances Havergal, “I gave, I gave my life for thee; what hast thou given for me?” The Lord’s mercies are for all because it is His nature to show mercy. As children of God, let us all possess a nature of faithfulness in our expressions of our gratitude for “He (the Lord) who has called us is faithful”- Hebrews 10:23; even when we are faithless, 2 Timothy 2:13 says, although, this should not give us a reason to be complacent but be for us an encouragement to be faithful. In the last days, 2 Timothy 3:1-5 says, men will be selfish, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful and unholy. Let us guard ourselves from being one of those unthankful people by keeping our focus on Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). The Lord looked for the nine. He expects us to return Him with thanksgiving.

5. THE FAITH THAT HEALS

And He said unto him, “Arise, go your way; your faith had made you whole” – Luke 17:19.

Observe: [1] The Lord acknowledged his faith. It was a great comfort for a Samaritan like him, whom the Jews who called themselves people of God had so much despised, that his faith was acceptable unto the Lord and was indeed accepted. How the Lord saw him had set him apart from the rest. God did not only bestow His mercy because of his prayer; the Lord was pleased with him. Indeed, as Matthew Henry commented, the Lord’s grace is doubled unto us whenever we approach the Lord with a prayer of faith and return with a prayer of praise.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE MESSAGE

In our approaches to God, let us keep a spirit of humility and boldness, with obedient faith and let us not forget to turn back with a prayer of praise and a triumphant testimony. Let our gratitude fire up our service unto the Lord. As we receive God’s mercies through the ministries of our church, let us also be actively a part of these ministries that we may share our joy with the brethren who draw intimately upon the mercies of the Lord through these ministries. We may join the choir or the praise team. We may teach, preach, give, comfort or pray. Whatever it may be, it is already between you and God. The ministry of the laity largely contributes to the growth of the church because God works through them and through the members’ love for each other. In another song, it says, “What can we give that you have not given? What do we have that is not already yours? All we possess are this life we’re living and that’s what we give to you Lord.”

As lay members of the church, let us remind ourselves to continue to keep our church a sanctuary of the Lord’s grace and mercy through our active participation in our church ministries as an expression of our gratitude toward our Lord who has given us so much.

May the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ be praised!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen!

To the readers of Reflections: Permission is given to print and reproduce part (where the meaning intended is retained and the part is not quoted out of context) or all the content of the reflections for personal use or for distribution on the condition that there is proper acknowledgement, no changes are made and the content is distributed free of charge. Please be prayerful and discreet in distributing or making the content available to others. This paragraph should be included in any and all content reproduced for distribution.

-Arnel Oroceo

The Orocean Journal

A P E R S O N A L P O R T F O L I O W E B S I T E