What Makes The Difference Dr. James Mayfield October 17, 2004
Text: Luke 17:11-19 Their plea was not unlike prayers we have made in the bad times and times of crisis. Ten lepers cried out to Jesus: “Master, have mercy on us.” In Jesus' day leprosy was greatly feared, and many skin diseases were called leprosy. Persons who were diagnosed with this disease became immediate social outcasts. Whenever anyone came near lepers were required to call out: “Unclean! Unclean!” so that there would be no accidental spreading of the disease. They could no longer hold their children or hug their spouse. In fact they could not longer live with their family. Diagnosis as a leper almost always meant poverty not only for the leper but also for those who depended on that person. Most lepers became street people -- homeless and cutoff from family and friends. Ten lepers approached Jesus crying out for mercy. Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priests because in those days, the priests were also public health officials. Before one could re-enter society, return home or get a job, a priest had to certify that the one had been a leper was now healed. Jesus told the lepers: “Go see the priests.”fNotice, at this point in the story the lepers were not healed. Yet, they did as Jesus instructed; they started toward the priests. Perhaps they had some faith, or maybe they did as he instructed saying to themselves, “What have we got to lose?” As they went on their way, they discovered themselves healed. This is often the way life works. We find ourselves in some sort of pain filled situation; and like the lepers, we cry out to Christ for help. What comes to us is some sort of insight or instruction about what we should do, where we need to go in our living. And in the process of doing what Christ asks, we discover whatever needed healing is being healed. On their way to the priests to get their clean bill of health, the lepers discovered they were healed. One of them, when he realized what had happened, came running back to Jesus, praising God and expressing the depth of his gratitude. Then Jesus said, “Were not ten made clean? What about the other nine? This man who has returned, is a Samaritan, not a Jew. What about the others of our faith? Don't they recognize what God has done in their lives? Are they blind to the grace of God? Is this Samaritan the only one who recognizes what God is doing in his life?” Why did nine out of the ten who were healed fail to return expressing gratitude to Jesus and praise to God? The writer of Luke does not tell us. My hunch is, he thought telling us the answer was unnecessary because nine out of ten times we behave like those nine lepers. To discover why the nine did not return all we have to do is look into ourselves. Maybe they were so focused on the magnificence of the gift, they were insensitive to the Giver. I can imagine myself being so excited that now I could go home and hug my wife, now I could hold my granddaughters again, now I would be able to be employed again, now I could visit my friends again. I can imagine myself being so excited about the magnificence of the gift, I would not even think about the Giver. Maybe that is why the nine did not return. Or maybe they thought their efforts were the primary reason they were healed. After all, they had the good sense to go to Jesus; they were wise enough to do what he said. Perhaps they were so focused on what they had done, they were insensitive to God's grace. Perhaps they were like we are when we have cried out to God for help and then discovered things working out the way we wanted, but rather than praise God, we brag on the praying we and others did. Maybe the nine did not return because they gave themselves credit for what was really a gift from God. Because of their misplaced focus, they were insensitive to grace and unable to experience gratitude to God. Or maybe they were just self-centered. We humans have a tendency to be so self-centered, we view the universe as if it made just for us and the gifts and joys of life as those things we just naturally deserve. We may be more sophisticated than little children but no less self-centered and self-absorbed. Have you ever given a toy to a small child, a toy the child really likes? You expect the child to respond saying: “Oh, thank you, thank you; it is just what I have wanted.” But small children more often than not merely take it in their hands and say: “Mine!” If a brother or sister approaches saying: “Let me see it” the small child clutches the toy more tightly and cries out: “Mine!” If a parent says: “Let me show you how it works” the child turns away, hugging the toy saying: “Mine!” Perhaps the nine who were cleansed and given back their lives, were like a small child with a new toy. Tightly clutching their renewed lives, they walked into their future declaring: “Mine!” How easy it is for us to look at the gifts of grace that we have received and say: “Mine!” Little wonder we so seldom experience significant gratitude to God. Given the gift of life, we say: “It is my life.” Given abilities and opportunities: we claim whatever we accomplish as “ my accomplishment.” When this is the way we view life, we live like the nine who did not return to Jesus. I doubt they were conscious of their arrogance. Their outlook on life was merely self-centered, and so focused on themselves, they were simply unable to recognize God's grace, -- not even when it gave them a gift as great as the one they received. They did not refuse to return to Jesus and in gratitude thank him and praise God. They were simply, profoundly, sadly so focused on themselves and their own lives, they were incapable gratitude. I have a hunch the reason Luke did not tell us why the nine did not return is because he assumed we would know. In the story, Jesus looked at the Samaritan who had returned and said: “Get up and go on with your life; your faith has made you …..” At this point, the Greek word that is used can be translated several ways. “Your faith has made you well.” “Your faith has cured you.” “Your faith has made you whole.” “Your faith has saved you.” However, we translate that Greek word, what it boils down to is the Samaritan received more than the healing of his leprosy. The difference between the Samaritan and the other nine healed lepers has to do with that Samaritan's ability to be aware of God's grace at work in his life. The difference was the difference between his sensitivity to grace, and the other nine lepers insensitivity to grace. His ability to be aware of God's grace at work in his life, his willingness to acknowledge his debt to God's grace enabled him to experience joy - a joy multiplied tenfold by gratitude. When we experience this kind of joy filled gratitude, if feels so good, we want to continue living in harmony with God. When we live in harmony with God, we are aware of God's grace and our awareness of God's grace shapes our living. In the deepest and most profound sense of the word, we are made whole; we are saved -- not merely rescued from hell when we die but enabled to experience life with God now. Ten lepers were healed. But only one was made whole -- the one who was able to recognize the gift of grace at work in his life. God, open our eyes to see your grace at work in our lives, so our joy can be multiplied and we can be made whole, as was that leper long ago. Amen. Pastoral prayer:
|