Simple Faith
Luke 17: 11-14 NKJV
11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
14 So when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
This is the passage that is often referred to when it comes to giving thanks. And it's a great example. Ten lepers were healed, and one came back to give thanks to Jesus. I am not sure we are on the right track when we make the assumption from that miracle that only 10% of the people are thankful. That only one out of ten is willing to express thanks. I can't see that being a hard and fast rule, and I am sure when we get to heaven, we'll be able to sort all that out.
What we should not miss is the example of faith that we see in these ten lepers. We have been speaking about the subject of faith in our Wednesday night services. My concern is that people look at faith as an option or something that was emphasized long ago. The words faith, and some form of belief, are used over four hundred times in the New Testament. This is how we live this life with God. Examples such as our verses for today help us understand that faith is not as complicated as we have made it.
These ten lepers were forced to cry out to Jesus from a distance. Because leprosy is a contagious disease, the Jews had strict quarantine laws for those who were affected. People with leprosy had to keep a distance, and if anyone came near, they would call out, "Unclean! " The ten men asked Jesus for mercy. Have mercy on us. They must have already known that Jesus was a healer; this was the reason they called out to Him. They asked for mercy, not money. The Olive Tree online dictionary says that mercy is not just a feeling for the misfortunes of others but an active desire to remove those miseries. These ten men needed their physical condition removed, so they called out to Jesus for mercy.
When Jesus says go show yourselves to the priests, the directive loses some steam unless you understand Jewish law. A man cleansed of leprosy had to go show himself to the priests before they could enter society. So an individual could not simply declare himself healed and return home. The book of Leviticus has two long chapters that deal specifically with leprosy diagnosis and the rituals for declaring a leper clean. They may seem a bit extreme, but the Jewish quarantine laws were extremely ahead of their time. But a leper did not go to the priest unless he was cleansed. The priests were the ones who would declare a person leprous, and the priests were the only ones who could declare them clean. When Jesus said, "Go show yourselves," all ten of the men still had leprosy. They could have debated whether to go or not. They could have waited to see if they were clean enough to go. But they simply accepted what Jesus said and acted accordingly. And as they acted on what Jesus said, they were healed—no more leprosy. Mercy won!
Application
A simple definition of faith is acting on what God has said. Faith has action to it. So when we believe what God has said to us in His Word, and we believe what the Holy Spirit whispers to our heart, we act. Acting may involve speaking, praising, and moving in a direction. We don't have to wait for a feeling. We don't wait until everything looks perfectly in line before we can act. Our giving to the Lord is an act of our faith. Our serving the Lord is an act of our faith. Simple things such as reading scriptures and speaking them over our lives is an act of our faith. Here's a big one: forgiving others and forgiving ourselves is an act of our faith. The ten men did not have to go through years of scriptural training. They simply heard what Jesus spoke to them, accepted it as truth, and headed off to see the priest. We can do the same. But of course, you don’t have to go to a priest or to me to verify what Jesus does in your life. But make sure you give Him thanks and give Him all the glory.
Prayer
Thank You, Lord, for still working in the lives of Your people today. I believe in You, and I believe Your words to me, and I am thankful.