Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. As he enters a village, ten men with leprosy call out to him from a distance.

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Byron Cox
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1 Page 1 Luke 17: The Grateful Leper Luke is writing an account of Jesus life, based on eye-witness accounts and experiences. The things he writes, the conversations he highlights, are important. They teach us something about Jesus, his ministry and his life. This account by Luke is one of four gospels good news accounts about Jesus and the coming of his kingdom. So this little vignette, this little story, is important. Luke has recalled it and recorded it. It teaches us something about Jesus and about ourselves. Something important. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. As he enters a village, ten men with leprosy call out to him from a distance. 13: Jesus, Master, have pity on us. They have to call from a distance because they are not allowed near. They have leprosy. They are excluded from society. They are not allowed to draw near. But Jesus sees them. He hears their loud cries and he instructs them to go and show themselves to the priests. This was what lepers or people with skin diseases or impurities were supposed to do once they had been healed, once their condition was gone. Jesus commands them to go the priest, and as they go, they are healed. One of the lepers then returns, praising God in a loud voice. The Greek words that are used in the passage give us our word megaphone. He praised Jesus in a loud voice. He throws himself at Jesus feet and thanks him.

2 Page 2 He is a Samaritan. An outsider. A foreigner. Not one of the chosen people of God the nation of Israel. Jesus comments on the fact that only one has returned to give thanks and praise. Were not all ten healed? 1 in 10. It s not a great statistic. Don t you just love those surveys and statistics that tell you: 9 out of 10 cats 1 in 5 people like this / do that 1 in 15 people / 2 in 3 marriages. They reduce you to a statistic, put you in a box. You wonder if you will be the 1 in the statistic. What if your cat is the one that does not like that particular cat food!?! It reminds me of an old joke I heard that Tommy Cooper used to tell: Apparently, one in five people in the world is Chinese. And there are five people in my family, so it must be one of them. It s either my mum or my dad. Or my older brother Colin. Or my younger brother, Ho-Chan-Chu. But I think it s Colin. 1 in 10 lepers returned to give thanks to Jesus for healing him. Are you the one? Ravaged by leprosy. A death sentence. Painful isolation. Separated from your family and community from one minute to

3 Page 3 the next. The continual self-pronouncement over your life: unclean. Jesus enters their life and from one moment to the next their life is transformed. They are cleansed. They are healed. Their life is restored. They can return to their family. What a momentous moment! It reminds me of the old hymn, that I sometimes sing to myself: Praise my soul the king of heaven To his feet thy tribute bring Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven Who like thee His praise should sing? Are you the 1 in 10 who praises and gives thanks? What is your G.Q? Your Gratitude Quotient? George Buttrick, pastor in New York ( ) wrote a book called Prayer, considered one of the best books on prayer ever written. In it Buttrick uses an illustration to help people see the goodness of God. A lecturer to a group of businessmen displayed a sheet of white paper on which was one blot. He asked what they saw. All answered, A blot. The test was unfair; it invited the wrong

4 Page 4 answer. Nevertheless there is an ingratitude in human nature by which we notice the black disfigurement and forget the widespread mercy. We need to deliberately call to mind the joys of our journey. Perhaps we should try to write down the blessings of one day. We might begin: we could never end: there are not pens or paper enough in all the world. The attempt would remind us of our vast treasure of content. Buttrick is clear: we must deliberately call to mind the blessings that are all around us. If we had eyes to see all of them, the pens and paper in the whole world could not write them down. This is why the psalmist says: Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things (Psalm 103) This is why Paul writes to the Thessalonians: Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thess. 5: 16-18) And to the Philippians:

5 Page 5 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, present your prayers and petitions with thanksgiving. And to the Colossians: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16) Our troubles are real. But they are small compared to God s widespread mercy. Some of us are better at giving thanks and living joyfully than others. David has been covering the four temperaments over August, and there is no doubt that some of us are more naturally disposed towards optimism or pessimism to seeing the cup half empty or the cup half full. For some of us, living in the moment, breathing out gratitude, enjoying the blessings of life, comes fairly easily. For others, we are much more able to see the black blot rather than the white paper to see the negative rather than the positive. An avid duck hunter was in the market for a new bird dog. The first time he went out hunting with his new dog, he shot the bird, which fell into the lake nearby. He was astounded to see his new dog actually run on top of the water to retrieve the duck. Shocked by this amazing find, he was sure none of his friends would ever believe him. He decided to try to break the news to a friend of his, a pessimist by nature, and invited him to hunt with him and his new dog.

6 Page 6 As they waited by the shore, a flock of ducks flew by; they fired, and a duck fell. The dog responded and jumped into the water. The dog, however, did not sink but instead walked across the water to retrieve the bird, never getting more than his paws wet. The friend saw everything but did not say a single word. On the drive home the hunter asked his friend, "Did you notice anything unusual about my new dog?" "I sure did," responded his friend. "He can't swim." Some of us are more disposed to negativity than others. Many of us 9 out of 10 of us? struggle to live a life of praise and gratitude. What about you? Are you able to enjoy the moment? The meal? The rest? Sabbath? Your friendships, your family, your church family? This day that the Lord has given you? This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it? On holiday recently, a verse stood out to me: Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. (Eccl. 9:7) James Bryant Smith The Good and Beautiful God The soul training of counting your blessings Counting your blessings is a powerful spiritual exercise. Make a list of all the things God has blessed you with, all of the things that make life wonderful. Pay attention to the details of your life. Look for the hidden things. Take notice of all those wonderful things you

7 Page 7 easily overlook. Start small: try to come up with a list of ten things God has blessed you with. It can include things like your loved ones, material provision or opportunities you have been given. It can also include things in the created world: the sun, the stars, the mountains and so forth. Or you might want to include things you love, like coffee or ice cream! Finally, also include things that God has done for you. Each day, God is at work providing for us, even though we cannot always see it. This exercise is aimed at helping you see the widespread mercy that is so much greater than the black blot. Keep adding to your list each day. Here are a few off James Bryant Smith s list: God s existence, God s presence with me, Jesus, the church, a glass of iced tea on a hot day, books, naps that refresh, the loved one who finally came to know God, tennis, colours, smells, dreams, sunshine, the wisdom of others, a stranger s smile, my dog wagging its tail, happy to see me, a child s hugs, the smell of the woods, clean socks, coffee, prayer, the hope of heaven that awaits me, the smell of rain, chocolate, encouragement, the great hymns, my pastor s sermons.. Ok, he didn t write that last one, that was me. This is not a one-off exercise, but something that needs to become engrained into our life. There is a certain member of my family without naming names but it s not me and it s not the children who has reached that point in life where they cannot read the small print on packets and books. They do the whole squinting and holding at arm s length routine. What I call the trombone move.

8 Page 8 You see people who wear glasses. One minute everything is blurred, then they fish out their reading glasses, and everything becomes clear again! Developing a lifestyle of praise and gratitude like this is like putting on a different pair of glasses. You start to see the world more clearly, you get a different view, your perspective changes. Perspective is everything. Do you see the black blot or the widespread mercy? Musician and author David Crowder writes: When good is found and we embrace it with abandon, we embrace the Giver of it.every second is an opportunity to praise. There is a choosing to be made. A choosing at each moment. This is the Praise Habit. Finding God moment by revelatory moment, in the sacred and the mundane, in the valley and on the hill, in triumph and tragedy, and living praise erupting because of it. This is what we were made for. The more we do this, the more likely it is to become a habit and we will find ourselves doing it without thinking. We will become, as Augustine said, An Alleluia from head to toe.

BUT WHERE ARE THE NINE LUKE 17

BUT WHERE ARE THE NINE LUKE 17 Text: Luke 17:17 (Luke 17:17) "And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?" Introduction: In our text ten lepers are healed but only one