AP

Luke 17:11-16  Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.  As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him.  They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”  When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”  And as they went, they were cleansed.  One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.  He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him and he was a Samaritan.

There are some interesting things that we can learn from this little episode in the life and ministry of Jesus.

Firstly, Luke is the only Gospel writer who records it.  This is consistent with the fact that only Luke brings us the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  Luke sees Jesus as God’s Rescuer, not only of God’s Covenant People, the Jews, but even of their despised neighbours, the Samaritans.  This is a timely reminder to us of our responsibility to take the Good News to people of every nationality, class, cultural background, etc, and especially to people we might find it difficulat to love, relate to, or even tolerate – people who are outside our comfort zone.

Secondly, the dreaded disease of leprosy ostracised these ten men from their own society, but, by so doing, brought them into close friendship with each other.  If this particular Samaritan did not suffer from this terrible, isolating stigma he would not be able to have anything to do with God’s Chosen People (the common expression was that a Jew must not eat from a plate that had been handled by a Samaritan, as if it had deadly Samaritan ‘germs’!); but now, he was in a close brotherhood with these nine friends because of their disease.  This is a good reminder to us that every member of the human race – regardless of skin colour, cultural background, class or creed – is an offsprng of Adam, and therefore suffers before God from the damning disease of sin.  Do I, even unintentionally, come across to my acquaintances as someone who is ‘better’ than them because I am a Christian, or do my attitudes, words and actions make it clear that I am always just a sinner saved by God’s grace?  My old minister, under whose ministry I grew up, used to define evangelism as ‘one beggar telling another begger where to find food’.  John Bradford set a good pattern for us by describing a drunk man lying in the gutter: “There, but for the grace of God, go I!” (I remember, as a teenager, hearing Neil MacLeod say in a sermon in an attempt to personalise this example: “Was it not John Bradford who said of a drunken man: ‘There, but for the grace of God, goes Neil MacLeod’”, but, amusing as this little slip-up was to us teenagers, he made his point very well and it has always stuck with me these 70 years since!)

Thirdly, it is interesting that, after their miraculous healing, the nine Jews were mainly interested in the outward ritual that allowed them back into the Jewish spiritual community, whereas the Samaritan just wanted to give his heartfelt thanks to the One who had rescued him!  I can see him having a meaningful personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ for the rest of his life (and for all eternity!), as opposed to just ‘going through the actions’ of religiosity.  These are all valuable lessons and reminders for me as I try to live my whole life as a ‘Thank Offering’ to my Saviour!

– Bruce Christian