Pastor Elwin Ahu
February 10, 2008 - W0806

The book of Luke describes an incident of a sinful woman who dared to enter Simon’s home where Jesus was visiting.  Simon, a Pharisee well-versed in God’s laws, was surprised that a prophet like Jesus, allowed a sinful woman to touch him.  This was a woman who was scorned and shunned by society.  She was an outcast – it was a huge risk she took in entering the house of a Pharisee – yet she entered and brought an alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume with which she cleansed the feet of Jesus.

Luke doesn’t say who she was or what sins she had committed.  It may have been adultery or uncontrolled anger, but it isn’t important to the point that Luke is making.  Jesus read Simon’s thoughts so he told a story of a moneylender who pardoned two men of their debts.  One owed 500 denari and the other owed 50 denari.  Jesus asked Simon which one of the debtors would love the moneylender more?  Simon replied that it was the one who owed the most.  Now, Simon never offered any water to wash Jesus’ feet, nor greeted him with a kiss or anointed his head with oil.  Yet, this woman washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, continuously kissing them and anointing them with rare perfume.  Her sins, Jesus said, are many, yet have been forgiven for she loved much.  Those who love little will be forgiven little.    Simon was in the midst of a miracle when Jesus forgave this sinful woman, but Simon missed the miracle. 

Luke presents examples of others, like Simon, who missed a miracle in their midst – as is the case of Luke 17, when ten lepers are miraculously cured.  Hansen’s disease, otherwise known as leprosy, causes a deterioration of nerves accompanied by a loss of sensation.  Because there is no pain when the inflicted hurt themselves, they injure themselves and may not know it.  Their injuries get infected.  The infections are followed by decay and eventually the loss of limbs. The disease often attacks the bridge of the nose of the inflicted person; Father Damien describes their physical deformities as smashed faces and ravaged bodies.  Their breath and body reeked foul and nauseating odors because of the decaying flesh and infections.  King Kamehameha V passed a law to banish them to Kalaupapa on Molokai.  They were taken over on cattle boats and dropped near the shoreline of the Pali Cliffs.  Those who could swim to shore would survive, while those who couldn’t drowned.  But those who survived suffered a hard life. 

The book of Leviticus also had harsh laws about lepers.  The humiliation and loneliness must have been torture for a person with leprosy.  They could not sleep in their own home nor embrace their family again.  Imagine the brokenness and disgrace they had to bear.

“Those who suffer from a serious skin disease must tear their clothing and leave their hair uncombed.  They must cover their mouth and call out, “Unclean!  Unclean!”  As long as the serious disease last, they will be ceremonially unclean.  They must live in isolation in their place outside the camp.” (Leviticus 13:45-46)

In passing between Jerusalem and Samaria, Jesus comes upon 10 lepers.  Luke 17 describes it like this: 

“While [Jesus] was on the way to Jerusalem … ten leprous men … stood at a distance … and they raised their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’  When He saw them, He said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’  And as they were going, they were cleansed.  Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him.  And he was a Samaritan.  Then Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed?  But the nine---where are they?  Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?’  And He said to him, ‘Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.’”  (Luke 17:11-19)

Who was Jesus speaking to when He asked, “Were there not 10 cleansed?  But the nin – where are they?”  It was to His disciples.  Jesus was a great teacher and He seized this moment to teach His disciples.  He sets a contrast between the nine Jewish lepers and one Samaritan leper.  Nine sons of Abraham are healed and then they are gone.  One foreigner, a Samaritan, was also healed, but he came back to give glory to God.  Jesus pointed this out to His disciples and wanted them to see what was wrong with this picture.

Samaritans were Jews who intermingled with and married foreigners.  Because their bloodlines were impure, they became outcasts of the Jewish community.  Samaritans weren’t allowed in the city or temple so this Samaritan leper had no right to be healed because he would have to present himself to Jewish priests but he was not allowed into the temple.  Josephus wrote about the temple court where Jesus had told the lepers to go.  There was a sign above the temple that read:  ‘Any foreigner who goes beyond this wall will have only himself to blame for his ensuing death.’  This leper took great risks, yet he was the only one who came back to give God the glory.  This lesson is not about him; rather, it is about the nine others.  We are like the nine because it is in our nature to miss the miracle even when it is in our midst. 

To understand this lesson, we must understand the nature of these nine lepers.  They were obedient to the Word.  They obeyed the law to keep their distance from others.  Instead of healing them directly, Jesus tells them to ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’  In other words, do what the law instructs you to do.  Their healing came through obedience to Jesus but they still missed the miracle.  Understand that:

1.      WE CAN DO ALL THE RIGHT THINGS AND STILL BE WRONG.

These nine were so preoccupied with following the law of doing what was right, that they forgot about being right.  They focused on doing instead of becoming.  We tend to focus on what we do rather than what we are becoming in life.  We define success by our trophies or our resumes that list all we have accomplished.  We mold our identities by what we do rather than what we are in this world.  Even in our walk of faith, we focus on what we can do for God rather than becoming what we can for God.

It is the condition of our heart that God wants of us.  To become what God requires demands change.  We may need to take risks as we navigate through these changes to see the miracles that God has for us.  Remember the story in Luke 18, of the rich, young man who wanted to inherit eternal life.  Jesus told him that he must obey all of the commandments, to which the young man replied:

“And he said, ‘All these things I have kept from my youth.’ When Jesus heard this, He said to him, ‘One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’ But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.”  (Luke 18:21-23).

This young man missed the miracle that was before him.  When Jesus challenged him to change his values, it was a risk that he refused to take.  He was more concerned about doing what was right rather than becoming the right kind of person for God. 

Relationships are about what we can become for each other more than what we can do for each other.  Don’t try to outperform each other; don’t keep tally of who’s doing more for whom.  Instead, ask yourself if you are loving, honoring, serving and respecting others?  Are you validating their feelings?

So many times, we allow what we do to define our success, just as these nine lepers – preoccupied with what they were doing and the healing they had just received – forgetting Jesus and what He wanted them to become.  They focused so much on what was happening to them.  As someone once said, “The moment we get what we have longed for, is the moment of testing for us.”  When God answers your prayers, will you still give Him your eyes and your honor?  Or will you become distracted with the blessing and forget about Him?  Do you get excited over the gift rather than the giver?  This is why the…

·        TOUGHEST TEST TO PASS IS THE TEST OF SUCCESS.

What do we do after we get what we want?  We should remain focused on what is important.  God knew we may have trouble in this area just as He knew this about His people in Egypt.  So, He warned them in Deuteronomy 8:11-14:

“Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God…otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”  (Deuteronomy 8:11-14)

God knows us better than we know ourselves.  Success tends to turn our eyes away from God to look at what we are doing or accomplishing.  When we forget our God, we miss the true meaning of the miracles before us.  Answered prayers don’t mean that all your problems disappear.  For example, here at New Hope, our prayers to reach the lost were answered but now we have parking problems and seating problems.  When your prayers for a spouse are answered, you often find that s/he creates new problems for you.  But we need to look at the miracle and not the problem because it’s all about what you do with God once He answers your prayers that matters. 

Don’t focus so much on your circumstances.  Give God the glory so you won’t miss the meaning of the miracle.  My little adopted son Jared is a miracle and I remind him often because I don’t want him to forget what God has done for him.  He was born with a failing heart which doctors were able to correct with surgery.  God blessed him with a new heart and saved his life.  I remind Jared that God did a miracle for him; and we should never forget that miracle.

Jesus can do whatever He wants but only we can complete the relationship He wants to have with us.  When that one leper came back to see Jesus, he established a relationship with Him.   Never forget what Jesus has done for us but more importantly, don’t forfeit the relationship Jesus wants us to have with us.  Always remember:

2.      RELATIONSHIPS, AND NOT RESULTS, REVEAL THE TRUE MIRACLES.

“Then Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed?  But the nine---where are they?  Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?’  And He said to him, ‘Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.’”  (Luke 17:17-19)

Jesus can do the impossible.  He can get whatever He wants; however, He won’t force us to have a relationship with Him.  He extends the invitation but only we can complete that relationship.  Although, ten lepers were healed, only one was made whole:  the Samaritan who came back to thank (and establish a relationship with) the Lord.  Similarly, the woman in Luke 17 was in the presence of the Lord as so many others were, including a Pharisee, but only she experienced the relationship that Jesus wanted.  We can seek the Lord for relief or we can be like that one leper and that woman who will seek the relationship that God wants for us.   

“’For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.’…And He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’”  (Luke 7:47-50)

Those nine lepers loved little, that is why they never came back to give God the glory.  Perhaps, they felt they were entitled to the healing because they were Jewish.  We can only speculate, but what we do know is that Jesus Christ did not have first priority in their lives.  So, they failed to realize the magnitude of the miracle Jesus had just performed for them.  Only that one leper, who was an outcast, knew how it felt to be pushed aside by others, so he came back to glorify God.  He realized how much God loved him.  The bible says that the wages of sin is death and we are all sinners that fall short of the glory of God.  It’s only by God’s grace that our slate is wiped clean so we can stand before Him.  Don’t let the busyness of life cause you to forget what God has done for you, because:

·        BEING GRATEFUL WILL OPEN YOUR EYES TO GOD’S MIRACLES.

When you are grateful, you won’t miss the miracles God has done for you and the miracles He will continue to do for you.  Look at your children, your spouse, and at all your relationships with gratefulness so that your eyes will begin to see the miracles God has already done for you. 

DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS

1.      Have you ever felt like an outcast and did it prevent you or inspire you to become what you wanted to be?

2.      Are you in a relationship that needs a miracle of healing and how can you be a part of that miracle?

3.      Was there ever a miracle in your life that you missed because you were preoccupied in doing something else?  What have you learned from it?

4.      Describe a success in your life that caused you to forget God.  Did you correct it?  If so, how?  If not, how would you if given another chance?

5.      What requires your gratefulness today and why?

6.      How can you learn to take risks that God has asked of you to focus on becoming what He wants rather than doing everything right?