Theme Week – THANKS: Luke 17
Old Testament: Ezekiel 39 & 40
Poetry: Psalm 108
By Luke 17, Jesus has set his face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), and every step he takes is taking him one step closer to his ultimate act in this world : his death for sin upon a cross.
With that in mind, he knows the days of ministry are limited. On the way to Jerusalem, he entered a village, and he sees ten lepers (people who suffer from various skin diseases) who are unable to participate in community life due to laws in the Torah. In a culture like Judea in the time of Rome, family, community and tribe were not just important; they were what gave life connection, purpose, meaning. To get a skin disease which banished you from community was akin to a living death. These suffering people look to Jesus the one who can heal them, as their “Master”.
Interestingly, the last words Jesus said before speaking to these men, in Luke’s narrative, were of masters and servants. Specifically, masters do have authority over their servants or slaves. They have the authority to command them to work and rest only when the master’s wishes are fulfilled. To post-chattel-slavery-American ears, we recoil in horror about how masters might have treated their slaves. But Jesus’ point isn’t about the actual institution of slavery but about how his disciples should consider their own responsibility when following him : “When you have done all that you were commanded, say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.”” Jesus wants his disciples (that’s us) to recognize that the God who owns all things owns us, and the savior who saves all people saved us. Therefore, God and Christ deserve all things, and when we give them our all, we are not going above and beyond the call of duty, we are giving God and Christ exactly what they deserve.
Jesus tells the lepers to go and show themselves to the priest. This is a reference to a priest being able to see if they are “clean” in order to fulfill Torah and allow the unclean to return to community. Note: he does not heal them. He says “go” and “as they went they were cleansed.” It was in the going, it was in the action, the trusting, the faith that they were cleansed, made whole, restored.
But one stopped.
One turned around.
One praised God in a loud voice.
One fell at the feet of the Master Jesus.
One gave thanks.
Jesus seems to expect the other nine, inquires into there whereabouts, but looks with grace at this Samaritan leper-no-more, and says “your faith has made you well.”
Giving thanks is not an element of the Christian faith that moves us from normal to turbo-charged-Christianity.
Giving thanks is a vital part of understanding that God, who owns all things, has given us all things. (Rom. 8:32) Giving thanks is a vital part of understanding that Christ, our Master and Savior, gave himself to save us upon the cross, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isa. 53:5-6) Giving thanks is a vital part of the Christian faith, because God and Christ deserve all things, and to give them thanks and to shout loudly the praise of God and fall at the feet of Christ is the most common, natural, expected response to those who have been saved by grace through faith.
When we give thanks, we are not being amazing, super Christians, wonderful and worthy of praise ourselves.
When you give thanks and give it all to God, then say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”
-Jake Ballard
Reflection Questions
- When we consider our position as Christians, we are slaves, bought from one master (sin, death, the devil) to serve another (God through Christ). Do you bristle at the thought of being a slave or a servant? We are being adopted, heirs of God and coheirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17), but one image doesn’t completely negate the other. Why do you and I feel uncomfortable with being own by the God who already owns everything?
- “Your faith has made you well.” I find it interesting that Jesus, who seemed to be very necessary in the completion of the miracle, implies that the man was cleansed by his own faith, as if Jesus didn’t have anything to do with it. Why is this phrase used here and in other miracles? Is Jesus implying that he was not needed or is this humility? How should we understand this phrase to a man who was healed “as he went”?
- When was the last time you gave God thanks for everything in your life that you could remember? Try it this week. Everyday, after devotions, spend 5, 10, 15 minutes in prayer, thanking God for everything good in your life, in your family, in the world. Let this week be a week of giving thanks, and still realize that this is our appropriate response to the God who gives every good and perfect gift. (James 1:17)
Seek Grow Love 