Health and Wholeness

A Story of Healing

October 11, 1998

Luke 17:11-19

A story in Luke's Gospel- an incident that happened 2,000 years ago- may seem pretty disconnected to life as we live it here in the close of the 20th century. But there are windows in this particular story that let light shine on the pathways we all must walk. The story of the healing of ten lepers is not as remote as you might think.

I. WHEN THEY CALLED OUT, JESUS RESPONDED

Hopeless, isolated by law, absorbed by their own troubles a small band of lepers skulked around the borders of Galilee and Samaria in the northern regions of the Holy Land. They were not only sick with an incurable disease, they were marked as untouchables, kicked out of fellowship with anyone except other lepers. They foraged for food. They begged at a distance for anything and everything they needed. But the one thing they really needed, the one thing that makes life worth living— hope— was already lost.

Until Jesus came along, that is. A tiny spark of hope prompted the ten lepers to approach as near as they could and make a long distance shout for help.

"Jesus, master, have mercy on us!"

It may have been just a tiny spark of hope. It may have been just a long distance prayer. But that cry was heard.

The response from Jesus was not as spectacular as they might have hoped. But it was a response. Jesus heard. And Jesus told them what to do. It was a "next step." It had to do with getting legal permission to re-enter society.

"Go show yourselves to the priests!"

This window in the story lets the light in that reveals this truth: Wherever you are God's Word can reach you. You don't need to be lost one more day.

II. AS THEY WENT THEY WERE MADE CLEAN

The story next tells us that as they went, they were cleansed. They had called. Jesus had responded with a brief command. After he spoke they may have looked at their leper sores. Just after Jesus spoke they were exactly the same as they were before he spoke. They were still unclean lepers. But Jesus had told them what to do. They decided they had nothing to lose. They started out to find a priest. And as they went . . . as they walked along . . . they sensed something wonderful was taking place. They were changing.

The shaft of sunlight through this window shows us that: Obedience is faith in action; we cannot obey God and stay in bondage.

The healing of the lepers is remarkably like one of our Old Testament favorites, the story of Naaman and Elijah. Naaman was not poor and socially outcast like these ten lepers. He was a wealthy Syrian warrior. But the fact remains he was a leper and knew he was going to die.

You remember the story: when Naaman finally found the prophet of God, or rather, found where he lived, the prophet, Elijah, sent his servant out to tell this wealthy leper to go and dip himself seven times in the Jordan River.

No dramatics. No incantations. Just a word to obey. It seemed too easy: simply wash and be clean. Naaman struggled with the simplicity of it. But it was God's Word. And as he obeyed, Naaman was made clean of his leprosy.

It seems so simple to call out to God and be saved. It seems too easy just to confess our sins and trust that God is as good as his word and will forgive and cleanse us. Do you remember the lines from that old gospel song?:

Chiefest of sinners Jesus will save
All He has promised that will he do.
Wash in the fountain opened for sin
"And I will pass, will pass over you."

III. ONE CLEANSED LEPER RETURNED TO GIVE PRAISE TO GOD

There is one more window open in this narrative: The importance of worship.

Sickness has a way of turning us in on ourselves. We become absorbed with our symptoms. We tell about our hospital procedures. Sickness is often very self-centered. (I plead guilty from time to time.) Wellness is more than an absence of illness. It is the quality of being vibrantly alive. God's goal for you and me is more than being free from sin. More than not suffering for our sins. It is wholeness.

The goal of God's grace is not simply to save us from the damage of sin, but to set us free from our own selfish ego. We are not just saved so we can pursue our own selfish agenda, but so that we can discover God, and take our place in the circle of His family.

God does not save us just to make us clean or good. He shares His life so that we can come into his home and be part of his family. He takes away our sin so we can be happy in his Presence. The end of salvation is more than forgiveness and cleansing, it is fellowship with God and the whole family of God.

"If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (Then,) "If we walk in the light, as (Christ) is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us (**continually keeps us clean**) from all sin." (1 John 1:7,9)

This Samaritan outcast leper closed the circle of grace that day of his cleansing. He actually got out of his own way! The center of his existence was changed. Instead of orbiting around his illness, and his very considerable pain, now he worshiped the God who had set him free. And that gratitude completed his healing for the moment. As he worshiped he was made whole.

In the Old Testament story Naaman passed the gratitude test as well. He had been really reluctant to obey the simple command to wash and be clean. But then as he obeyed he was cleansed; and to his everlasting credit he did not simply rush back to Syria shouting and celebrating. Instead he returned to the home of Elijah to give thanks.

This last window lets in the light that:

Worship, thanks, gratitude bring us near to our God.

(Conclusion)

If this seems too very simple, well maybe it is. But sometimes I need to remember the very most simple of lessons:

When I call Jesus hears me! (He will hear you, too, wherever you are!)

As I do what he shows me to do, I will be set free! (Are you walking in all the light you know?)

When I tell Him "Thank You!" I am made whole!

Prayer: Lord, Help us to give You thanks from our hearts! Amen

Hymn #356 (STL) Then I Met Jesus