Thankfully Whole

Series on Luke

IV The Imperatives of the Kingdom

B Instruction in Rejection

20 Singular Samaritan

Text: 17:11-19

Introduction

We seldom pay much attention to the small geographical details of gospel stories, but here is an important one! Jesus was traveling along the border between Samaria and Galilee. This sets up the whole story because the group of lepers who were healed was composed of Jews and a Samaritan. Like the people in earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, they were drawn together by their common misery. When Billy Graham came to preach in Philadelphia he came to preach to all the people: the African Americans, the immigrants from the Orient and the Middle East and Europe as well as the white 3rd or 4th generation Americans, because the gospel is for all. So it was with Jesus’ ministry, whether his own people, the Jews, liked it or not. This is a special interest of Luke. he alone records the parable of the good Samaritan helping the man by the side of the road while the priest and Levite passed by on the other side. He alone mentions the great commission in that unique form in Acts 1 where Jesus tells his disciples, You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. And Luke alone records this story. The Samaritan is the focal point of the account. How is he different? Obviously he is the only one who returns to give thanks, but what else can we say about him? He has a different attitude about the gospel about grace and about gratitude.

I The Gospel

Jesus always taught that the gospel was for everyone without exception. The universality of the gospel is revealed in verses 11-16, Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled 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. When John writes in 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life, he was saying the gospel is for the whole world. It may be said that all the lepers cried out for mercy, and they all obeyed when Jesus sent them to the priest but there was a difference in their background. It was easy for the Jewish lepers to believe that the Rabbi cared for them. It was natural for them to expect a Jewish teacher or a Jewish Messiah would help them, but for the Samaritan this was difficult. The Jews hated the Samaritans. There is no way the Samaritan could take this for granted. Thankful people never take blessings for granted, but like the nine we do. With Bibles on every coffee table and churches on every street corner, we seldom think of those fellow believers who have no Bibles or church buildings, or even the right to legally gather for worship. We shop for churches like we do for cars, giving little thought to the privilege and responsibility. Instead of being committed to Christ we are committed to ourselves and our preferences. All this is symptomatic of taking the gospel for granted. Those that take God for granted will never be truly thankful people. The Samaritan had a different attitude. He may have been a foreigner but the lesson is for all of us.

II Grace

All the lepers begged for help and got it. They were all miraculously cleansed. So far it looks like they all understood grace, free unmerited favor. But in the end only one really understood. The nine, by being un-thankful in the face of such a phenomenal miracle showed that they were proud and assumed they deserved what they got. Jesus is amazed at their hardness in verses 17 and 18, Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” The contrast is amplified by the exuberant response of the Samaritan who came back in verses 15 and 16, 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. I mean the nine have a ho-hum attitude and the one cannot contain himself. To truly understand grace we must remember Jesus words in Luke 15:5-7 in the parable of the lost sheep, And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. The joy of God’s grace overwhelms everything else in life. It makes such a difference that life can never be the same. Suddenly i owe everything to God. Jesus loved me and gave himself for me. Suddenly I know I deserve nothing but I have everything. Suddenly I am not an owner I am a debtor. The direction of life is changed just as surely as the direction of this Samaritan was changed when he turned around and went back to Jesus. Men are so overwhelmed when they truly understand God’s forgiving love in Christ that nothing can be the same. If any man be in Christ there is a new creation. old things have passed away all things have become new. To be made whole you can’t take the gospel for granted and you can’t have a ho-hum attitude about serving the Lord. As the hymn says, “All for Jesus, all for Jesus, all my being’s ransomed powers, all my thoughts and words and doings, all my days and all my hours. Since my eyes were fixed on Jesus, I’ve lost sight of all beside, so enchained my spirit’s vision, looking at the crucified. If this does not happen then what you’ve got may be a blessing, maybe a healing, but it is not salvation. It is not wholeness. in verse 18 we read, Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” He was already cleansed, so what Jesus is saying is that now he is whole.

III Gratitude

Now we come to the gratitude. We have seen the Samaritan giving praise to God. Now think about this. He’d been living as an outcast crying unclean unclean to every casual passer-by. He probably had no family, no job, no money, no home, and no village, and the only friends he had in the world were the other nine and now that they were healed they probably wouldn’t have anything to do with him because he was a Samaritan, but he was thankful. Bruce Larson tells the story of an immigrant shopkeeper whose son came to him one day complaining about his business being operated on a shoestring. He said, “Dad, your accounts payable are in a cigar box, your accounts receivable are on a spindle, and all your cash is in the register. How do you know what your profits are?” The old man said, “Son, when i came to this country all I owned was the pants I was wearing. Now your sister is a teacher, your brother is a doctor, and you are a CPA. Your mother and I own a house, a car and this little store. Add all of that up and subtract the pants. There is your profit.” Now the point is gratitude is an attitude arising out of a changed heart and a life which exists for God and not for self.

Conclusion

Let me ask you a question. If you are fortunate enough to have a job i assume you are grateful to God, but I also assume that when you receive your paycheck you do not go back to your boss, fall down on your face at his feet, and in a loud voice give thanks, am I right? After all you may be thankful for a job but you deserve your paycheck. The whole thing about gratitude is that we realize we do not deserve what we get. This was the Samaritan leper. This should be us.