Tag: healing

Luke 9:28-45

²⁸ Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹ And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. ³⁰ And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, ³¹ who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. ³² Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. ³³ And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”””not knowing what he said. ³⁴ As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” ³⁶ And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

³⁷ On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. ³⁸ And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. ³⁹ And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. ⁴⁰ And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” ⁴¹ Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” ⁴² While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. ⁴³ And all were astonished at the majesty of God.

But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, ⁴⁴ “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” ⁴⁵ But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

As we continue in the Gospel of Luke, might have noticed that the first thing that verse 28-45 occurs, as Luke notes: “”¦eight days after these sayings.”

Eight days after what sayings. Let’s recap what was said right before this passage. What did Christ say?

Verse 22: The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected”¦and be killed, and on the third day be raised
Verse 23: If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Verse 24: Whoever would save his live will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
Verse 25: What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
Verse 26: Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory.

Now, if you were listening last week you should have remembered these sayings but I want to point this out because, in a moment, we’re going to be tempted to think of others as more hard-hearted than ourselves but do any of us have any reason to judge the forgetfulness of others this evening?

So, again, eight days after Christ had said these things, he took Peter and John and James up on the mountain to pray.

Verses 29-31 reads:

29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory

First of all, we read that Christ’s appearance was changed and that His face and His clothing became dazzling white. He emanated dazzling glory. Furthermore, on the mountain with Him were Moses and Elijah.

Why Moses and Elijah? Again the text does not tell us but we can reasonably conclude that Moses represented the Law of God. He was a servant in God’s House and faithfully delivered the Law of God. The entire Old Covenant was under the precepts of the Law of God and Moses had acted faithfully to lead God’s people from bondage and bring them into the wilderness to serve Yahweh. He was God’s faithful Prophet to speak the Words that God commanded Him and to write them down for the people to obey as a Nation of God’s peculiar people.

In Deuteronomy 18, before the people entered the land that God had promised, he foretold of a Prophet, like Moses, who would speak the things that God told Him. He would remind them of God’s Word and of His holiness and His righteous requirements.

Elijah, then, represented the Prophetic Office of Israel and how they reminded people of the Law that God had Covenanted with them. He made the heavens stop raining according to the curse of the Law and He called the people back to their true God. Prophets would follow him to prosecute a rebellious nation for their disobedience but the Prophet was now here.

Pay attention now to what Christ was telling Moses and Elijah. Verse 31 records that Christ: “”¦spoke of his departure which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.”

I think it is easy to get distracted by the transfiguration of Christ and completely focus on that point and forget that Christ was speaking to Moses and Elijah about His impending death on a Cross. The word that is translated “departure” in in verse 31 is the same word that is translated “exodus”. Christ was telling of His own exodus that was about to occur.

The disciples awoke from a deep sleep and they saw Christ’s glory and the glory of the two men. As Moses and Elijah were departing, Peter said to Jesus in verse 33: “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”.

Now the telling part of that is what follows because the Scriptures say that Peter did not know what he said. In other words, it was a foolish thing to say.

Peter’s ignorance is somewhat excusable given the light of the Old Testament. We have more light and I wonder if any of us here know why this was such a bad idea.

Do you really think that three tents, made by sticks and leaves, can contain the glory that was revealed that night? Do you think Christ granted them this vision just so they could all hang out and have their own personal Hall of Fame of spiritual giants? Did Christ come in order to remain in His splendor and tabernacle on a mountain with the Law and the Prophets? Or did He come down from glory for a purpose?

As the story continues, a cloud came and overshadowed them and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. If you know your Scriptures you might hearken back to the book of Exodus where the glory of the Lord covered Mount Sinai and the people were terrified. They even thought that Moses had died because he didn’t return for forty days after entering that fearful cloud. Animals had to be put to death for even touching that fearful and holy mountain.

Beloved, the glory, the holiness, the majesty of God is awesome and terrifying. We’re so accustomed to entering His presence in worship that we forget, in our hard-heartedness, that our God is a holy and consuming fire. The creature, with the stain of sin, is right to be terrified in His presence.

Verse 35: “And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One, listen to him!””

Listen to Him. Do you know what Christ said to the disciples later on or were you not listening?

The Father’s words served to gird up Christ up and encourage Him for the task ahead. Here, the Father, with tender love, testifies of His only begotten and beloved Son and strengthens Christ for His purpose.

Verse 36: “And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.”

Now there’s a reason for this silence because Christ purposefully hid His glory. Indeed, it was glory that the people expected from the Messiah but it was not glory that the people needed from the Son of God. They needed a despised and rejected Lamb for their sins. They wanted a Savior that would be respectable in the eyes of men and inspire awe. Yet, glory unimaginable was in their midst, in human flesh, to suffer and to die.

Luke 9:37-41

Coming down from the mountain they were met by a great crowd. Now, I don’t know about you, but I love these stories of men who were so bold and earnest to cry out to Christ.

Lepers cried out to Him.

Blind men groped for Him.

Paralyzed men were lowered into rooms by their friends.

Who cares about politeness or the approval of the crowd?! I need to get Jesus’ attention!

“Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.”

Christ, please look at my child. Look at him please. Take notice of him. He’s my only child.

Do you hear the desperation borne out of love for his only son? He had every reason to be desperate for:

“Behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. And I begged your disciples to cast it out but they could not.”

How many years had this man prayed to God to deliver his son? Imagine the pain of a father’s love crying out to God as he helplessly watched his son in the clutches of demonic hands!

He was known in the town as the father of a demon-possessed boy. Only a parent’s love can sustain affection. These were not the hopes and dreams he had for an only son. This father loved his boy in spite of this and he would not abandon him even if it meant the reproach of a town.

But now the man heard that Christ and His disciples were near and that they could cast out demons. He had begged the disciples to help his beloved son but they could not.

Christ! Look on my son!

Now Christ’s response must seem harsh: “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son to me.”

One night earlier Christ had been on a mountain emanating refulgent glory but, off in the distance, down in the valley, was the despair of a fallen humanity. Down in the valley was the father of a demoniac who wanted deliverance from the power of Satan.

Up on the mountain, Christ’s glory was fully manifest but He had to come down from that mountain, veil His glory, to be among a faithless and wicked generation.

Scribes and Pharisees interested to see how they could trip Him up.

People sneering at a man and his demoniac son.

Disciples who still didn’t understand why He had come.

But Christ didn’t remain in glory where His holiness could only condemn but came down into the valley. With compassion, Christ told the man to bring to Him his only son.

Luke 9:42 – While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

Before Christ had said a Word, the demon threw the boy to the ground. But at a simple rebuke, Christ cast out that unclean spirit and healed the boy.

And because Christ had come to restore fathers back to their children and children to their fathers, we read these beautiful words: “and He gave him back to his father.”

Christ fully understood the love that a Father has for His only Son. Christ had returned a son to his father. Christ had defeated the powers of darkness in the child’s life. The price that Christ would pay was that He would soon hang on a Cross. The price that Christ would pay is that the Son would offer Himself up to His heavenly Father to receive the wrath that a faithless people deserved and deliver the world from the power of darkness.

Luke 9:43″“45

43 And all were astonished at the majesty of God. But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, 44 “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” 45 But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

Did the Word of God sink into your ears or were you too busy marveling at the work? The Father commanded you and me to listen to Christ on the mount of glory. Christ commanded His disciples to let these words sink into their ears: “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”

The disciples didn’t understand this is because it was concealed from them.

Do you understand?

Is it concealed from you?

Do you even care whether you understand or are you too busy marveling with the crowd at a powerful sign but fail to follow Christ and listen to what He has to say?

Christ is the Son of God from all eternity. All life, all holiness, all majesty, all goodness, all justice, belong to Him and the Father and the Holy Spirit in one God forever.

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah was transported into the courts of God and saw a vision of the Son of God sitting, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. The Seraphim flew around Him covering their feet and their eyes to protect themselves from the awesome glory of God and cried out: “Holy! Holy! Holy! Is the Lord God almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory!”

And the vision of that holiness cut Isaiah to the heart. He fell to his face and heaped curses upon himself because he saw the sinfulness of his sin in the presence of a holy God.

Had Christ remained in glory, He would have simply been the judge of all mankind for their sin.

Condemnation. Hell. Everlasting judgment.

That is the only thing the enemies of God deserve and that is what you and I and everyone else in this world deserve.

But God. But God. But God is rich in mercy.

While we were still His enemies. While we were in the valley, a sinful and perverse generation, Christ came down from immeasurable glory and put on the veil of human flesh. He came near to a sinful people, cloaked in that flesh, because without the veiling of His glory we could not come near Him. We could not approach the holy mountain and so He tabernacle in flesh and came down.

Peter was like us. Peter wanted to make coverings of sticks and leaves and say: “God, come hang out with me just as I am. I like majesty. I like glory. Give me a celebrity so I can tell everyone that someone famous is my friend and lives in a tent that I made Him.”

But Christ didn’t need a Tabernacle made by feeble human hands. He was already in the Tabernacle of His flesh. He hadn’t come to simply manifest His glory so everyone could “High Five” and say “I want to be like that guy.”

No, beloved, He already possessed all glory and didn’t need the acclaim of men. And so, while men marveled at the works of God and worshipped God’s work but didn’t worship the God Who worked them, Christ set His face like flint to the Cross.

The Cross? The place of the Curse? The place of reproach?

Nobody but the worst criminals went to the Cross. But Christ had come to offer up His Person on the Cross and became a curse for us. We, in our seeking of glory for ourselves, would have gladly driven every nail and more into Christ’s flesh for disappointing us with the disdain of the Cross!

The Cross was not our idea. The Cross made no sense to us!

But as those nails pierced Him, the Sin of His people was nailed there.

As He hung between heaven and earth the perfect, majestic Son of God received the wrath that God’s enemies deserve.

As He cried out in agony, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!”, He received the forsakenness and eternal wrath that a wicked and rebellious people deserve.

And by this sacrifice in our place, sin and death died with Him. Death could not hold Him and so He rose on the third day and all who believe upon Him rise with Him. As He ascended into glory, He made way for us to approach boldly into the throne of grace.

We enter by the veil of Christ’s perfect flesh.

Christ came down from that mountain for you and me, beloved. For you and me if you but believe upon Christ. Cast yourself at the Savior’s feet. Ignore the crowds looking for glory. Ignore the reproach of the people. Your sins are far worse than you ever imagined.

Cry out! Cry out!

“Master! Look on me!”

Only a man who knows he’s a wretch and knows the Savior can see the glory of a Cross that puts to death his sin. And because we know that Christ is the Son of God we have all the confidence in the world to exclaim:

1 Corinthians 15:54-57

54 “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us pray.

Tags Chosen One, Christ, death, glory, healing, Lord, sin, unclean

Gospels and Acts Scripture

Luke 8:40-56

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Luke 8:40-56 (ESV) — 40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41 And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus’ feet, he implored him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” 49 While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler’s house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” 50 But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” 51 And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. 52 And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” 53 And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” 55 And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. 56 And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

C.S. Lewis once wrote a letter to a budding author on the art of storytelling. He reminded the young writer that the author should not have to continually ask the reader: “Gentle reader, do you feel amazed? Gentle reader, do you feel astonished?” A story, if it is written well, will have that effect naturally if its news is astonishing.

I wonder if we have all heard the accounts from Luke’s Gospel so often that we fail to be amazed by what we encounter. Luke, you remember, is writing to Theophilus and he writes his Gospel accounts so compellingly that he doesn’t need to ask the reader to react in certain ways because the sheer wonder of Christ’s work in the lives of people speaks for itself.

Last week, Bob Rumbaugh taught on the healing of the Gerasene demoniac possessed by legions of demons. It is very telling that after the display of Christ’s authority and power, the entire city begged Christ to leave them.

As we pick up at verse 40, Christ just returned to Galilee and He was welcomed by a throng of people. Pressing through the crowd came a desperate man. His name was Jairus and he was a ruler of the Synagogue at Capernaum. Every synagogue was ruled by a board of elders and this was a man of high position. In Capernaum, Christ had healed a paralytic as recorded for us in Luke 5. Also in Capernaum, a Roman Centurion had sent request that Christ heal his servant and Christ had marveled at the faith of this God-fearing gentile who was a benefactor of the Capernaum synagogue. Surely, then, Jairus knew of Jesus’ power and authority and came to Christ and in an act of self-humiliation before Christ threw Himself at the Master’s feet.

Where the people of Gerasene had pleaded with Christ to leave them, Jairus pleaded with Christ to come to his home to heal his twelve year old daughter who was sick and near death. A father’s affection and desperation poured out of him. This was his only daughter. He called her “my little daughter” in Mark 5. She was his girlie and she was dying. He pleaded that Christ would come quickly.

Now we know that Luke wrote his Gospel not as one who had seen the events but as one who had carefully interviewed hundreds of eyewitnesses and put them into an orderly account. This account is written as if we’re reading the whole thing through the eyes of Jairus and I want you to put yourself in the shoes of a man who desperately loves his daughter and wants to get the Savior to her as quickly as possible.

As they went to the house, the going was slow. Crowds were pressing in on Jesus and suddenly Jesus stopped. I can only imagine that Jairus was several feet ahead of Christ and looked back and thought “…why is He stopping, doesn’t He realize my little girl is dying?”

But Christ was looking around and asking “Who touched me?”

Who touched you? Are you kidding me? There are people pressing in on you and you ask “Who touched me?”

Leave it to Peter. He’s like you and me. Peter tells Him what is obvious to the naked eye: “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!”

It’s so easy for us to criticize Peter because we don’t realize that he was a better man than we are. If you’ve never been baffled by the way of the Lord then I would suggest you don’t know the Lord very well. We are so blind to spiritual things and assume all the time that what we see is how the Lord sees things.

But Christ knew better. As He was pressing through the crowd, a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years snuck through the crowd. She thought to herself that if she could just touch the tassels of his garment that she would be healed. The crowd was so large that she thought she could just brush him unnoticed.

You and I read this and we think to ourselves: “OK, a flow of blood for twelve years” but, beloved, those were twelve long years for this woman. She had exhausted every penny she had on physicians to heal this affliction. It’s not as if she simply had to deal with the physical discomfort of this sickness but this flow of blood made her ceremonially unclean according to Lev 15. This meant that not only was she not permitted to worship with the people of God but it also meant she couldn’t even come near them or they too would be ceremonially unclean. This meant that this woman had lived twelve long and painful years in the solitude of ceremonial uncleanness.

Bavinck writes a beautiful account of the creation of the first woman and how much the first man needed companionship. What is true of man is true also of woman and I want you to hear what he says about Adam after he named the animals and couldn’t find a helper suitable for him: “Though formed out of the dust of the earth, Adam was nevertheless a bearer of the image of God. He was placed in a garden which was a place of loveliness and was richly supplied with everything good to behold and to eat. He received the pleasant task of dressing the garden and subduing the earth, and in this he had to walk in accordance with the commandment of God…. But no matter how richly favored and how grateful, that first man was not satisfied, not fulfilled. The cause is indicated to him by God Himself. It lies in his solitude. It is not good for the man that he should be alone. He is not so constituted, he was not created that way. His nature inclines to the social — he wants company. He must be able to express himself, reveal himself, and give himself. He must be able to pour out his heart, to give form to his feelings. He must share his awarenesses with a being who can understand him and can feel and live along with him. Solitude is poverty, forsakenness, gradual pining and wasting away. How lonesome it is to be alone!

Twelve years this woman had wasted away in solitude. Perhaps she had gone to the Priest: “Is there any way for me to approach the people of God that I might worship and fellowship with them? Is there nothing you can do for me?”

But the Priest could only administer the Law. The Law had no remedy for her. The Law could only command that she stay away.

Numbers 15 commanded the men of Israel to wear tassels on their garments to remind them to keep the Law of God. Christ was the only man to ever remember to keep that Law perfectly and this poor woman reached out and touched that reminder.

And she was instantly healed!

Jairus was probably getting impatient at this point. Christ was standing there asking who had touched Him.

Finally, when she realized she could not conceal what she had done, she stepped forward. Women didn’t call attention to themselves in that culture and the tale of her sickness would have been embarrassing as she recounted it but, glory be to God, she had been healed!

Christ had outed her for two reasons. First, He is such a compassionate Savior that He wanted it to be a public testimony that this woman was now healed. She was now clean. She could be restored to full fellowship. Christ was not so busy or so important that He couldn’t stop and take the time to restore her to her people. It was the end of her physical affliction and also the end of an unbearable loneliness.

Secondly, Christ called her out so she would understand that it wasn’t the tassel of His garment that had healed her but it was His power and His authority that had healed her. Her faith had been somewhat superstitious. Her faith had been somewhat weak in looking to a physical object to heal her. But Christ rewarded even a feeble faith and reminded her that it was He who rewards. It was Christ she had received.

In verse 48 He said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace. Can you imagine receiving a benediction to “Go in peace” from the God-Man who grants peace with God?

Now we don’t know how long they had lingered, but, while Christ was still speaking, someone came from Jairus’ house saying: “Your daughter is dead; don’t bother the Teacher anymore.”

How many of you have seen your child close to death as I have? Can you imagine, even if only a little, how Jairus felt at that moment.

But Christ ignored the messenger. He turned straight to Jairus and told him: “Fear no longer; only believe, and she will be made well.”

Hold on to me Jairus. Do not fear.

How often do we need to hear that from God and how often does He tell us that in the Scriptures because we do fear.

When they arrived at the house, Christ allowed no one to come in except Peter and John and James, and the child’s father and mother. It doesn’t say that there was no available space to fit more people but, rather, that Christ would not permit anyone else to come in.

Meanwhile, a crowd of mourners had already gathered and they were weeping and wailing over her. Christ commanded them to stop weeping for, He said, “she is not dead but asleep.”

But, the text says, that the crowd laughed in Jesus’ face because they knew she was dead.

But Jesus didn’t invite these scorners into the room to see what happened next. That’s not me. I’d want others there. I’d want the world of mockers to see what Christ did. I’d want them to see for themselves how foolish they are.

But Christ kept the scorners outside the room.

And this is so beautiful in verses 54 and 55. Christ spoke to this girl in the way a Jewish mother might wake her child in the morning.

My child, get up!

This was not a request. This was not a suggestion.

The Son of God, by whom all things were created, speaks with power and authority. Death itself had no authority in the presence of such a command. The God who speaks things into existence commanded the child to get up.

And verse 55 states that her spirit returned and she got up at once.

Death surrendered its prey at the word of Jesus.

And, once again, we witness the compassion of the Savior as he directed them to give her something to eat. I know if my daughter had just been brought back to life that I would be so ecstatic that feeding her after a long illness might be forgotten.

Verse 56 records something remarkable. I think the common view of Christ is that, if He could, He would do anything to convince people to believe in Him. Instead of a Christ who is desperate to convince all scoffers, verse 56 gives us a frightening warning. Hear this again:

Her parents were astonished, but he instructed them to tell no one what had happened.

Of course they’re astonished. Their daughter was dead and is now alive and was made alive simply by the word of Christ.

But Christ forbade them from telling anyone what had happened.

Nobody who had laughed at Christ would receive testimony about this sign. Christ’s sign was not for scoffers to be amazed at power but to confirm the faith for those that desired to receive Him for Who He was.

The rest of the story of that town isn’t told but, knowing human nature as I do from the Word, I’m convinced that later on that day those very people that laughed at Christ to His face were telling one another: “Oh, she wasn’t really dead, she was just sleeping.”

This passage has been searching me out over the last couple of weeks as I’ve been meditating on it. I want to share a few observations.

First, it is plain to me that Christ doesn’t need our help with the skeptics. As the Apostle Peter commands, we ought to always be ready to give a defense for the hope that lies within us and that hope is the person and work of Christ. We ought to unashamedly present and testify to the work of that Savior. But there comes a point when people want to insist that God be their show pony and prove something to them that they can see with their eyes and touch with their hands.

God gave them life and breath and testifies to Himself all around them in the things created. Our testimony of Christ’s death and resurrection is further historically verifiable testimony of Christ’s authority. Beloved, those who hear that news and still use the gifts of their intellect, given them by God, to turn around and slap Him in the face do not deserve anything from God. We can be sorrowful for them. We can continue to pray for them. But, if you’re one of those who is blessed enough to hear God’s Son and His power confirmed to you every week and you still laugh at Christ, do not presume that He who sits on high owes you a single thing.

Secondly, I’m repeatedly amazed at how often Christ made Himself ceremonially unclean in order to get near people and heal them. Not only did He ceremonially defile Himself in touching an unclean woman to heal her but He touched the dead hand of a little girl that He might command her to come to life.

Sinclair Ferguson recounts a friend of his who was once addicted to drugs. He was a hard-corps addict whose life was on the brink of destruction.

But Christ found him and healed him and he is now a preacher of the Word.

He says this: “For something unclean to become clean, something clean has to become unclean.” Hear it again: “For something unclean to become clean, something clean has to become unclean.”

Christ was willing to become ceremonially unclean for these two sufferers because He came into the world out of sheer force of the Love of God to do something much harder. He became Sin, who knew no Sin, that we might become His righteousness.

While we were dead in our sins and trespasses, while our righteousness was like, as Isaiah put it, a used menstrual rag, Christ hung between heaven and earth and bore the wrath of His Father in our stead. He suffered the full weight of our uncleanness so that we might be clean and can stand boldly in the presence of our Father.

Finally, I have been meditating on the Lord’s timing in giving us exactly what we most need.

Did you feel the angst of Jairus as he waited on Christ to come and heal his little girlie? Yet, Christ made Jairus walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Christ made Jairus suffer the news of the death of His daughter so that He could allow Jairus to trust Him during the walk to his home and see that Christ answers those that plead with Him. It was not what Jairus wanted but what he needed. It was Christ’s timing and not Jairus’.

God allowed a woman to suffer twelve years in the agony of isolation and sickness that He might display His mercy for all to see and that she might have a personal assurance from Christ that she now had peace with God. How long do you suppose she had prayed for healing? Do you suppose, in glory, she regrets one day of her suffering on this earth as centuries later the story of her healing has converted countless souls to the Gospel? God didn’t give her what she wanted earlier because He had appointed a day when He would gloriously fulfill her need in a way she could never imagine.

Isaiah 40:31 (ESV) — 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Yesterday, I was privileged to listen to Ravi Zacharias talk about Christ and our culture. He concluded with a story that is fitting on the timing of the Lord.

Ravi was ministering in Vietnam in 1971, and one of his interpreters was Hien Pham, an energetic young Christian. He had worked as a translator with the American forces, and was of immense help both to them and to missionaries.

Shortly after Vietnam fell, Hien was imprisoned on accusations of helping the Americans. His jailers tried to indoctrinate him against democratic ideals and the Christian faith. He was forced to read only communist propaganda in French or Vietnamese, and the daily deluge of Marx and Engels began to take its toll. “Maybe,” he thought, “I have been lied to. Maybe God does not exist. Maybe the West has deceived me.” So Hien determined that when he awakened the next day, he would not pray anymore or think of his faith.

The next morning, he was assigned the dreaded chore of cleaning the prison latrines. As he cleaned out a tin can overflowing with toilet paper, his eye caught what seemed to be English printed on one piece of paper. He hurriedly grabbed it, washed it, and after his roommates had retired that night, he retrieved the paper and read the words, “Romans, Chapter 8.” Trembling, he began to read, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. … For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:28,38,39).

This was to have been the first day that he would not pray; evidently God had other plans.

Beloved, isn’t our Savior amazing!

Let us pray.

Tags authority, Christ, death, faith, healing, Lord, unclean

Gospels and Acts Scripture

Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:1-11)

Post author By Rich Leino
Post date June 7, 2009
No Comments on Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:1-11)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Luke 6:1-11

On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3 And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” 5 And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

6 On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. 8 But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, f is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

As we continue our study through the Gospel of Luke, we come to two stories that center around a conflict with the Pharisees over the observance of the Sabbath. It is tempting, perhaps, to simply see the Pharisees being concerned with the Law while Christ is concerned with helping people but that would be to misunderstand the nature of this conflict.

The problem today, by and large, is not that most take a strict view of the Law but that they don’t even stop to consider the Law at all. The Sabbath, especially, has fallen into disfavor and there is collective amnesia that, somehow, God included the observance of the Sabbath in the Ten Words that He delivered upon Mount Sinai. What was God thinking, after all, that He would care that we would set one day out of seven for Him? What about my “Me Time”? I understand I shouldn’t kill a man but observe the Sabbath? Why are they even on the same list?

It is actually quite natural that the Pharisees would be concerned about the Sabbath. The fraternity of the Pharisees was originally founded for the purpose of seeking to take seriously the Law of God after the Babylonian captivity. In the Law of God, God had commanded that the Nation of Israel celebrate a Sabbath Year once every 7 years. Israel was in captivity for 70 years because the Nation had disregarded the command of God to give the land a rest one year in every seven for 490 years. And so God judged the Nation by taking them out of the land and giving the land rest for the 70 years they had neglected to celebrate.

Thus the Pharisees, after the captivity were like a child who had burned his hand on a hot stove. A hot stove is very useful but if you touch the burner it is quite painful. A child, properly disciplined, will return to the stove someday and use it properly. But one way around never getting burned is to never go near the stove again.

That’s the nature of the fleshly approach to Law keeping: set up an entire set of man-made rules that put a fence around the Law. One way to keep away from violating the Sabbath was to put a big fence around it and tell everybody to never go near the Law by keeping all the regulations. Keeping the regulations, then, replaces actually keeping the Law because, if the Law is all about not crossing a certain line, then drawing closer lines is even better. Eventually, the fences erected were the only things the Rabbis meditated upon. Pharisees became experts in the regulations. The rabbis drew up a catalogue of thirty-nine principal works, subsequently subdivided into six minor categories under each of these thirty-nine, all of which were forbidden on the Sabbath. On this list of regulations was a prohibition against picking heads of grain. That was considered to be “reaping”.

Christ was walking through the fields with His disciples on the Sabbath and the disciples were hungy. The Law permitted a hungry man to glean the edges of crops for food. It’s not as if they were eating a gourmet meal but they were famished and were rubbing the heads of the grain and eating raw grain.

Suddenly the Pharisees appeared. It’s almost like Swiper the Fox in Dora the Explorer at the ready to steal. Were they following Christ around simply so they could spy out liberty and judge that a line had been crossed?

They accused Jesus and His disciples of desecrating the Sabbath not because the Law had actually been broken but because their regulations had been broken. The disciples had ignored the fence the Rabbis had put around the Law. They were observing the Law but the Pharisees could only see their fence.

Christ first rebuked them with a question that would cut to the heart of any Pharisee: “Haven’t you read the Word of God?” You sage keepers of the Word, don’t you remember David, when he was fleeing from Saul for his life came to the Tabernacle with famished troops and received the showbread from the altar? The Law very strictly required that this bread was for the Levites alone and neither David nor his men were Levites.

According to the letter of the ceremonial Law, the High Priest had, in fact, violated the Law but Christ commended this decision. Why? Because a more important principle, a weightier matter, was at hand, and that was the sustaining of human life.

The Pharisees, in fact, were so focused upon the ceremonial precision of the Law that they missed the purpose of the Law altogether. We’ve already seen a remarkable episode earlier in the Gospel of Luke where Christ reached out and touched a leper. Every time I read that I shudder with amazement at what that signified under the Law. Lepers were unclean. Touching them made a person unclean. But Christ, the Clean One, touched a leper and made him clean. How long had it been since that leper felt a human touch because, ceremonially, the Law could do nothing but keep men away. It was the same thing for the paralytic healed by Christ – the paralytic was excluded from the Assembly for his plight but Christ restored him.

We all know the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Do you know why the two men passed by on the other side of the road when they saw a man that appeared to be dead? Because they were priests and they would have been defiled had they touched a dead body. The irony of that parable is that the Samaritan, scum of the Earth to a Jew, was the neighbor. He’s the only one who fulfilled the Law to love neighbor.

You see, Galatians 3 reveals an important truth about the Law of God as the Apostle Paul was railing against Judaizers who were corrupting the Gospel just as the Pharisees did here. The Covenant of God begins with God redeeming a People to Himself by the work of Christ. Blessing comes by faith in what God Promises to do. It was that way with Abraham and the Promise has always been God saying: “The Seed of Abraham will be your Righteousness. Believe!” Righteousness comes by faith. It always has because our own righteousness comes up short every time.

Why then the Law? Why create rules for the Sabbath? Can it be so that we prove to God we’re serious about His commands and then find acceptance? No, you are already accepted in Christ but now see the Law of God with new eyes. See in it the nature of the God you love and use it as a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path that you might learn about God and yourself and train yourselves in righteousness. He’s not your Judge, if you’re in Christ, but your Father.

We all understand rules for our children, do we not? We forbid certain things because they harm. We command certain things because they are good. The end of these things is that they grow to see the wisdom behind the rules and the letter of the rule is replaced by a walking in wisdom. Eventually, we don’t have to hold a hand as we cross the street because an adult is wise enough to enjoy the paved road without our help.

But the Pharisees are like adults who never learned the wisdom and all they know is the rules and don’t understand the blessing that the rules were designed to direct to.

The Sabbath was not created so that man would be a slave under its crushing requirements but was intended to bless man. Those of us redeemed by Christ get the tremendous privilege of an entire day devoted to the worship of God. We get to cast off the cares of the world and meditate upon the Word of God all the day and enjoy the fellowship of God and His people.

I understand that, to the flesh, the Sabbath seems like the most boring thing in the world when you have Costco and sleep and NFL football to replace it but are these things really the pinnacle of the enjoyment of a redeemed conscience? I realize that our flesh does not love to enjoy the Sabbath. It doesn’t love the things of God but the Law is intended to serve as a trainer of the conscience to direct us to the things of above and to cast aside the things that serve our flesh. We are foolish if we neglect the Law as a lamp unto our feet to guide us into how we might taste and see that the Lord is good.

Recently, I’ve been convicted of my own sinful sloth. I often don’t prepare myself to enjoy the Sabbath. I treasure my leisure and so I sometimes come to worship sleepy from staying up too late on Saturday night. I forget to buy milk the day before and so I’m tempted to deprive another man of the rest that God has given all men one day in seven. I don’t pray that I might come to the Word hungry and expectant, eager to be filled by the Words of Life.

I’m convicted because I am Christian. I have been created anew by the Gospel to delight in the things of the Lord. The Lord’s Day is my delight. What a privilege it is to be in His presence all the day long: a son in my Father’s house in communion with my fellow heirs.

As Christ continued with the reminder to the Pharisees, He told them something that should have stopped them dead in their tracks: “The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath.” Who can be the Lord of the Sabbath but God alone for He, alone, hallowed it by resting from His creation on it. God did not need rest but invited man, on Adam’s first full day on the Earth, to rest with Him. Even as the Pharisees wondered that Christ forgave sins, we have another plain example to these hard-hearted men that the God of the Universe was the subject of their rebuke. The Sabbath is Christ’s and it is in Him that we have any rest, for we would only be in toil and bondage under sin. The Pharisees stole His Law, intended to bless men to enter into God’s rest, and they had twisted a blessing into a yoke of bondage.

As the Gospel continues, on another Sabbath, Christ was teaching in the Synagogue – worshipping with the people of God. The Holiness of God, clothed in human flesh was very near and blessing people with words of life and all the Pharisees had a front row seat. They were not there to be taught but only so they could catch Him violating their petty rules about healing on the Sabbath.

Christ knew their hearts and so He called out a poor man with a withered hand. The Pharisees looked right past a man in need. They could care less about his need. All they could think about is the regulation and that the Son of Man had the gall to violate their rules! Christ asked a simple question: Is is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm?

Do you see the hypocrisy of the Pharisees? On the day of rest, on the day that God had invited His people to find rest in Christ, these men wanted to destroy the Son of God! Unfortunately, their regulations did nothing for their conscience. Where’s the rule that you can’t plot to kill the Son of God on the Sabbath? They were bent out of shape that Christ is going to do good on the Sabbath but their sin blinded them to the fact they were murdering Christ in their heart.

But Christ’s work would not be stopped by Sin. He looked directly into the face of Sin. He looked directly into the eyes of the hateful Pharisees, agents of the Devil who had twisted His Law to destroy and commanded to the man: Stretch out your hand! Where Pharisaical rules could only enslave, He freed! Where their rules could only leave a hand useless and dead, He brought forth life!

Beloved, God created the world in 6 days and all very good. On the 6^th day, He stooped down and, with special care, created man out of the dust of the Earth. With a tender love, He put His mouth up to the first man and breathed life into Him and, with that breath, His very image. As the man opened his eyes, the first thing He saw was the face of God. Oh, the vision that Adam saw! What a loving Father!

When God rested the next day, the first Sabbath, and invited Adam to rest with Him, do you suppose Adam complained that he got to spend the whole day in communion with His Father?

When Adam fell, and we with him, mankind ran away from God and tried covering himself with leaves to protect himself from the Holiness of God. Gone was face to face communion with the God of the Universe. But God, even then, was gracious to His foolish children and, in their presence, slayed an animal and covered them.

Man fell from communion with God and the enjoyment of rest. All was toil. Pagan societies like France after the Revolution tried to go to 10 week days and it crushed men under the weight of toil because we’ve been designed by our Creator to rest one day in seven. We foolishly think we know better and, in our folly, would work ourselves to the bone headlong into the hell, There, we would deservedly face the wrath of God for our disobedience.

No Sabbath.

No communion with God.

For eternity.

But God is rich in mercy. While we were still His enemies, while our flesh hated the sight of Him, while we groped in the darkness in the futility of our self-worship, God the Son took on our weak flesh. He was hated and despised. He walked alone in obedience that was foreign to us. He preached to men and served the Law of God with a holiness and compassion that our flesh hated and so, in men’s hatred, they put Him to death for it.

But, to our amazement, Christ was there willingly. He was our High Priest offering His sinless flesh as a propitiation for our filthy Sin. Dying on the eve of the Sabbath, our Lord remained in the grave throughout the Jewish Sabbath, working for our benefit and putting to death Sin and death. On the third day, the Lord’s Day, death could not hold Him! He rose from the grave in victory over death and we were raised in newness of life with Him!

Oh, how I love you Son of Man, Savior. You invite me into Your holy presence in sweet communion with the Body You have redeemed to Yourself. I cry out with the Psalmist:

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,

O Lord of hosts!

2 My soul longs, yes, faints

for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

3 Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O Lord of hosts,

my King and my God.

4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,

ever singing your praise!

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob!

9 Behold our shield, O God;

look on the face of your anointed!

10 For a day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

the Lord bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does he withhold

from those who walk uprightly.

12 O Lord of hosts,

blessed is the one who trusts in you!

I am your son, in Christ, and thank you that I once again have communion with you. I come boldly, expectantly, into Your very presence through the veil of Christ’s flesh and delight in the rest I had today. Better still, I know that I shall, one day, see You face to face, and rest forever!

Tags Christ, David, death, healing, life, Lord, love

Gospels and Acts

Unclean!

Luke 17:11-19

Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

And so we come to an event in Jesus’ ministry as He is on His way to Jerusalem. Luke mentions, in passing that Jesus is passing between Galilee and Samaria.

Samaria was considered an unclean region for Jews. They viewed the Samaritans as dogs, as unclean people. The Samaritans were related to the Jews as the Northern Kingdom of Israel had existed there. But the Northern Kingdom had passed away centuries before due to the idolatry of that nation. The Samaritans had intermarried with the pagan nations and had only retained a perverted form of the religion of the Scriptures. They worshipped in the high places in the North and not in Jerusalem as commanded nor did they offer sacrifices in Jerusalem. And so, many Jews would walk completely around Samaria if they ever had to venture outside of Judea. They would rather go days out of their way by foot then even touch the unclean soil of Samaria.

And so it is in passing that Luke mentions that Christ is passing near that region on His way to Jerusalem.

As Christ is entering a village He encounters ten lepers who stood afar off.

Why did they stand afar off? Why did Luke mention that Christ encountered them outside of the town? Let us turn to Leviticus Chapter 13.

I will not read the entirety of Leviticus 13 but it gives several different examples and rules for the Priests to use to determine whether not a person has leprosy. Leprosy is a term to refer to different types of skin diseases, the worst of which would cause hands, legs, nose, and other body parts to wither as the person became increasingly disfigured until they eventually died a horrific death. Whether a milder form of the disease, Leviticus 13 gives many examples of how to diagnose and the end result is the same in all cases for the leper. Let me read for you the concluding verses in Leviticus 13:45-46
Lev 13:45-46

Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry,’Unclean! Unclean!’ He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.

Have any of you ever had friends who have found a spot on the skin and gone to the doctor who grows concerned about it? The person has to come back after a number of days to have a biopsy performed on the spot and even wait further as lab results reveal whether or not that person has cancer. What concern we all have for the person as we wonder: “Does my dear friend have cancer.” What prayers might we lift up for that person as they undergo treatment and receive the blessings of modern medicine. We may even embrace that friend and let them cry on our shoulder as they express their fear that the cancer might spread.

Beloved, a leprous man could only be so lucky to merely get a diagnosis of cancer. Consider Levticus 5:2-5

“…if a person touches any unclean thing, whether it is the carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean livestock, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and he is unaware of it, he also shall be unclean and guilty. Or if he touches human uncleanness — whatever uncleanness with which a man may be defiled, and he is unaware of it — when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty.
‘Or if a person swears, speaking thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, whatever it is that a man may pronounce by an oath, and he is unaware of it — when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty in any of these matters.
‘And it shall be, when he is guilty in any of these matters, that he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing;”

Do you understand the implications for leprosy? A leper was considered human uncleanness. You could not hug a leper who received a diagnosis from the priest. You could not even touch him or her. That was a sin. If you did so, even by accident, you had to confess your sin and offer a sacrifice at the Temple. I don’t mean to state the obvious here but lepers were human beings too. They had mothers and fathers, they had wives and children at one point. Then one morning they wake up and find a spot on their skin. They try washing it but, over days and weeks the spot doesn’t seem to go away. What fear they must have experienced as they walked to the priest. Can you even imagine the horrible words of the priest as he says to a man or a woman: YOU HAVE LEPROSY. YOU ARE UNCLEAN.

Oh the horror of it. I cannot weep with my wife. I cannot hold my children. I cannot embrace a friend and cry on his shoulder. Even worse, according to the Law he must stay outside of town and every time a person comes near him he must yell out “Unclean!” I cannot even imagine such a horrible condition.

And so it is with people in misery that the unclean gather together as lepers would into colonies and Christ meets ten of them on His way to Jerusalem. We understand all the more now why in Luke 17:12, why the lepers are afar off. We should also appreciate why in verse 13 there is anguish in their voice as they cry: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”

And Christ, the one who came to give Mercy, told them to present themselves to the priest. A very strange command is it not? Not so strange and I again commend to you the Study of God’s Word. You see in Leviticus 14, it gives the instructions for the cleansing of healed lepers. The ceremony is very elaborate and requires the sacrifice of doves and washings and, after a week, the leper may be pronounced clean by the Priest and rejoin his family. This was unfortunately, very rare, and the OT only records a couple of miraculous healings of leprosy in the Old Testament.

So the lepers are obeying this command and, on their way, shortly after leaving, they realize they are cleansed. Perhaps some of them had withered hands restored. Christ’s healing was always so powerful in Scriptures that people knew, without a doubt, they had been healed.

What joy! What a blessing! I am cleansed! Years of pain. Years of private suffering. Years of reproach calling out to passersby: “Unclean!” No more pain of seeing little children run from you afraid. I will see my family again! I’ll embrace my wife. I will hold my child!

And so, as dutiful Jews, 9 of the 10 continue on their way to the Priest to obey the requirements of the Law and be pronounced clean. But they don’t all continue on their way.

No. One man, A SAMARITAN, returns in a loud voice, glorifying God. Not only that, He falls down at Jesus’ feet in worship of Him, thanking Him for healing Him. He thanks Him for delivering Him from His leprosy.

But we have a problem here don’t we? The problem is that this man has not undergone the cleansing rite specified by the Law. Leviticus 14:9 makes it very clear that one must undergo the full ritual cleansing, wait a week, shave off all their hair all over their body and then they will be pronounced clean by the priest. This man has not been pronounced clean and so, according to the Law, he is very much UNCLEAN. Add to that, he is a Samaritan, a dog, a person from an unclean land.

THIS MAN IS TOUCHING JESUS!

Beloved, this is powerful stuff. You see, a normal Jew could not touch an unclean thing and remain undefiled. A normal person became unclean and had to undergo cleansing and repent of sin when they touched unclean things. Unclean things made the ceremonially “clean” people unclean. That’s the way of the Law.

But not Christ. This is the power of the Messiah. This is the power of the Son of God. Christ was the truly CLEAN one. He was the only Clean One in fact. When Christ came forward and reached out His hand to touch the unclean thing, that thing did not have the POWER to corrupt the Son of God. No. Christ made that which was unclean, CLEAN. He touched unclean dead bodies and they rose from the grave. He touched women with discharges and they were cleansed. All through the Gospels we see Light dispelling the darkness. We see Christ, the clean one, the whole one, making that which was broken, that which was unclean, restored.

Christ looks down with compassion on this Samaritan man at His feet and receives the worship that is due Him for Christ is the Son of God. Angels refused worship as being only worthy of God. Christ receives the Worship from this man whom He has restored and then He marvels:

Luke 17:17-19
So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

What do you mean Jesus? The nine are on their way to the Temple. That’s what the LAW requires. That’s what a Pharisee would have said.

Jesus remarks that only the foreigner, the only one who wasn’t a Jew, was the one who came back to Worship God. The other’s missed the whole point.

You see beloved, Christ did not come to be a magic worker. He didn’t just beam out powers to show off and to merely cure disease. Sure Lazarus rose from the dead but, years later, he did die and they had a funeral all over for him. Sure, it’s great that these men were free of their physical affliction here on this Earth but they too are now dead.

Ten Lepers had heard about Jesus and ran into Him that day. They must have heard that He healed people. Ten lepers called out to Jesus that day. Ten lepers went on their way in obedience to His command. Only one returned and worshipped God. The other nine were healed in their body but missed the whole point of their healing. Their healing attested to the Son of God. Their healing attested to His authority over the Law itself. In obeying the letter of the Law they missed the Spirit of the Law.

And so it was that Jesus said to the Samaritan: “Your faith has made you well.” All of the lepers had received healing but only one returned to express His faith in the Son of God. Only one of them understood that the most important healing of all was the healing that Christ was to provide to reconcile mankind back to a Holy God. And so Christ sent a true Worshipper of God on His way. A man saved by faith in the Son of God.

Leprosy is a great picture of our fallen spiritual condition. We were all once enemies of God. We were the unclean ones. Our first parents were born clean and then rebelled against the Lord of the Universe. All of their descendants, including us, have been born unclean spiritual lepers. Our souls are spiritually dark and decaying. As the Pharisees were, we often look really good on the outside, but the inside is a cesspool of filth and sin. As Romans 1:29-32 so accurately expresses about mankind:

Rom 1:29-32
…being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

And so at one time, in God’s presence, we were forced to draw our hands to our mouths and shout “UNCLEAN!” And God had every right to leave us to die in the horrible state of sin. It is we who had sinned against Him and not He against us.

But God is rich in Mercy. God is rich in compassion. He sent Christ to live for us in complete obedience and He sent Christ to die for us so that our sin, our filth, might be washed away.

And so, Christ is being proclaimed to you this day. If you have never heard the call for the healing of your souls and you yet remain defiled in your sins then Christ is being lifted up before you in your midst. Do you see the filth of your sin? Do you smell the stench of a life that is causing your very soul to rot from the inside out? Christ is before you.

“JESUS, MASTER, HAVE MERCY ON ME.”

He will cleanse you from your sins so that you may fall at His feet and worship Him.

Tags Christ, faith, healing, sin, unclean, worship