Jesus’ mercy in action
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ, Amen!
Dear ones, the drama we heard is based on the Text found in: Luke chapter 17
Kindly turn your bible with me to Luke 17: reading from verse11-19!
11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.
13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 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.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God,
16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?
18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”
19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
The word of God!
Power of Faith
My dear listener, Indeed your faith will make you well!
Dear listener, how wonderful it will to count on our friends and family for Mercy, for kindness, for consideration and for encouragement:
What about expecting all these very important things from God Himself?
The Bible gives us many examples of God’s mercy in action: There were instances people went to Jesus in deep distress. People who were afflicted with problems which included various kinds of sicknesses.
Jesus in His ministry traveled and proclaimed the coming of God’s kingdom. In addition, Jesus corrected false teachings of the day and false perceptions that people had about Himself. More importantly Jesus carried out His salvation mission to restore humanity to God. Whilst doing all these Jesus demonstrated God’s power and carried out God’s mercy by healing those suffering in one way or the other.
One day Jesus was traveling with His disciples to Jerusalem; and came upon ten people who were sick with leprosy, and these lepers cried out to Jesus for mercy. Jesus heard their cry and answered their call.
in fact, these lepers needed more than just healing for their physical body. They need to be restored back into their families and communities; more importantly to be restored to God.
Seclusion
The lepers were kept outside the city walls until a priest certifies that their disease was healed and pronounced them clean.
Dear listeners, leprosy is a skin disease; it does not only make the suffers sick, it also made them ceremonially unclean; and by the Jewish tradition, the lepers could not enter God’s temple; and anyone who came into contact with them during their period of sickness would also become unclean.
The priest therefore risks his personal well-being, to interacts with a leper with the aim of restoration.
In providing heal for these ten lepers, Jesus had in mind to restore them to their society as well as to restore them to God. Thus, the lepers should be restored physically, socially, and spiritually.
The Old Testament ceremonial laws and practices, had but one purpose.
To defined the children of Israel; as a special people with a special mission. These customs and practices; proved that Israel was God’s chosen people through whom the Messiah will come.
These OT laws reminders us that things in this world had deviated from God’s perfect intention and conditions. It reminds us that something had gone wrong between God and His creation.
As a result of such an error, sickness, suffering and even death, reminds us that salvation is going to take the effort of a Holy and a Righteous God.
The numerous Temple requirements, which included cleansing, and sacrifices were temporal but pointed to God’s own everlasting solution, which would come in the person and the work of Jesus as the world’s Savior.
The Ceremonial cleansing was necessary at the time, because it declared God mercy on a society which was sin-sick to be in His presence requiring washing.
Shadows of event
Such outward washings gave way to the ultimate cleansing in Jesus Christ…Jesus the active force in action
In fact, through Christ’s work, death and resurrection; God the Father put away the temporary ceremonial washings and covered all believers with Jesus’ Righteousness and His Holiness.
Dear listeners:
By God’s own divine grace and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God gave the fullness of His Son Jesus as a gift to the world. This is the gift which; that one healed leper discovered on that day. This gift was the source of the Samaritan-leper’s gratitude and reason for him coming back to give thanks.
Yes, all the ten lepers were healed.
Yes, all the ten received restoration to their families and friends, but it was one; that foreigner who realized that a greater gift was for him to receive.
Riches of God
He realized that God’s Son, the Savior of the world was not just with a healing for the moment! But more importantly He had the forgiveness of sins which leads to eternal life.
God’s Son came to fulfill all righteousness, to overcome all sinfulness to make the ceremonial washing unnecessary, because the fullness of God’s grace is now in the world, and for the world, till eternity!… Alleluia
On that day, the leper was cleansed not just from the illness of leprosy; he also received forgiveness sin and for that matter restoration to God…. That’s the healing this one man received that day. He was healed physically, socially and spiritually.
Through the Holy Spirit, we also receive this gift of healing which completely unites us to Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. It restores us into fellowship with our Creator, no matter our state in this world; whether we are sick or well and that should be the source of thanksgiving for our life now and forever!
Jesus said to the one who fell before Him with thanksgiving for his healing, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
Thankfulness
Akwasi, thanksgiving is not just a onetime event; it’s an attitude which is the key to living our life. To be thankful to God who created and redeemed us, is necessary for everything in our lives.
Friends maybe some of you listening today are sick with one or more of the ailments God never intended His children to endure. To worsen the case there might be no temporary healing available for your sickness. In that case the pain of your body my harm your joy. You may be hoping for a miracle.
Dear one, Receive that healing touch of Jesus today! Your faith will make you well.
Jesus’ word is clear. He says, “In this world, you may have trouble, but I, have overcome the world.” Be assured that Jesus has subjected Himself to all that which is against us; be it sin, sickness, loneliness, grief or whatever; for our sake, Jesus took all that upon Himself and nail them to the cross; and He also overcame death through His resurrection and gave us the hope of eternal life.
Friends, the good news is: God hasn’t forgotten you. In fact, God has done miraculous things on our behalf, which is for our life and salvation. In Romans 6, the Apostle Paul reminds us that: when we are washed in His Name, through the waters of baptism, there is no more ceremonialism needed, but it is God Himself (Mercy in Action) who is connecting us to His work on the cross, in the resurrection.
Known by God
By our baptism: God puts His Name on us, He knows us by name, He calls us His own, He knows the pain and separation that disease and injury have inflicted on us. It was for this very reason that Jesus came for you, and for all.
Sometimes healing and recovery come through the work and medicines of doctors and medical care providers, and when this happens, we thank them and the Lord. Sometimes they happen just because our bodies were created so wonderfully to have its own ways to fight off illness and get back to health.
But all of these things are only temporal; they make us yearn for the day when we will be healed in body, mind, and in spirit completely and forever. My dear ones, do not worry but believe because this is God’s exact promise to us in (1 Cor. 15).
Please turn with me to (1 Cor. 15:52-54)… , I read “we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body put on immortality” Alleluia!
It is important to keep in mind today that even though there are troubles in this world. Yet they are all overcome in Jesus Christ: this truth is for us right now to hold on to, despite sickness, disease, and death. By faith we have that assurance; That this our imperfect bodies shall be renewed and made perfect free from sickness and suffering! ….
Forgiven
With our life secure in Jesus, it makes us willing to cross, the boundaries of safety or in other words, we go out of our comfort zone, and enter into people’s lives; lives which are full of hurts, full of troubles, and full of dangers; with the message of hope proclaiming the Jesus and His promise of eternal life and salvation.
With this assurance of eternal life, Christian spouses sacrifice for their partners as parents sacrifice for their children. that’s why believers seek to love others, no matter whom they are; or where they’ve come from, because that’s just a glimpse of the love that we all have received from Jesus our Savior. That is what this Samaritan leper who was healed learnt on that day.
May Jesus meet you at the point of your need and heal you: May His name be praised now and forever…. Amen!
May the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds unto Christ Jesus, until life everlasting… Amen!M