Do Your Blessings Distract You From The Blesser?

Luke 17:11-19

Leprosy has always been a tough sickness. Compared to the past, a lot has changed in its treatment. Antibiotics have made it possible to cure this terrible disease. Besides being contagious and emotionally painful, leprosy makes the person lose sensitivity of the touch. A leper can burn his hands without realizing that he is too close to the fire. Lepers often injure themselves because they have lost the feeling of pain.

In the past, lepers had to get out the community, be quarantined and considered outcasts. Lepers used to live together in a community outside the city. They could not see their families; they could not have any connection with the world outside. They were required to warn passers by shouting, “Unclean, unclean!” The Old Testament gives specific commands about handling the lepers (Numbers 5:2-3). Lepers were forsaken; they were hopeless.

The good news is that even if people ignored them, Jesus did not. Jesus Christ had compassion on people. Jesus was walking towards Jerusalem. We know what that means. He was on his way to the climax of his mission. He knew that Calvary, the toughest part of his mission, was facing him. Yet, Jesus always took the time to respond to the needs of people.

Ten lepers came and cried out in a loud voice for mercy and compassion. They were asking for Jesus’ blessing.

Jesus said a simple sentence: “Go, show yourselves to the priests”(v14).

Here we see that Jesus did not heal them on the spot; he tested their faith. While they were with him they were not healed.

He asked them to go. Where? To go to the priest. Why? The priest decided whether they were completely cured. The priest was the “scanner.” We read on the Old Testament, “When anyone has a swelling or a rash or a bright spot on his skin that may become an infectious skin disease, he must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons who is a priest” (Lev. 13:2). If you continue reading the rest of the passage, you will see that the priest decides if that person is clean or not. Leprosy did not only make the person sick, but also made him ceremonially unclean and defiled.

Here we see an act of faith in the ten lepers. They could stand and argue with Jesus that nothing happened to them. No, instead they walked without experiencing the healing. On their way to the priest they were healed.

The turning point of the event comes after this. What will be our response to God’s blessing? Let me say the title of the sermon, “Do your blessings distract you from acknowledging the Blesser?”

It is Thanksgiving season. God blessed us in so many ways. Do His blessings hinder us from acknowledging the Blesser?

Let us continue with the story. The nine went and only one, who was a Samaritan, came back to Jesus to thank him. There are four things in his actions:

a- He worshiped Jesus (Glorified God)

b- He worshiped with a LOUD VOICE (mega phone in Greek)

c- He threw himself at Jesus' feet

d- He thanked him

Jesus saw this and asked, “Where are the rest? What happened to the nine?” How come only one person came back to acknowledge the Blesser? “Where are your friends?” Jesus asked.

In this season of Thanksgiving, do we acknowledge the Source of our blessings? Do we turn around and go to HIM as the Samaritan did? Do we Glorify, Worship with a LOUD Voice, throw ourselves at Jesus’ feet as an act of obedience to Him?

We will continue in English.