More than just skin deep.

Have you ever noticed that negative people like to be around negative people….or those who gossip like to group with others who gossip? They say you can learn a lot about yourself by looking at your friends. Most people surround themselves with people who agree with them. People who not only “feel our pain” but share our misery….we can justify each other. They agree with us and it is like an ointment on a wound, …someone understands!
In our scripture reading today we see a group of people who had something deadly in common
Vs. 11 and 12 (Read) These ten men were together because they shared the same illness. Scripture says that as Jesus went by…..
“They stood at a distance and called out.”
Most commentaries believe that all were Jewish except the one Samaritan. The Bible Exposition commentary says that: “The Jews and Samaritans would not normally live together, but misery loves company and all ten were outcasts”.
Misery does love company-Think about it: The best people to talk to when you’re feeling bad about someone or something are people you know will agree with you! If you’re licking your wounds and feeling sorry for yourself…..finding a group of people who agree or are suffering in the same way will at least bring you camaraderie.
The thing about leprosy is that it has a strange way of spreading quickly…eating away at the body, destroying it. It is very infectious. Negativity and gossip also spread quickly…basically all sin is infectious. And slowly eats away at the body.
Those who we call to comfort us may soon be infected as well.
Because, the 10 Lepers were infectious, they stood at a distance. By law they were required to yell out to people passing by….Unclean, Unclean. So that everyone would be warned and would have plenty of opportunity to avoid them and their sickness.
How different would life be if we each had to wear our sin so that all could see like the Scarlet letter A? or yell- Unclean!, Unclean! Or no forgiveness here! Liar, Liar!...what would each of us have to yell to kept others from being infected by us?
I know many who go through life wanting to change, wanting to live differently but who seem to stand at the cross roads unable to admit the need for help. They stay at a distance suffering in their affliction.
The positive thing about this group of 10 lepers is they asked for help. They wanted to change, they wanted to be whole again and they called out to the Only One who could heal them. Thy asked for pity. (NIV) other versions like the KJV translate the word as Mercy. “Have mercy on us.” Scripture says “when he saw them he said go show yourself to the priest.”
The reason he said this was because it was the law. Anyone wanting to be accepted back into the community needed to show themselves to the priest.. Lev. 13:5-44 outlines what the priests are to do to pronounce a person with Leprosy clean.
It is interesting to note that “As they went they were cleansed”
In other situations when Jesus healed people…he spoke and they were healed, or he reached out and touched the person, or commanded them to get up. All the healings were immediate. Here…. they actually had to obey, to turn and go. This simple act of obedience…of starting off in the right direction was a sign that they believed. And as they went…as they acted on his words….they were cleansed.
Sometimes changes happen in our lives that are immediate. Other changes come only when we set out in faith, with no signs of immediate change,…. It was “as they went” that they were cleansed.
Imagine walking toward the temple …to where the priest would be and noticing as you walked together that your life was being restored. Change had already begun. Vs 15 ( read) We know from the response of Jesus here and also from other accounts that Samaritans were not held in high regard by the Hebrews. The shocking thing in this verse for anyone who would have been there --would not have been the healings……The shocking thing would have been the fact that “the least” among them – the foreigner was the one who came back to say thank you …The Samaritan was the one praising God.- and It says…praising God in a loud voice. I think of how many times he had to yell in a loud voice UNCLEAN! And now he was shouting at the top of his lungs praises to God.
Jesus then draws attention to the obvious….Where were the other 9? Where were the ones who belonged to God’s family? The sons of Abraham? How is it that a Samaritan would return to say thanks…a foreigner and not those who belonged to the family?
All were healed…..only one took it to heart and was filled with gratitude. Something happened to the Samaritan that caused him to take the encounter with Christ to a deeper level. For the Samaritan it was more than just skin deep. He was changed. Not just healed but forgiven. Not just a change in his outward appearance….but a change of attitude, a change of heart.
End of vs. 15 and vs. 16 ( Read)
It is still possible today to have an encounter with Christ, to receive a healing ----a change in our lives and yet…… walk away from the experience as if we deserved it…If our attitude is not one of gratitude- it can seem as if we somehow feel we deserve God’s blessings and His favor. We think good things should happen to us. Life should go well for us and people should like us. When we find favor, we assume we deserve it and when it doesn’t happen we think something is wrong with us. We don’t receive Gods blessings because we deserve them. We receive them because He is good, kind, forgiving and pours out His grace upon us. When blessings come, when forgiveness is ours it is always undeserved!
My ticket…..Police pulled me over…I was speeding…I deserved it. I didn’t get the ticket…..that was Grace….complete undeserved favor. Changed my attitude…I went from angry to humbled and I drive very slowly down broad street now…aware of the grace I received.
Did the lepers deserve to be healed? When they were healed, changed……did the other nine…..think because they were the sons of Abraham, they deserved healing? Did the foreigner think….I really shouldn’t have been healed like the others…I know who I am! I am only a Samaritan? And therefore was more grateful. God gives grace to the humble.
Do we know who we are? Do we remember what we are saved from? What we have to be thankful for? I know…who I am. I know who has healed me, forgiven me. I know I have not deserved or earned anything by my own merits.
I know that without the grace of God I have no right to stand before any of you for the things I have done.
I deserve the full punishment…the full ticket….but when I call on the mercy of God…he hears me and shows compassion. He set us on the right road and we are cleansed. How will we respond to him today? Will we go from this place the same as when we walked in? Or do we desire…change. A change of attitude? A change of heart? A healing of the spirit.
May we allow God to set us in the right direction? May we remember to be thankful and give him all the praise!