Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019

Luke 17:11-19 English Standard Version (ESV)

11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Devotion

This pericope (puh-rick-oh-pee, a word biblical scholars use for “section) begins with Jesus continuing his journey towards Jerusalem and the climax of his life and ministry that awaits for him there.  The juxtaposition between insiders and outsiders that we have seen throughout Luke continues here as well, with Luke noting that Jesus “was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.”  Samaria was home to a Jewish sect that had intermarried with foreigners and did not participate in Hebrew temple worship.  As such, they were considered “outsiders” by mainstream Judaism. 

Jesus, caught between Samaria and Galilee, is accosted by ten lepers who cry out to him, asking Jesus to have mercy on them.  He directs them to go to the temple to be presented to the priests.  According to Jewish law, a leper would have been considered unclean and would have been cut off from Jewish religious life until a priest determined they were “clean” and they had participated in the appropriate sacrifices to formalize their restoration to community (cr. Lev. 13-14).  While the lepers are on the way to Jerusalem, they were cleansed.

We often expect transformation to happen in an instant, and sometimes it does.  But more often than not, transformation—healing—happens on the way.  It happens in the “going” associated with obeying Jesus.  As we obey him, as we go where he tells us to go and do what he tells us to do—it is then that Jesus changes us, heals us, transforms us, and makes us new.  So often we fund ourselves stuck in place, frozen by our circumstances and hoping desperately for change without forward movement.  Instead, perhaps, we should start walking–doing what Jesus commands and trusting that he’ll change our circumstances as we go.

How we go, however, matters.  Luke goes on to tell us that only one of the ten returned to Jesus after realizing they had been healed.  The other nine carry on, presumably to the temple where they would be restored to corporate Jewish life.  The one man—the outsider, the Samaritan—turns back to Jesus to give thanks.  Just was the way we go matters, the way we give thanks matters as well.  What Luke describes here is more than a quick thank you note, or a #blessed post on social media.  No—the leper “praises God with a loud voice,” “falls at Jesus’ feet,” and “gives thanks.”  He expresses gratitude with his voice, with his body, and with his heart.  He is keenly aware in his thankfulness of who Jesus is and who he is and of where he would be without Jesus.  His gratitude leads him back to Jesus and to something more than token gratitude.  He recognizes all that Jesus has dome for him and responds accordingly and whole-heartedly.  May we become people who both go where Jesus sends us and frequently return to him, praising him with our voices, our physical posture, and our hearts.

For further reflection: 1) Is there a place in your life where you feel stuck—somewhere you are hoping Jesus will transform?

2) How have you experienced transformation as you “went” where Jesus sent you?

3) Where is Jesus sending you now?

4) What distractions keep you from giving thanks?  Is there something God has done in your life lately that you haven’t expressed gratitude for in the way you ought?

5) What might whole-hearted thanksgiving look like—a thanksgiving that is embodied (posture), vocally expressive, and from the heart?  How does the way that the leper expressed thanksgiving challenge you?

Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019

Luke 17:5-10 English Standard Version (ESV)

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

Devotion

Our reading comes in the middle of a long section of parables and teaching on discipleship as Jesus heads towards his triumphant entry and then humiliation on the cross in Jerusalem.  It has been challenging teaching after challenging teaching, with more to come, and so is it any wonder that the disciples here ask Jesus to “increase their faith?”  I, like the disciples, often find myself overwhelmed by the call of obedience to Jesus—to pick up my cross daily and follow (14:27), to care for the Lazarus’ (16:19-31), to forgive over and over again (17:3-4).  And so, in the midst of challenging teaching after challenging teaching, Jesus’ response to the disciples is a relief.  It’s not the amount of faith that matters, it is the mere presence of faith—even a little of it—that makes all the difference.  A mulberry tree has an extensively complex root system, making it very difficult to uproot.  And a mustard seed is tiny.  Yet what a mustard seed lacks in size it makes up for in potency.  So it is with faith.  God can change the world with even our most hesitant and half-hearted “yes’s.”

But saying “yes” to Jesus is rarely glamorous (vs. 7-10).  There is a reason Eugene Peterson describes a life spent following Jesus as “a long obedience in the same direction.”  The life of discipleship is rarely sexy.  It doesn’t make for a lot of “likes” on social media and rarely leads to earthly renown or adulation.  It doesn’t regularly result in invitations to fancy dinner parties or access to impressive people.  No—the life of discipleship means preparing supper, and serving at the table, and obeying the commands of the master.  It is an invitation to a life of humility, of downward mobility, a life spent giving oneself away.

I cannot help but wonder if what Jesus is doing here is preparing his disciples for what is to come.  Most Jews expected a Messiah who would ascend to power, who would literally sit on the throne of David.  They expected the excitement and influence and importance of Palm Sunday, not the humiliation of Good Friday.  They expected an upward trajectory, when Jesus’ trajectory at this point (a fact which he knows, but they do not yet understand) leads down through abandonment, ridicule, and death. 

Following Jesus means following Jesus.  Going where he goes, doing what he does, living like he lived.  It means listening and obeying.  It means serving, expecting nothing in return, a life spent giving oneself away, just as Jesus gave himself away.  The good news?  God is awfully good at doing a lot with a little.  He uproots mulberry bushes with mustard seeds, lifts last week’s lowly Lazarus (ch. 16) into the bosom of Abraham, and transforms the humiliation of the cross into a newness of life.  Jesus goes down in order to come up, and he invites us to do the same.  He invites us to add our mustard-seed “yes” to the whole-hearted “yes” of the cross.

Philippians 2 “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

For further reflection:

1) Has Jesus ever taken your “mustard-seed yes” and used it in a more significant way than you might have imagined?

2) What does saying “yes” to Jesus in the form of “a long obedience in the same direction” look like in your life?

3) A life of humble “downward mobility” is a striking counter to everything the world encourages.  How does Jesus’ teaching here challenge or encourage you?

4) What are some ways this week you might humbly imitate Jesus by giving yourself away, expecting nothing in return?