Jesus Should Have Known Better
Luke 17:11-17
November 23, 2023 anno Domini
You could have told Jesus it was a mistake. Try to avoid those places where you might meet beggars. If by chance you’re driving past Applebees or Taco Bell, whatever you do, don’t make eye contact.
Why? Because they’ll take what you have and run to the liquor store or buy a pack of smokes. They’re begging for money, yet they probably have an iPhone. Jesus, help those lepers if you want to, but all they’re looking for is a vending machine. They’ll take the gifts and run.
The story proves us right. Look what happens. We could have told Jesus. For every 10 beggars maybe 1, and that’s a big maybe, needs the help. But 9 just keep running. Nine don’t even have time to say thanks. They forgot what their mothers told them about thank-you cards. Even with their iPhones they don’t post a selfie with their families and the hashtag #thanksJesus.
Jesus doesn’t listen to us because He is God and we are not. Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem. He’s got God work to do there – Good Friday work, death, hell on the cross work. He’s got a lot on His mind and a lot ahead of him. Nobody would have blamed Him for avoiding those lepers. He’s got a whole world to save after all.
But that is precisely why He stops even when He knows nine will run and only one will return. He’s come to save the world. He’s come to save you. It’s going to cost Him everything because you’ve got nothing. That is what Scripture teaches us about our standing before God. We are all beggars. It is true. You are a beggar before God. You don’t deserve turkey and stuffing and mash potatoes and pumpkin pie. You certainly don’t deserve whipped cream or a nice Riesling. You don’t deserve loving parents or children or home or clothing or a snowblower or a furnace. Those are yours without any merit or worthiness on your part. You have them because of God’s fatherly, divine goodness and mercy.
And that’s not the half of it. On top of the earthly gifts your Father gives you are heavenly gifts, forgiveness for your sins, eternal life, adoption into His family, the resurrection. Those are gifts that change your life. Gifts that are everlasting. Gifts that become greater with time. Gifts that comes at the cost of His own blood. That’s the reason Jesus came into the world and why He’s heading to Jerusalem when He meets those lepers. It is why He stops for them as he would for you.
Like Father, like Son. Jesus has come to give, to sacrifice, to save, to love and that’s a risky business. You know that. Gifts can be abused. Gifts are free so people take them for granted. Nine lepers take the gifts and run. You give a beggar $10 and he might buy a lottery ticket and a malt liquor or a pack of smokes.
But, is there any among you who haven’t taken the gifts and run? Proudly put your name on those gifts and said “mine.” Used your gifts without thought of God’s providence. Worshipped those gifts instead of the Giver. Wasted those gifts on yourself.
Jesus takes the risk to love and give because that’s Who He is and what He has come to do. He has come to save all, forgive all, redeem all, heal all, because some will believe, some will receive Him, some, in the case of the text, one will return in faith, praising God and giving thanks.
That’s what faith does. Faith believes. Faith receives. Faith returns and give thanks. Faith is found in the least likely guy in the bunch. You find that a lot in Scripture. Pharisees like Nicodemus believe. Tax Collectors like Matthew and Zacchaeus receive Jesus. Mary Magdalene, whose horrible life we can only imagine is the first to see the Risen Lord. Fisherman are made Apostles. A murderer named Saul ends up being a Martyr named Paul.
Don’t ever think Jesus didn’t come for you. Don’t think His death wasn’t for your life and His suffering wasn’t for your sin. There’s no one outside of His forgiving work, even the ones who run away, who never give thanks. The gifts are still there. Those nine could have come back and the salvation of the Samaritan would have been theirs too. Maybe they did come back. We don’t know. There’s plenty of stories in the Gospels where someone walks away from Jesus. The Holy Spirit had those stories written for us, as an example. You have been given more than any leper on the road that day outside Jerusalem. You know that Christ has died and been raised. You know He is true God and that His atoning sacrifice worked. You know that whoever believes in Him is forgiven, is alive, is going to be raised. Plus He gives you whipped cream for your pumpkin pie and a nice bottle of Riesling.
Will you run like the nine? or return like the one? Faith returns not just to God, but to the Father through His Son. Faith praises God with a loud voice, falls at the feet of Jesus and gives thanks. That’s a real Thanksgiving. In the name of Jesus. Amen.