Hey friends, welcome to another episode of the podcast and we
are happy that you are here. We have made it into Luke 17 and
Justin, you were preaching, so welcome to the preacher's chair,
which is. Today.
Last week. We didn't.
We didn't trade. No, no, no, because I have, you
know, I have a camera here that I.
Can and a microphone that is set to your voice and the microphone
that's set to my voice. But great to have you preaching
and jumping up. So we're going to get into a
conversation around Luke 17. If you want to read it, that be
fantastic. If you missed the sermon, you
can always go back and watch it. Yeah, But I think it's a good
conversation around a very specific healing that Jesus does
in in the gospel of Luke, there's 10 lepers.
They come to Jesus, they beg him to be healed and he heals them.
But he does it in in a in a great order.
We see Jesus, Jesus do this a couple times right where he he
doesn't heal the person instantly.
He tells them to go and do something.
And it's a it's a theme that we pick up on later in acts.
Like Luke continues this theme and the church continues this
theme. But so 10 lepers come to Jesus,
they beg to be healed. And he says, just go, like, do
the thing. Go and show yourselves to the
priests. And it says on the way they were
healed. And I loved how you highlighted
that piece for us. And so this this podcast is
going to find you on the way somewhere, very likely.
Cleaning your house, Driving to work.
Yeah, yeah. So we hope that it's helpful for
you on the way. One of my favorite writers is,
and I've talked about him before, but a guy named Henry
Allen and I've got a devotional of his and it's called Bread for
the journey. And I, I love that.
So I love that what we get to see here is a picture of these
these guys who are healed on the way on the road and literally as
they travel. This podcast is not going to
heal you as you travel, but we hope that it's encouraging for
you and we hope that it helps you meet Jesus on the road on
the way in, in some small way in your life.
So whether you're watching, whether you're listening,
whether you're in your car, whether you are at home,
wherever it is that you are, we just hope that, you know, we're
praying for you and we're praying that you meet Jesus on
the way in some small way as we work our way through this
passage and into your day ahead. So we're going to get into it
and jump into some questions. We did have some questions sent
in and kind of discussed our own leading up to recording this.
It's worth noting that we, you know, sometimes have our own
questions. Like even for me as the
preacher, I still have some questions that are lingering
from this passage. Like we're just just worth
naming that like that. We've spent, you know, many
hours in the text writing the thing and the work still isn't
done, you know, and that's, that's just, that's just the
Bible. Yeah, it's, it's, it's the gift
of Scripture, which is the that exact fact that, you know, I
think for for you and I like we could preach on the same text 10
times and come out with 10 different sermons.
Yeah. And that's the hope.
That's that's the gift of it. That's the joy of it and the
challenge in it. But, you know, I think even more
so for our own lives. Like you realize you come back
to passages and you go, I see this differently now.
And I think part of that is that as we age, right.
Like I remember talking to somebody about the Pilgrims
progress. Have you read the Pilgrims
Progress? Progress when I was a kid.
So OK, so this is this is the point.
Is exactly the point. Many of us read it early on,
like at some point during high school maybe we read that book
and then never touch it again. And this person that I was
talking to is making the the argument that, you know, you
read it when you're when you're in your 20s or 30s and it's
different. And then you read it again, like
your 50s or 60s and it's a completely different book, Huh.
Read it again later, like in your older decades, maybe like
into your seventies, 80s. And it's a different book for
the third time around. And I just love that that's like
that's the hardest scripture is that you can come back to it
over and over and over again. So we're going to jump in.
It's versus 11 through to 19. And it is this story of Jesus
healing the man with leprosy. Pause if you need to go read it,
some great lines in it. Rise, go.
Your faith has made you well, we're going to get into that.
He said go, they're healed all on the way as they went, they
were cleansed. So maybe to jump in just with
the first question is there are there are two different
responses to Jesus here. So you highlighted for us on
Sunday that 10 come to Jesus, 10 are asking Jesus to be healed.
He sends 10 away, but then their responses are different.
There's a response of the nine and then there's a response of
the one. So maybe let's just revisit
exactly what those responses are.
And I think the question in it is for you, what were some of
the things that you noticed in this guy, the one who returns to
Jesus? I'm spoiling a little bit of the
answer here, but like what makes this dude different from the
other 9? There's a, there's a few things.
I obviously he's a Samaritan and that has a lot of implication
here. Like we, we talked about that.
I went through kind of the, the reasons why a Samaritan was in a
lose, lose situation here. In many ways.
He's, you know, I kind of refer to him as doubly damned in some
ways. He was like because of his
disease, because of his ethnicity.
And he was not even, he was not in a, he was on the border of,
you know, Galicia, Galilee and Samaria, but not in Samaria,
right? So he's out of out of his home.
He's a he's a foreigner in a foreign land with a bunch of
people that don't like him. But there is something
different. That's like the most natural,
obvious outward difference. But there's more, right?
There's you see this man that kind of realizes that he has
nowhere else to go, right. So he's sort of come even in his
healing. He's sort of come has come to
the end of himself. You know, where where he's, you
know, got to be thinking like I I don't know.
And again, I kind of highlighted this in the sermons.
You can go back but and listen, but like, he's like, I don't
know if this priest is even gonna like declare me clean,
right? Cause to him, I'm, I'm already
unclean. You know, I'm a, I'm a
Samaritan. And so he's, he gets to the end
himself and of himself, he has to humble himself and return to
the source, right. And, and so I think that that is
another distinct distinguishing factor that this this guy was
forced to in some ways humble himself.
He was already probably quite humbled because of his his
affliction with leprosy, but he had to humble himself and he
realized and recognized he had eyes to see who Jesus was in
contrast to the nine who I think you could make an argument
either, you know, treated Jesus as a means to an end.
At worst, perhaps I think you could make it even worse,
actually. But but they, you know, more
charitably were just more kind of thoughtless, more just in
their own little world, right? And and did not extend that
their gratitude toward the man who you know, was able to have
the power to heal them, right. Yeah.
So I certainly know that like in in my life, and I think we see
this in people who would say this of themselves.
Like, there's something that I resonate with in this one, you
know, which like you always want to be careful.
Like don't, don't always, you know, don't always see yourself
only in like the person who has the best outcome in Scripture.
Like. Yeah, right.
Yeah, so and we can we'll get there.
But like I, I do resonate with this idea that like, I think the
leper that this one who returns the Samaritan is so far to the
end of himself that he's able to see Jesus differently than these
other nine. And you know, whether it's that
day for them, the path is clear. Like they go and show themselves
to the priests and they're restored.
They are cleansed like physically, mentally,
emotionally, they're brought back into community.
So they're, they're cleansed socially, religiously, they're
now able to go back and make sacrifices and enter into
rituals of cleansing. And like in in every way
possible, the nine can see a very clear outcome here.
For them, it's like A + B = C if the if Jesus can heal them, then
they can return and it's game on.
And for this one Samaritan, it's not A + B = C It's A + B equals
still A in the sense that like he's still got these other like
strikes against him. And so I think he like he's so
far to the end of himself that that he sees in Jesus something
so different. And I do think that that can be
a helpful and hard challenge for us that so the the the gospel in
it is. And you said this so well on
Sunday, but like there's no, you can't be too far gone for God to
not show up and, and and write the ship as it were, right?
Like you, this guy has every strike against him and Jesus
doesn't say to him, well, like, I'll, I'll heal these nine
because they qualify. Like prerequisites are checked
and I won't heal you because the prerequisites aren't checked,
right. So same affliction or same
grouping of affliction. Like that's kind of leprosy is
this weird thing. But but there's in Jesus's eyes,
there's no difference between these these 10.
So it's not like he comes and says, well, you know, Samaritan
Jew, I'm going to heal these nine and I'm not going to heal
you. It it for for Jesus.
This guy's not too far gone. And I think there's something
that for us is beautiful in that and and helpful and encouraging
and challenging to hear maybe at times, but like you're not too
far gone. In the same way though, I think
that each of us can identify with moments where we've been
brought to the end of ourselves and where we know there's no way
out of this. A+B doesn't equal C like A + B
still feels like we're in a territory.
And your dependence and reliance on Jesus is different when
there's no way forward for you. And, and so like just riffing
off that a little bit, like I think that that is a logical end
when we have, you know, when we are in a dark night of the soul
where, where something is, you know, like we're maybe it's a
terminal illness, maybe it's, maybe it's a cancer journey,
maybe it's a, a divorce, maybe it's an addiction.
What like whatever that looks like, you know, you get, you get
to the end of your rope and you realize all I have, all I have
is Jesus, right? So like, that's like, that's a
good turn for someone, right? It's a it's a good thing.
My thought is sometimes like, OK, like go, let's go like a few
steps back for someone. How do we get to the place where
where we can turn to Jesus even before then, right, You know,
because like, like it's, it's, it's tough when it's like, well,
you're my only you're my last and only hope Jesus, You know,
like when there's so much and this is kind of, you know, ties
into to the 9. Like, how much better would it
be if we can like, recognize and declare our our utter dependence
on Jesus long before we get to the end of our.
Rope. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I think the one thing that the one thing that I recognize is in
like in myself is that once you've experienced those like
deepest and darkest nights of the soul, whatever that looks
like, you start to be able to see the flags in yourself a lot
sooner. The other thing though, is that
you start to be able to pick out flags and other people.
And I do think that that's where you need people, like you need
people around you who can say, hey, like you got some like, not
sure what's going on maybe, but like there are some flags or
even just to say like you need people who know like your best
habits, routines, disciplines and your worst habits, routines
and disciplines and who can see you drifting, right?
You can say hey like. You doing OK?
You, you, you know, you, you're better when you're, when you're
getting up every every morning, right?
You're better when you're not even think of like spouses, like
hey, like you're I mean that's a dangerous thing to say.
You're better one. Don't say that.
Pick better language than me, please.
But like you need someone and a group of someones, I think, who
can hold you accountable to those, those rhythms that, you
know, are just healthy and life giving.
And it's not as simple as just, yeah, I'm going to do the right
thing and then I'll feel great. But like it it is.
I think you need people around you who can help back that that
chain up. I think that's that's yeah, I
agree. Better if we could better we
could recognize dependence, you know, on on God's sooner.
I do think for many of us, we need to be brought to a place
where we let go of ourselves. Like I think that's pretty
typical in the human experience is that we are brought to a
place where we realize that I you can't do it.
I can't do it and that's. OK, and you see it even in like
he he displays like that physically by by like, you know,
becoming prostate at the feet of Jesus, right?
You know, like that there is we often describe that like that.
Like I just like all I have left is just to go to the feet of
Jesus, right. And it's like this.
This is the guy that we're kind of modeling that after, right?
And in that language. And, and so like even just in
his, his physicality is displaying this, this humility
and this, this realization, like, hey, you'll, you'll, you
are the source of my, of my hope and my healing and my
restoration into, into the world and into life.
Yeah. So and I would say that the more
you learn to do that in your everyday life when things are
great. So man, it is like the fad.
The fad psychological thing right now is gratitude.
Yeah, but it's so right. It's like, it is so right.
It's such a good. Thing sometimes we like, like
pop psychology, we get things wrong, like they like there's a
lot of things that go sideways and whatever.
But like, that's just such a simple thing like, like to be
able to like even my like very Christian therapist from a
number of years ago, like she would say like, Hey, write out
like 10 things that you like that you can say about yourself
when you're like really down yourself, which is like good
could come across as like, you know, you're, you're going to
inflate yourself. But when your ego is like down
here, you know, that's a good thing.
But also like, you know, before you go to bed, think about like
5 things. Think about like 5 things that
are that you're grateful for, that you're thankful for.
And, and you can obviously as a Christian, we can direct that
toward God, which is a benefit. Yeah.
And I think that the, the like a
Christian position or posture of gratitude is exactly that.
It's giving thanks to God for the the various moments and
blessings that you've experienced throughout the day
as opposed saying like, you know, I'm grateful for this.
I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful to like grateful
I've got a family. I've I think the the posture is
to say thanks Jesus for. Hmm.
For AB and C and like that in and of itself is already turning
you toward a posture of humility.
It's like I'm not grateful that I did this God.
I'm grateful for what you've given and placed in my life.
It's also showing dependence because it's again, I'm not
grateful for what I've been able to accomplish.
I'm grateful for what God has put in my way to be able to do.
And so like I, I just think there are there are simple ways
that are really actually like the challenges, consistency and
and learning to do the thing. But there are those sort of
smaller, simpler, and I'm using air quotes here, smaller,
simpler things, uh, that can turn us toward God in moments
where we're not at the end of ourselves.
And it makes gratitude, it makes humility, it makes dependence
easier when we're not, like when we're not at the end of
ourselves. OK, so we've got, let's just
clarify here for us. So we've got the 9:00.
Well, I'll back up. We have 10 who come to Jesus
asking to be cleansed. Jesus says go and show
yourselves to the priests. 9 go to the priests.
Presumably we don't see that. Yeah, walked out in Luke, but.
Why would they? Not why would they not 9 go
along the way like on the road as they traveled.
They're healed. 9 Continue and one turns, comes back to Jesus,
falls at his feet, gives thanks to God, and then Jesus says to
him, Go, your faith has made you.
Well, we're going to come back to the one in kind of a full
circle move, but talk to us a little bit about the 9:00
because on the surface it looks like they're just doing exactly
what Jesus said to do. Jesus says, go and show
yourselves to the priests and they're like, game on.
We're going to go and show ourselves to the priest.
We have no reason, like we've said to believe they don't do
that. They are also healed along the
way. They're cleansed.
What like, what is the lesson that we need to learn from them
that we miss if we don't come back like this one guy?
And how can we maybe like, what are the ways in which we live
like these nine before we get to this one?
If we say the first thing that comes to mind is that Jesus is
not a genie in a bottle and, and we should not treat Jesus like
that, you know, and, and, and so that's at a very superficial
level. You know, these guys ask for,
ask for healing, they ask for pity, they, they get what they
asked for. You would think even after
they've gone to the priest to be declared clean, you would think
that, I mean, I, I can only put myself mentally in this
situation because I'm, I'm not in this situation, but I would
hope that my, that my response and reaction would be OK now
that I've done what Jesus said to do.
The Samaritan had a reason why he didn't go to the priest,
right? But these guys did what Jesus
told them to. In my mind, I'm like, why
wouldn't they go back to the one who did the thing, right?
Who like the priests did nothing.
They just, they just declared them clean because like you
don't have any skin diseases, you know, great, you're, you're
good to go. And I there, there are some
theories that when you're reading some like commentaries
and whatnot, that they actually did not like that it was Jesus
who did the thing that that because they knew who Jesus was,
they, they called out to him, right?
They knew, they knew who he was, likely knew some they like they
had some understanding of, of the reputation that Jesus had
amongst the religious elites, likely had some understanding of
the implications of being a, a disciple of Jesus.
And there's some there's some that kind of pause it like they
actually did not like that it was Jesus.
So it was like, it was a pretty kind of like utilitarian move,
hmm. To get what they wanted out of
Jesus. I think that we can treat our
faith like that. Like what?
What is in this for me? Yeah.
What's in the what can I get out of this?
That that's a that's certainly a danger.
Yeah. So I think to just to add to
that, like it, it really just rounds out the entire
conversation that we've been having so far, which is to say,
it's a lot easier to recognize that we need Jesus when we
actually need like when, when I shouldn't say when we actually
do, but when we feel like we actually do right when there is
something going on. So one of the most common things
that I'll ask people about their prayer life is like, do you do
you only pray when you need something from God?
Or do you pray as a means of communicating with a God who
loves you and is created you and knows you best and wants you to
know yourself letter and is you know, longing to communicate
with you and build out a relationship where you know Him
better like it is? Do your prayers represent things
that are requests, asks bleeding with begging with God?
Or is it? Can you say that it's more
well-rounded? Yeah, well, and even like, cause
I think we could, you know, say, cause I've been thinking of some
friends that I've been praying for quite a bit.
It's still, even though it's, it's not about me, nothing to do
with me. It's, it's I'm praying, I'm
praying for them. But it can.
It's still a request. I need you to do this which is
listen a great. Prayer good.
There's nothing wrong with it. But as you say, like is our, is
our prayer like well-rounded, you know?
Yeah, I just think that it's a litmus test maybe for how we
approach God, right? It's got a tool in your tool
belt and you're like, well, in this situation, I'm going to
take this tool out. We're going to try it.
And you know, if that doesn't work, then we've got a bigger
tool. So it's kind of like, do you
have like the Leatherman with like the little like wimpy
screwdriver on it and which are always so, so handy.
And but then you get something and you're like, oh, this, this
little screwdriver isn't doing the thing.
You need the bigger screwdriver. And then that doesn't work in
like, maybe you need to drill the thing out like like, you
know, listen, I probably shouldn't be giving out
machining advice, mechanical advice, however.
You more than me. However, I do think that that
can be sometimes the way in which we approach God right
where it's OK. I've got this tool in my tool
belt and I'll use it when I think I need it as opposed to,
you know, is, is this is this dynamic and flourishing?
Like are you living all of life inside of you know this the the
context of this relationship with with the God who's created
you. So, OK, so if that's the lesson
that we need to learn from the 9 Yeah, I think part of the turn
is this one leper comes back and he gives thanks.
He falls at his the Jesus's feet.
He gives thanks to God. He recognizes who Jesus is.
Um, what's the lesson that we need to learn from this one?
Hmm. There is something about again,
again, this goes back to this idea.
I mean, he's gone. He's gone to the end of himself.
He has, he has realized his options are very low.
So you could, I mean, you could kind of make a case that this
guy is also being like very utilitarian and like that he has
nowhere else to go really. But I do think that again, he
recognizes who Jesus is. He sees that this, this is more
than just a man, more than just a itinerant preacher.
You know, he is more than that. And so that the difference maker
is in knowing and seeing who Jesus is and, and acting upon
that, right? And that is that that delicate
balance between, you know, Jesus has revealed himself to this
man, right? He's revealed himself to this
man. And this man has responded,
right? And this is, you know, going
back to where, I mean, Jesus declares his, his faith and, and
that he has expressed a great deal of faith and he's commended
for his faith. And, and it's not to say that
the, the, the other nine had no faith.
They had some degree of faith, otherwise they wouldn't have
walked toward the village, right?
But this man had perhaps more right?
And it's always like, how do you measure faith?
Like how do you, I don't know, how do you, how do you measure
like I, I have like 99% faith and you have 92.
Like, I don't know how that works, you know, like, but, but
clearly this man had something more going on for him, right?
And, and Jesus says your faith has made you well, right.
And, and we talked about that being salvific, that there is
that there is something more than just all of them were made
well physically. And, and, and this man was made
well wholly from a holistic faith, salvation physically, all
the things, right. And so, so the difference maker
is that he he recognized the source.
Yeah. One of the interesting things
about this passage is that Lucas positioning Jesus is the temple.
Yeah, right. So you get, you get the you get
the Jews who worship in Jerusalem at the temple and
like, you know, in synagogues around.
Yeah, as microcosms of. The temple, but but their lives
were directed toward the temple. Samaritans have Mount Gerizim.
Exactly. And so for both of these groups
who worshipped in very different places, feeling and access to
God and God's healing would have been considered something that
happened in those places. For that to now happen in the
person of Jesus is really, I think Jesus positioning himself
and Luke showing us that Jesus is fulfilling the role of temple
and priest. So we talk about threefold
office of of Christ of Jesus role as prophet, as priest, as
king, and this is a priestly role that Jesus is fulfilling
that he's stepping into that he's not only the priest, he is
embodying the temple. Hmm.
God's presence is is in him and alive through him in in the same
way that we would articulate as Christians now that you are
God's temple and no longer is it connected to a specific place or
time. It is the Spirit of God
breathing life and dwelling in followers of Jesus.
So Jesus is demonstrating what it means to be what it looks
like to fulfill that he's acting as priest.
He is fulfilling the role of temple where where these people
are healed. And I think it's that in some
ways that that this guy is seeing like, it's like God gives
him eyes to see the thing as it really is, as it's unfolding
before him. And so, you know, these, these
9, even if they do go to the synagogue or if they do go to
the temple and worship, they're still worshipping in the temple.
Yeah. And this Samaritan, he doesn't
go back to to his people and to their their place of worship.
He goes back to Jesus. He's able to see Jesus as this
place, time, power, presence, all of it rooted in in a in a
person and so. Cool.
Like it's I I just love it. Yeah.
Yeah, it's very, very. Cool.
It's a great image of really what it looks like for God's
presence and power to be unleashed beyond the walls of
the temple. We always talk about when Jesus
dies, the temple, like the curtain of the temple is torn
and it's not torn from the bottom like it's from the top,
just like straight down route, like opening up.
But Jesus is revealing these types of like moves that God is
making long before, yeah, that temple curtain is torn and it's
like God's presence is released into the world.
No, Jesus is is revealing that as he goes on the road and this
is one of those really kind of hinge or like paramount moments
where we get to glimpse Jesus for who he truly.
Is and it's cool to see the the way that that theology develops
over even in Paul's time when, when you know, Paul would talk
about us as as temples of, you know, we are, we are the body of
Christ. We are, we are temples, our
bodies are temples all that kind of thing.
But even when you go back and this is I'm going to I'm going
to bring back this passage in in second kings, just briefly.
We'll, we'll go here. So this, this story of, of the
leper, the 10 lepers that are healed, it would call to mind a
story centuries prior with Elisha the prophet and this,
this Gentile by the name of Naaman.
And this is in second Kings chapter 5.
You can read it there. And there's just a couple
passages that highlighted just because I, I think that it's
cool to look forward to the way that the temple theology
develops, but then to look back and say this was actually
happening before as well, where Elijah, this guy named and has
has leprosy. Elijah is basically go wash
yourself in the Jordan 7 times and your flesh will be restored
and you'll be cleansed. So here we have this guy doing
the thing outside of the temple, right?
This prophet and then so skip a few verses, verse 14, he says,
and so he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan 7 times as
the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and
became clean like that of a young boy.
And it's kind of a funny image like it's like comes out and
he's like got like smooth skin. Then Naaman and his attendance
went back to the man of God and he stood before him.
And this is what's so interesting.
You get this, this Gentile, he says, now I know that there is
no God in all the world except in Israel.
So you get this guy who declares God as God, right?
Who, who has been healed and recognizes the God of the
universe, You know, long before, long before Jesus, that was on
earth. Like it's just a it's a
fascinating little parallel that in some ways the the hearers,
the early hearers of these words, the Jewish hearers of
these words should have called to mind it should have reminded
them of this passage. Oht God's been doing this thing
with Gentiles for a real long time.
God's been operating outside of the kind of the the Kingdom or
the temple, the bounds of the temple.
God's been doing stuff outside of that for a long.
Time I almost wonder if the 9 they're like, Hey, should we be
like jumping in the river as we go like 7 times?
Like remember that story? But the so the the one
difference that I love in these two accounts is you get so it's
it's a Leisha here, right? So you get a Leisha who tells
Naaman to go and cleanse himself in the river 7 times and then
you get Jesus who just says go, you're already made.
Well, more powerful there is. No, like there's no, there's no
sacrifice they have to make. There is no step they have to
take. All, all they need to do is turn
and go. And so it is like, while I mean
it, it, it, it's meant to be very similar.
Like we're meant to see these as connections and we're meant to
see the distinctions between the two.
Yeah. And I just, I love that, you
know, for, for Jesus here in his role, he is able to say, hey,
you don't even have to, you don't even have to jump in the
river 7 times anymore. Like those sacrifice on your
behalf at this point has not literally been made, but inside
of the scheme of salvation history, yeah, has been made.
This side of the cross has been made.
So I you know, it it, it again just points us toward Jesus as
the ultimate fulfillment of all of these.
So Jesus is standing as prophet and he's standing as priest and
fulfilling this role as temple. So let's talk about then just
really briefly, because I think that the Naamans story does
double down on this idea that there's something different
about the Samaritan who is healed.
Jesus says to him, rise and go. Your faith has made you well.
And I'm so in in my like NIV translation here in 14 where he
says initially to them, go show yourselves to the priests as
they went, they were cleansed and then rise go your faith has
made you well. Did you and your study notice
differences between those two, those two words, the
implications of them? I know we talked about how your
faith has made you well means far more.
I think Naaman story double s down on it because he sees he
names God as the true God. And so that implication is there
also for the Samaritan that he's naming God as the true God and
kind of rejecting other forms of God, the gods worship, etcetera.
He's like he's zeroed in on the real deal here.
Yeah. So talk to us a little bit about
the difference that happens there.
So, so cleansed. I don't recall.
I don't think I looked up that word exactly.
It's not the same or it's, it's, it's not, it's certainly not the
same because the idea of made well, which I looked up, I
looked up the Greek in my, I have these, I have these like
they're like King James Bible like that.
You look up the word in the King James and then you, it's a very
old school. You can just, you can just do it
online. But I, I sometimes like the
physicality of like I'm going to look up the, the, the word in,
in the, the gold King James and then look it up in this like
big, thick, like 3 inch thick lexical, you know, dictionary
and you go in and the word, whatever it was, I can't recall
exactly. It took up about 3 pages.
So. So yeah.
Yes, yes, yeah. I mean, you know, more than I
do, but it like it took up so much space.
And I was like, this is clearly very complicated in terms of
like, in terms of its use case, in terms of its, you know, like
the complexity of of how it's used.
So there's a lot going on. Most scholars would say the ten
were all healed of their affliction, their physical
affliction. The Samaritan was saved right
in, in, in the sense in the, in the, the sense in which we think
of someone being saved today, someone receives Jesus, as you
know, like the classic, like evangelical evangelical
language, like receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, right?
And that's what happens here, right?
That is there. This is a a turning point and a
salvation moment for the Samaritan.
And, and even in the language and I highlighted this, you
know, this, this yesterday of like the rise and go language
being being resurrection language that that is like, yes,
I know that he's literally at the at Jesus's feet.
Yeah, but but he's he's saying like, hey, like get up.
This is you are you are rising into new life.
Like it's so it's so profound and so intentional.
The way that Jesus speaks to this man.
He's like, get up. You have a new lease on life.
You are, you are being raised to life in a new way into a new
life in the same way that in in, you know, the Gospel of John,
Jesus describes with with Nicodemus this idea of, of being
born again. This this Samaritan has been
born again. He has been not just made well,
physically, you know, with, with new baby skin like naming.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But but he has been saved.
Yeah, yeah. That's good.
Yeah. It's interesting to me that that
word so. So So that word in Greek is
translated as healed and saved and all.
It gets confused. Exactly.
The only difference is the immediate context, but the
implication is that you you're never reading 1 without the
other. Yeah, right.
Like that's the implication of that word is that to be healed
is to be saved. To be saved is to be healed.
Like it all of the the person is implicated in the thing.
Your spiritual life, your physical life, your emotional,
relational, social, all of the things are meant to be
integrated into what Jesus does when he gets hold of you.
I love this. So this is it's baptism language
is what you're saying. Like like rise and go is
language of baptism like to to be raised with Christ.
Plug for baptisms on June. 7th baptism Sunday.
Yeah. And we will dunk you in the
tank, Yeah. And then we will raise you up,
and then we'll say to you, God. Like, not if your baby though.
Well, within reason, right? How young is too young to be
dunked? That's that's that's what I'm
thinking. Podcast for another.
Day. So it is the IT is the rise and
then go, the go of vocation. Like the go your life is now.
Like you're being sent, your life is released to be lived
differently. And I'd love to know what this
guy's life is life like after, you know, like, like what his
what Like, does he go back to Samaria like you?
I kind of assume he does. Like, I kind of assume he goes
back to Samaria and and I mean, again, that's where he's going
to be accepted for, you know, and not rejected as unclean and
whatnot. But like I just what is his life
look like? Does he, is he like the, you
know, the woman at the well and John four that that's that she
becomes a little evangelist for for Jesus once she's received
salvation, you know, does he go back home and and live like that
woman? You know, like, yeah.
It, I mean, it does. I asked the same question it
reminds me of So an axe. There's the story of the
Ethiopian Munich and so it's in eight Acts chapter 8 and it, you
know, if we were to just continue from Luke into Acts,
we'll get there eventually. We'll see.
But. I gave a little wink on.
I've hinted at that. We're not going, we're not going
to go immediately into Acts, but we are, we are going to, we'll,
we'll do Acts at some point. And so in Acts Chapter 8, we get
Philip in Samaria. So you get like the very similar
location to this. Moment.
I had forgotten about that. And then so he interacts with
this dude, Simon the sorcerer. And then so in, in like partway
through 8, the an Angel says to Philip go South to the road, the
desert Rd. that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.
And so he starts out and he meets this Ethiopian eunuch and
he, the Ethiopian eunuch is baptized.
So again, we get this very similar story that doesn't have
leprosy, but he is a, he is a gentile.
He is outside of the bounds of, of Judaism and what that
understanding of covenant people would have looked like.
He, he there's this great line where the, the Ethiopian eunuch
is reading the book of Isaiah and Phillips understand.
Yeah, Phillips, like, do you understand what you're eating,
dude? Like, how could I possibly
unless someone explains it to me?
And then on the road, So Philip ran up to the chariot and heard.
And then he says he So he like, it's like he hops in dudes like,
OK, he he invites the Ethiopian eunuch, invited Philip to come
up and sit with him. And then on the road, Phillip
explains what this guy's been reading.
He gets baptized. Is like, look, here's water.
Can we go do the thing right now?
I I love the way you phrases it. What can stand in the way of my
being baptized? Like it's.
It's so fun. Like like.
Yeah, surely nothing, right. And he's like, there's water
right here and so let's do the thing.
And then he gets baptized. And I, I love this.
It's a similar kind of. You know, he, he keeps like the
the Ethiopian eunuch on his on his way.
Yeah. But man, do we know from church
history how Christianity exploded and where it went and
how it traveled. And I go, who knows what this
guy took with him as he went. And I I so I read, you know, I
read this Luke 17, the story of the Samaritan in the same way.
And I go, man, like we, we can't grasp or comprehend the impact
that a single person whose life is grabbed, told of by Jesus,
healed in a very real way, and then released is going to have
on the people around that person.
So man, like that's if for me, I read it and I go, I, I wish I
knew. And then you kind of read back
into church history. You see where Christianity
explodes and moves to and you go, you know what?
We kind of don't have to know because it's very probable.
I mean, and again, this one person, how many people?
But like, we see him at his life, his rise go, your faith
has made you well. And you go that dude, his life
was changed. Yeah.
And he carried that with him wherever he went.
Doesn't matter where the where the where was.
Yeah, whether he went back home, whether he stuck around
somewhere else, you know, and there.
Yeah. So like there's this
missiological component that we didn't really get into in the in
the sermon itself and even in this passage in in Acts 8,
right. Of of like, hey, the, the, the
gospel is exploding all over the place.
And, and, you know, we, we need to be aware of, we need, we
wanted to notice what Jesus is doing and with whom.
And that matters, right? Because sometimes Jesus is going
to use very unlikely people and situations to, to, to further
the Kingdom in, in these unexpected places, you know,
like North America, the West doesn't have the keys to the
Kingdom, you know, and, and there is something that, you
know, we need to be humbled in this, right?
And even when you think about just the way that the gospels
popping off in, in, in so many other parts of the world right
now, it is, it is a very humbling reminder that that God,
you know, God is going to use me and God's going to use you, but
he doesn't like, he doesn't need me or doesn't need you.
Like he's doing his thing all all over the world, right?
And the profound way. So talk to us about as a final
point, this arc, this big arc that you mentioned on Sunday,
which is that in some way, so we get these lepers, this colony of
people who all are suffering from variations of affliction.
And you know, we have, we've got for people who are Jewish, we've
got Samaritans, we've got presumably others.
Um, at the beginning, they're all living life together.
It's like the their illness breaks down these social
barriers. Yeah.
And then throughout the majority of the story, they're they're
like, OK, are we, are we together?
Are we not together? Yeah.
Or you get the nine who go, you get the one who comes away.
And then they, they kind of separate.
And then we get what Jesus is doing, which transcends barrier
and division that we would construct and see and make and
naturally experience. So it it, it talks to us about
how like you alluded to the, the leper colony in some way almost
representing and fuller measure the Kingdom, like the community
within the Kingdom of God, what Jesus wants to do.
Yeah, on like the other side of the narrative arc here, when
things are made well, like they are for this Samaritan.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, OK.
And I didn't use this analogy in the sermon, but it did keep
coming to mind. And it's coming to mind again,
this idea of like a bunch of like teenagers that go away for
like summer camp. Hmm.
And, and, and just like work with me here.
So, so like you get kids from all sorts of backgrounds, all
sorts of eight, like stages of life.
And you know, like, like they're all within a, you know, a
relative age bracket or whatever.
But like they're all coming from all over the province or even
the country or whatever. And they all come together and
it's just this weird mishmash of people, right.
And like, invariably by the end of the week, hopefully, you
know, if, if they if things have gone well, these kids from all
these like, crazy backgrounds and house and, and houses and
families and situations, they are like, they're all singing,
you know, proverbial kumbaya together.
And like, they, like, there's something so beautiful about
that. And we experience that.
I work. I know you worked at Fair Havens
when you were a teenager. I worked at the rival Muskoka.
Yeah. And, And so like, similar
things. And obviously there's always
like, tensions and some challenges, especially like if,
you know, people start dating and then they break up and all
that. But like, there is something
like this, this little bubble, this little bubble that they
were in that we were in. There's something really
beautiful. I remember coming home, I was
16, from, like, my first summer. And I just like, started crying
because I was just like, I was tired and emotional, but I was
just like, I just miss all my friends, you know?
Like there was this beautiful community in this beautiful
connection that was built. And there's like this like,
yeah, something beautiful about that.
That was like a little like, I just was thinking about that as
I thought about this leper colony.
Yeah, yeah. And also because you know,
there's lies. Was just gonna say head lice.
Everybody throws up at the same time.
He ever gets gastro? Living in close quarters at all
just goes around. Yeah.
So there's, there's some overlap, but, but no, like from
a, from a biblical perspective, the first thing that comes to
mind escalations theory, you know, and when Paul is, is
writing about what the Kingdom of God looks like and, and, and
who we are as God's children. So I think it's just worth
reading the end of Galatians 3. So in Christ Jesus you are all
children of God through faith, for all of you are baptized into
Christ. And who clothe yourself with
Christ. There is neither Jew nor
Gentile. That's obviously the most
important thing for us here. Neither slave nor free, nor is
nor is there male and female. For you are one in Christ Jesus.
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs
according to their promise. And that's like, that is a whole
other episode, like just unpacking what what Paul means
by if you are in Christ, you are, you are a part of the line
of Abraham, right? And and and like, I don't think
the the Jewish lepers would have necessarily agreed with that,
right? But yet they were functionally
living in a way that was saying, Hey, we're all in this together.
We are all we're, we're, we're all dealing with the same
affliction. We are all humbled right now.
And so there is something significant about even even if
it didn't stay that in the same way that, you know, summer camp,
you all gotta go home at some point.
Yeah. Like, these guys all were healed
and went their own way. There's something significant
about the fact that they were living in this, in this
community together, all sharing their lives together.
Yeah. They were, they were living.
Here's here's the language that I find hits for me.
They were living as though it were true.
Yes, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Already, Yeah.
And I think that's like that's the invitation for us is like to
live as though it was. It's already true, yes, because
it doesn't feel it all the time. No.
And we still see. But like there's a choice to
live as though it is true. And I think that's that's a
that's a great place. That's a hopeful place, I think,
to end our episode for today. And even just to say like to
that end, yes, there can be like an idealism, like a naivete in
some ways. And yet I have to believe, I
have to believe that God wants for us to to live out this
reality of there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor
free nor male or female. Not that our differences don't
matter. Our differences exist, they're
plain to see, but that in Christ we are one.
And that is, that is the goal that we will strive for until
the end. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So we hope that this episode has been encouraging to you and
challenges you to live as though it were true today.
We believe it is and that life is better when we work toward
community in this way. So again, please know that we're
praying for you. We hope that you have a great
rest of the week and we will catch you in our next episode.