Luke 17:11-19
Were there not ten?
Jesus asks this question of the one man who returns to give thanks. He took pity on all of them and healed their leprosy. He cured them of a dreaded disease which kept them separated from all of society. A disease which left them filthy in the eyes of the law.
There is an important point made in this passage of Luke's Gospel, telling us that this one man who returned was a Samaritan, an outsider. In the parable of the traveler beaten on the roadside, it is noted that a priest and a Levi pass by leaving the man for dead, wishing to remain undefiled, but a Samaritan stops and cares for the wounded man (Luke 10:25-37). We are not told whether the other nine are Jews or other Samaritans. The bible passage does tell us, however, that on their way to the priests to show themselves they realize they are healed, their sores are gone. Nine are bound to the law and continue on to present themselves to the authorities of the law. One, among the ten, is bound to his heart and returns to Jesus. He prostates himself at our Lord's feet and offers thanks.
The others simply followed the law.
How many in our churches today are bound first by the law rather than love?
How many are bound to cavernous structures and written guidelines of man and not to the one who offers salvation?
We should be a people who turn first to Jesus on bended knee, to be saved by our faith, not by a litany of laws. But too often we bind ourselves to the rule of man, to the doctrine of theologians, rather than the Word of God.
copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr
Jesus asks this question of the one man who returns to give thanks. He took pity on all of them and healed their leprosy. He cured them of a dreaded disease which kept them separated from all of society. A disease which left them filthy in the eyes of the law.
There is an important point made in this passage of Luke's Gospel, telling us that this one man who returned was a Samaritan, an outsider. In the parable of the traveler beaten on the roadside, it is noted that a priest and a Levi pass by leaving the man for dead, wishing to remain undefiled, but a Samaritan stops and cares for the wounded man (Luke 10:25-37). We are not told whether the other nine are Jews or other Samaritans. The bible passage does tell us, however, that on their way to the priests to show themselves they realize they are healed, their sores are gone. Nine are bound to the law and continue on to present themselves to the authorities of the law. One, among the ten, is bound to his heart and returns to Jesus. He prostates himself at our Lord's feet and offers thanks.
The others simply followed the law.
How many in our churches today are bound first by the law rather than love?
How many are bound to cavernous structures and written guidelines of man and not to the one who offers salvation?
We should be a people who turn first to Jesus on bended knee, to be saved by our faith, not by a litany of laws. But too often we bind ourselves to the rule of man, to the doctrine of theologians, rather than the Word of God.
copyright 2016 - Donald P James Jr
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