Give Jesus the Proper Response!

21st Sunday after Pentecost, 10/9/16
Luke 17:11-19


Give Jesus the Proper Response!
I. To his all-powerful commands
II. To his all-powerful acts


I spent a little time last week researching proper responses. For instance, when first approaching a friend or relative who has just experienced the death of a loved one, the most common condolence is, “I’m so sorry for your loss.” The proper response on the part of the grieving person is a quiet but grateful, “Thank-you.” And I’m fairly certain all of us in that situation would respond in such a way.

An improper response to, “I’m sorry for your loss,” would be, “That’s OK. It wasn’t your fault.”

Throughout his ministry on earth, Jesus all too often came face-to-face with an improper response. He simply wanted to be the fulfillment of God’s greatest promise to the Jews, but the Jewish religious and political leaders considered him to be a threat. He wanted to fill sinful souls with the Bread of Life, but they simply wanted him to fill empty stomachs. And so it went day after day for the Savior of the world. All too often the people he came to serve didn’t respond properly.

And it wasn’t much different on the day described for us in today’s Gospel from Luke 17. Jesus takes a moment to change the lives of ten unfortunate men, and nine of them fail to respond properly.

We’d like to think that we know better, that we know our manners, that when Jesus says and does something wonderful for us, we’re going to give him the response he desires and deserves. But we’re fooling ourselves, because we don’t—we can’t—at least not perfectly.

So let’s focus our hearts and minds on this portion of our Savior’s word and do what Jesus desires and deserves. Give Jesus the proper response!

Part I.

It’s a scene played out countless times in swimming pools around the world. The father of a young girl is standing in water up to his chest, water that is considerably deeper than his daughter is tall. She stands at the edge of the pool visibly distressed. She’s never been in water over her head. She knows it can be dangerous. The needle on her inner fear-meter is buried to the right. Her fidgeting hands and feet reveal her anxiety. Again and again, her father commands her, “Just jump in and I’ll catch you!” Her heart tells her to jump because she knows her father’s love, but her head keeps her safely at pool’s edge. He’s asking her to take a leap of faith. Finally, she obeys and jumps, and, true to his word, her father grabs her in his strong arms and holds her safely in deep water.

Of course he did. No loving father would be so cruel as to fail to catch such a child and let her experience her worst fears even for a moment. If he did, imagine the lasting damage it would do to her faith in her father.

So, on this day in the life of Jesus he is traveling—presumably with his disciples—on the border between Galilee and Samaria when he is approached by a group of ten men afflicted with the dreaded disease of leprosy. In those days, having leprosy was like being the living dead. You had to live completely separate from the community until you were healed, which in many cases never happened. Perhaps these ten men had heard of Jesus’ miracles which included curing a man with leprosy. As they saw Jesus they called out, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

Notice what Jesus did not do. He did not respond to such a request as he had often done before. In the case of that previous healing of the man with leprosy, Jesus declared, “Be clean!” and he was healed. In the case of a widow’s dead son, he touched the coffin and commanded the dead boy to rise. In the case of a deaf man, he touched the man’s ears. At the death of his good friend, Lazarus, he stood at the mouth of the open cave where Lazarus had been buried and commanded him to come out.

But none of those occurred this time. Instead, Jesus commands these ten men, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” God had stipulated in the law which he gave to Moses that, if a person with leprosy experienced healing, it was the priests who must determine that complete healing, in fact, had taken place. Jesus was commanding these ten men to act in compliance with God’s law.

The problem? They hadn’t yet been healed. They were still leprous and it was plainly evident. Was this Jesus’ way of playing some cruel joke on these poor men? Of course not. These men had asked Jesus to take pity on them because they believed that he could help them. They believed he could do the miraculous. Instead of immediately granting their request, Jesus was instructing them to act on the faith that they had. He was asking them to take a leap of faith.

And listen to the result, “As they went, they were cleansed.” We’re not sure how much time intervened between Jesus’ command and their healing. It doesn’t appear to be much, but likely just enough that these ten men had to take a walk of faith—perhaps out of Jesus’ sight—before their healing occurred. They may even have had the time to discuss their situation among themselves briefly. Perhaps their conversation went something like this: “What are we doing? We’re not even healed yet but we’re making our way to the priests? But that’s what Jesus told us to do. So, as foolish as it sounds, that’s what we’re going to do.” “And as they went, they were cleansed.” They gave Jesus the proper response—the proper response to his all-powerful command.

When Jesus is commanding you in your life to take a walk of faith, what’s your response? A bold and courageous strut? A verbal, “Of course I’ll do that because you said so, Jesus”? If only that were always the case in our lives. Truthfully, far too often our response to his all-powerful commands is to stand on the pool’s edge and fidget with a heart full of anxiety. Too often our response is this: “I know you promised you will work everything out for my good, but I just don’t see it happening this time.” “I know you said you are always with me, but I can’t feel your presence this time.” “I know you said that your love for me is eternal, but what just happened to me looks nothing like your love.” “I know you have never made a promise you didn’t or can’t keep, but I just doubt it this time.” That’s our sinful track record when it comes to responding to the all–powerful commands of our almighty Lord Jesus. But that’s why Jesus was on this road between Galilee and Samaria in the first place. He came to give his heavenly Father the perfect response every time. And when his Father commanded him to go to the cross for our sins, he again gave him the proper response and went and died. And then he rose again to assure us that all our improper responses to our God have been forgiven. Freed from sin and guilt, we are empowered by Jesus to give him the response he’s looking for—the response of a heart filled with faith in Jesus and love for Jesus. Give Jesus the proper response!

Grandpa hands his little grandson a piece of candy. The little guy is so focused on getting that candy into his sweet spot that he’s speechless. So his mother reminds him, “What do you say?” and he offers a candy-impeded “Thank-you.”

Part II.

Jesus changed the earthly lives of these men who had been living in hopelessness and despair, physical pain and social ostracism. Ninety percent of them forgot their manners. Only one of them—and a Samaritan to boot—came back to thank him. We can hear the disappointment in Jesus’ voice when he asks, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

Why is it so difficult to remember to thank Jesus? Perhaps the other men were so focused on getting to the priest to be declared healed that they forgot to be thankful. What’s more, Jesus was probably not within their sight, so, out of sight out of mind. Can you relate? I know I can. And then we can add another excuse, the one that recognizes Jesus gives blessings even to people who don’t ask for them and refuse to acknowledge him. So what’s the big deal about receiving a blessing from Jesus?

Friends, we have the highest reasons for thanking Jesus. He’s the One who made it his life’s mission to march to Calvary’s cross for your sins and mine. He’s the One who made us certain of our salvation by his greatest miracle ever—his resurrection from the dead on the third day just as he promised.

And then he brought us the blessed benefit of all that he did for us by bringing us to faith in him. He filled us with the knowledge of the wonderful, saving truths of our God! How blessed we are to live in his spiritual light and not to be wandering in spiritual darkness!

He did all that so that we can live in endless bliss and glory with him in heaven. The prospect of living with Jesus isn’t some crutch meant to get you through the tough stretches of life. Heaven is your God’s goal for your life. And he didn’t leave the heavy lifting to get you there up to you. If that were true, we could never be certain we had done enough. Instead, he did it for you in the person and work of Jesus Christ. What you could never do on your own, your God has done for you. So give Jesus the proper response—the proper response to his all-powerful acts.

As today’s worship theme declares, we live for our faithful God. Our lives as his children are living thank-you notes to him for what he has done for us—his sufferings and death. He did that for all the times we have failed to respond properly to his all-powerful acts, for all our begrudging and half-hearted expressions of thanks, for all the times we have flat-out failed to thank him or even remember all that he has done for us. His forgiveness changes us from the inside out. Our appreciation for that forgiveness on the inside will be evident on the outside as we live for him. Give Jesus the proper response! Do it every day of your life as a child of God! Amen.