Men Who Forgot Jesus

It was Thanksgiving 2007 where I did a dramatic monologue at the King’s Grant Thanksgiving Eve service. The story came right out of Luke 17:11-19, where only one out of 10 cleansed lepers came back to thank Jesus for what He had done for them.

Lepers were the outcasts of society. People feared catching the disease, so they were put aside into leper colonies outside of town, banned from public life and the religious community. There was deep separation from others, (except for other lepers). They were required to ring a bell or call out, “unclean, unclean” as they approached people on the street or in town. This allowed the healthy people to part like the Red Sea and let them through.

Let me share the observations I see in this story are:

1. These lepers were men (Luke 17:12). As Men of Steel, we recognize that the Bible often speaks of men… yes, there are stories about how Jesus broke the gender barrier and elevated the role and status of women, but some stories are specifically about men. So, while women can make application to their own situations and lives, men need place themselves in the story, as men.

2. These men stood at a distance (Luke 17:12). How often do men come into the community of faith yet remain at a distance? The “Jesus thing” is OK for my wife and kids, but I’ll just keep my distance so I won’t become sold out, a Jesus freak, a fanatic or required to do too much outside of my normal routine. As men, we need to look out for each other, which cannot be done from a distance. We need other men willing to call us to account for our behavior that does not honor our wives, or our God. We need someone unafraid to get in our face and challenge us to get back on track. That’s what friends do. Iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17) which is a process that can often “hurt” the flint and the blade because there is friction and parts of the blade are filed away in order to become a sharp instrument, the way the blade was intended and works best.

3. These men met Jesus (Luke 17:12). While a simple fact, the purpose of Men of Steel is to know Christ and make Him known (the same motto of King’s Grant Baptist Church). Men need to be able to hear and understand the gospel in a culturally relevant way, and we seek to put the gospel into language that men can understand. Since we all face similar situations and struggles, we can speak the same language and help someone who does not know Christ to come and meet him. The introduction need not be a hardliner presentation of the gospel, but as we live life, we can help other men understand there is more to this life than just living or existing. How can we help more men meet Jesus? The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) needs to be our primary focus.

4. These men raised their voices to Jesus (Luke 17:13). This might be a lesson for all of us; to not be afraid or ashamed to speak up for Jesus when the opportunity arises. While at this point in the story these men were not “saved,” they definitely knew who they needed to find and meet in order to get their lives straightened out. The crowd must have been looking at them, and angry at them for invading their space… “These men should be put away somewhere, out of sight, where they can’t bother anyone. Who are they to come to this rabbi; no one has time for these outcasts.” Wow, how many times did other people write us off before we came to Christ?

5. These men ask for mercy (Luke 17:13). I have discovered that there is quite a difference between justice, mercy and grace. Justice is pretty much getting what you deserve; mercy is not getting what you deserve; and grace is getting something that you don’t deserve. They asked for mercy, basically to not receive what they deserved, which in this story is misery in life and a slow, agonizing death. They did not deserve this fate because of anything they did that was perhaps more sinful than the crowd, but since they were in this situation, this is the path that they were on. Jesus can come into any life and take them from the wide path that leads to destruction and set them on the narrow path that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14).

6. Jesus sees and speaks to these men (Luke 17:14). No mater how alone we feel in this life, Jesus sees us and speaks to us. There is “no temptation such as is common to man” (1 Corinthians 10:13) meaning that Christ was tempted in all ways as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). So, He hears us and understands our struggles.  He speaks to us today through His revealed and inspired Word, the Bible. That is why it is so important to be involved in a regular small group for Bible study. We experience real and genuine life change in community, not a cocoon!

7. These men were to go and show themselves to the priests (Luke 17:14). At the risk of soundings obvious, where do we find the priests in Jesus’ day? At church. I believe that even while we are still in our sinful state, we need to be involved in the community of faith. People cannot wait until they get their lives back on track to start going to church, because it will never happen. If we could earn our salvation on our own without Christ or grow toward maturity without His church, we would not need either, but we can’t. How many times do men fail on their own, until they get into a proper relationship with God through Christ?

8. Only one of these men came back with gratitude (Luke 17:15-16). We often focus on the nine ungrateful men who did not come back to thank God for what He had done for them, but are we not more like the nine than the one who came back? The Bible tells us to be thankful in everything (1Thessalonians 5:16-18), so what are you thankful for? Wife, kids, job, home, money, health, church, friends…? Why not make sure you approach God daily with a thankful heart?

9. This one man was a Samaritan (Luke 17:16-17). Samaritans were the hated half-breeds that real Jews despised. Here Jesus makes the Samaritan the hero of the story. In context we know that the Jews felt they needed no forgiveness from God because they were the “chosen people” of God. The Pharisees believed that they were already in right relationship with God through their religious ceremonies and knowledge of the ancient writings. They were so much better than the common people, especially those who were non-Jews. The point for us might be that we must accept everyone without prejudice or bias against them. Jesus said that our acts of kindness done for “least of these” is actually done for Christ (Matthew 25:40, 45). The ground at the foot of the cross is level; no one is higher than someone else in the Kingdom (not Americans, whites, Europeans, or even wealthy people).

10. This one man was “made well” by his faith (Luke 17:19). After all the talk about church and living a godly life, the one thing that cannot be left out is faith. We are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) and we live the Christ-life by faith (2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 2:6). Faith is what the church and a relationship with Jesus is all about. If we want to be made well, it can only be done through faith in Christ.

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