Luke 17 11 On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus went along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men with leprosy came toward him. They stood at a distance 13 and shouted, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14 Jesus looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”
On their way they were healed. 15 When one of them discovered that he was healed, he came back, shouting praises to God. 16 He bowed down at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. The man was from the country of Samaria.
17 Jesus asked, “Weren’t ten men healed? Where are the other nine? 18 Why was this foreigner the only one who came back to thank God?” 19 Then Jesus told the man, “You may get up and go. Your faith has made you well.”
This is the story of ten people being made healthy, but only one of the ten returning to tell Jesus “thank you”.
Are we supposed to believe only one of them was grateful to Jesus for making them well? I do not think so. But I do think only one of them stopped for a minute and realized he forgot to do the gracious thing of giving thanks.
Every child has been reminded to say “thank you”. But no one reminds adults. Adults have to remember on their own. This man did.
Just because people did not say thank you does not mean they did not feel it, but it was still something Jesus wanted to hear.
Jesus told the man his faith had made him well. The faith of the other nine made them well also, but they never got to have the experience of Jesus telling them that was what happened, because they were too focused on something else.
Luke 13 10 One Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by an evil spirit for 18 years. She was completely bent over and could not straighten up. 12 When Jesus saw the woman, he called her over and said, “You are now well.” 13 He placed his hands on her, and at once she stood up straight and praised God.
14 The man in charge of the synagogue was angry because Jesus had healed someone on the Sabbath. So he said to the people, “Each week has six days when we can work. Come and be healed on one of those days, but not on the Sabbath.”
15 The Lord replied, “Are you trying to fool someone? Won’t any one of you untie your ox or donkey and lead it out to drink on a Sabbath? 16 This woman belongs to the family of Abraham, but Satan has kept her bound for 18 years. Isn’t it right to set her free on the Sabbath?” 17 Jesus’ words made his enemies ashamed. But everyone else in the crowd was happy about the wonderful things he was doing.
Less than one hundred years ago, people were still treating Sunday as a day when nothing except attending church and reading the Bible was supposed to happen. Children were expected to be quiet and not play outside. There was no shopping of any kind. People did not run errands. This was how Christians followed the commandment “Honour the Sabbath and keep it Holy”.
We have changed a lot in the past one hundred years, and now people who go to church are also doing a lot of other things on a Sunday.
Jesus would have understood that. Jesus was a practical person.
In this story the leaders from the Synagogue were angry with Jesus because he worked on the Sabbath, he healed a woman who had a problem with her back. Those leaders were forgetting that the Sabbath was meant for the people to have one day of relaxation, it was not meant to be a punishment.
Jesus got angry at those leaders and reminded them of God’s teachings. He reminded them that kindness on the Sabbath for people, animals and nature was a good thing.
John 5 Later, Jesus went to Jerusalem for another Jewish festival. 2 In the city near the sheep gate was a pool with five porches, and its name in Hebrew was Bethzatha.
3-4 Many sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying close to the pool.
5 Beside the pool was a man who had been sick for 38 years. 6 When Jesus saw the man and realized that he had been crippled for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be healed?”
7 The man answered, “Sir, I don’t have anyone to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up. I try to get in, but someone else always gets there first.”
8 Jesus told him, “Pick up your mat and walk!” 9 Right then the man was healed. He picked up his mat and started walking around. The day on which this happened was a Sabbath.
Everyone wants to be healed, right? Everyone wants to be made better and to not be sick or not have body parts that do not work like everyone else, right?
It seems a strange question. Of course everyone wants a strong, healthy body. That is what we all think.
But Jesus’ question was more important. It was not simply ‘do you want to be healthy’, but ‘do you want what comes after becoming healthy, with all the responsibilities to take care of yourself, and you not having others take care of you anymore’. That is a harder question.
Do we want to change from what we know and stop having the reasons we have that keep us from doing the work God asked us to do? Are we prepared to be responsible for taking care of others and not always thinking about ourselves first?
Mark 10 46 Jesus and his disciples went to Jericho. And as they were leaving, they were followed by a large crowd. A blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was sitting beside the road. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus from Nazareth, he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” 48 Many people told the man to stop, but he shouted even louder, “Son of David, have pity on me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him over!”
They called out to the blind man and said, “Don’t be afraid! Come on! He is calling for you.” 50 The man threw off his coat as he jumped up and ran to Jesus.
51 Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man answered, “Master, I want to see!”
52 Jesus told him, “You may go. Your eyes are healed because of your faith.”
At once the man could see, and he went down the road with Jesus.
Have you ever been at church or in a theatre or concert, and you wanted to see something so you demanded for people to move only to be told by adults to be quiet and sit still? That was what was going on with Bartimaeus in this story.
Bartimaeus knew Jesus was coming and could heal him, and he wanted to see Jesus, but everyone around him told him to be quiet. However, he wasn’t quiet, he called louder so Jesus would hear him.
Sometimes those around us don’t always understand how important it is that children and teenager see what is happening and what is around them, that things are not only for adults. This is especially true with faith. We want to experience God and not have the adults sush us. Kids need to be able to talk to God in our own way, just like Bartimaeus did. We develop it through talking and seeing God acting in the world all around us, not by adults telling us to be quiet or telling us what things we should believe.
Mark 7 24 Jesus left and went to the region near the town of Tyre, where he stayed in someone’s home. He did not want people to know he was there, but they found out anyway. 25 A woman whose daughter had an evil spirit in her heard where Jesus was. And at once she came and knelt down at his feet. 26 The woman was Greek and had been born in the part of Syria known as Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said, “The children must first be fed! It isn’t right to take away their food and feed it to dogs.”
28 The woman replied, “Lord, even puppies eat the crumbs that children drop from the table.”
29 Jesus answered, “That’s true! You may go now. The demon has left your daughter.” 30 When the woman got back home, she found her child lying on the bed. The demon had gone.
31 Jesus left the region around Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward Lake Galilee. He went through the land near the ten cities known as Decapolis. 32 Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk. They begged Jesus just to touch him.
33 After Jesus had taken him aside from the crowd, he stuck his fingers in the man’s ears. Then he spit and put it on the man’s tongue. 34 Jesus looked up toward heaven, and with a groan he said, “Effatha!” which means “Open up!” 35 At once the man could hear, and he had no more trouble talking clearly.
36 Jesus told the people not to say anything about what he had done. But the more he told them, the more they talked about it. 37 They were completely amazed and said, “Everything he does is good! He even heals people who cannot hear or talk.”
Have you ever had someone say they were too tired to spend time with you? Jesus felt that way too. He was tired and just wanted to rest for a bit. But the people wanted Jesus, they wanted to learn from him and have his help. And they also reminded Jesus that they mattered.
It’s easy to think that going to church is the best place to feel God in our lives, but this story reminds us that most of the time we feel God outside of church. We see God in people who need our help. We learn about God from people who challenge us.
And we find God even when we are tired and just want to be alone.
The Barefoot Evangelist 