In
Luke 17:11-19, we find a Bible story staple.
It is the stuff you learned in Sunday School back when that was a
thing. But like most Bible stories it is
much deeper than we realize with a casual reading. It is the story of 10 lepers who meet Jesus
as He is going to Jerusalem. As Jesus
enters their village they cry out to Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
They
had heard of the healings of Jesus no doubt from the comings and goings of the
villagers. As Jesus approached, word
would have spread that the great miracle worker of Galilee was coming their
way.
Three
points need to come first. First, they all had enough faith to
position themselves in such a way as to meet him, even if it was at a
distance. Second, they all had enough faith to ask for mercy. Mercy means to take action based on sympathy
or pity. It is the word that describes
action to alleviate the suffering caused by life in a sinful world. Third,
they all had faith enough to, at the command of Jesus, take off to find a
priest that could declare them clean.
Clearly all of the lepers had faith enough to receive God’s mercy for
their need. But only one, when he saw
that the cure was affected, returned to give thanks and glory to God.
There
is a level of faith that can ask for God’s help in the time of the crisis. When the hurricane is bearing down and we can
see the trouble we can have enough faith to say, “God help me”. God, to quote the Anglican liturgy, “whose
property is always to have mercy” often grants us help and rescue. We often live at this level of faith, never
considering that there is a deeper kind of faith. Sadly, many preachers today proclaim this
level of faith as if this is all there is to faith, and never talk or teach
about a faith that is much deeper. God
has rescued us and we feel that that is enough and we are content. In one very shallow way it may be
enough.
But
that kind of faith is like drinking warm water out of a garden hose. For a person in danger of dying of
dehydration warm water from a water hose is pretty wonderful. But when we are comfortable, the AC is
running, and the hurricane has passed we don’t really need faith, unless it is
to be more comfortable, have a cooler AC and need perfect weather for our
weekend. Faith that God will rescue me
from a storm and take care of me in a crisis is a faith that I will only
practice when I have a want or a need.
It is not a very practical faith except in the storm.
One
of the lepers had a different kind of faith.
It was the faith that was deeper, richer, and stronger. It was a faith that returned to give glory to
God. Nine men had enough faith to go and
enjoy the blessings God had given them.
One had the faith of submission, love, and relationship. Nine men went away healed, one man stayed in
the presence of God. Nine men had their
bodies changed; one man had a change of everything.
As
Irma was bearing down on Florida last week multitudes of people were praying. They were asking God, “Whose property is
always to have mercy” to rescue them, their loved ones, or even strangers. I believe those prayers were answered. But now that the storm is passed, now that
the AC is humming in the background do we worship God? And what about those people for whom God’s
answer to their prayers of rescue was, “No, you must walk through this
suffering.” That is the great thing
about this deeper kind of faith. The
shallow faith is shattered if the rescue doesn’t come. If the storms destroy, the cancer kills, the
condition is unrelenting, the relationship is never restored then their faith
is wrecked. But the deeper faith will
survive.
Lazarus
died again; Mary and Martha stood at the tomb and cried again. This time there was no rescue, this time
Jesus didn’t show up four days later and do His thing. But this time they didn’t need it; they had
moved to a deeper faith.
There
will be another hurricane that will pound the coast. The names have already been picked out. Maybe it will be hurricane Debby, Gordon, Isaac,
Leslie or Oscar. In 2019, one of the
names picked out is Hurricane Wendy (I think that is in bad taste). If not a hurricane there will be a crisis
from which there is no earthly rescue.
When that happens will we have the deeper faith that worships? Or will ours be a faith that only whines
because we didn’t get what we wanted when we wanted it?
Charlie this is a Great article!!!
ReplyDeleteKaren V
thanks Karen. Our conversation Thursday helped inspire a future blog.
ReplyDelete