And As They Went...

“Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’ When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed.” Luke 17:11-14

Leave it to God to reverse the order of things in His ultimate wisdom. This morning we go back to the passage that precedes our previous passage. We find ourselves this morning walking beside Jesus as He traveled from Samaria to Galilee. Historically speaking, the Samaritans and the Jews despised each other back in the days of Christ and would never be caught dead with one another. However, it was Mosaic law for those who suffered with the disease of leprosy to live outside the city gates. We can assume that this leprosy camp situated between the two cities included both Samaritans and Jews since Jesus proclaimed that only the ‘foreigner’ came back to thank Him.

I remember feeling like a leper outside the city gates on several occasions in my life. One in particular was when our daughter, Kristen was admitted into a residential treatment program for 5 months. While she resided there, we as parents had a responsibility of being part of a collective parent group which met weekly to be educated on coping with our situation. It was clear in that setting that addiction knows no boundaries and the disease does not discriminate between age, race, or social status. The disease strikes all representation of society. While those parents ‘inside the city gates’ enjoyed their children’s sporting events, shopping trips and other accepted activities, our little band of parents were getting educated on drugs, alcohol, signs of suicide and teenage cutting. Our focus was on extending life for our children, not living life with our children. We all approached these meetings with a silent group cry of ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us! Save our children!’

I am thankful to say that just like the interaction of Christ with the lepers, He did not mind being among the diseased, the brokenhearted and the needy hearts of the parents in that room. We were asking for healing in a situation outside of our control just like the lepers. Notice the faith of the lepers as they began their walk of healing before healing had taken place. Their faith walked ahead of them and their courage was unparalleled to place themselves inside the city gates with the belief that Jesus would heal.

True faith is when we place one diseased foot in front of the other and walk towards our healing with complete faith and total belief that He will cleanse and make us whole again.

And as we went…we were cleansed!