Last Trip from Galilee: Luke 17: 11-19.

TEXT: ON THE WAY TO Jerusalem JESUS WAS GOING THROUGH THE REGION BETWEEN SAMARIA AND Galilee. AS he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. KEEPING THEIR DISTANCE, THEY CALLED OUT, SAYING "JESUS, MASTER, HAVE MERCY ON US! When HE SAW THEM, HE SAID TO THEM, go show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they became clean. THEN ONE OF THEM, WHEN HE SAW THAT HE WAS CLEAN, TURNED BACK, PRAISING GOD WITH A LOUD VOICE. HE PROSTRATED himself at Jesus feet and thanked him. And He was a Samaritan. then Jesus asked: " Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Were none of them found to return and praise God except this foreigner?"
Then He said, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." Jesus is not some distant being who merely watches us from afar. He became one of us. And because He shares His humanity, Jesus knows all about friends who die. Jesus knows about the power of death, stalking through our world and destroying all that is good. Jesus knows all about this- He saw it and experienced it himself.
And He came to do something about it.
So that BY HIS DEATH HE MIGHT DESTROY HIM WHO HOLDS THE POWER OF DEATH.JESUS CAME TO TURN THINGS UPSIDE DOWN. Jesus came to destroy the destroyer. But Jesus accomplished all this in his own strange and wonderful way. With him, it was always first ending up last, and the least ending the greatest. It was learning that the more you desperately hang onto things, the more you lose them. It was even dying in order to really live. He fought the biggest battle, not with overwhelming force or some raw display of power, but by giving himself up, by surrendering himself for death. But with Jesus the last word is always a grand reversal. Life is born from forgiveness of sins and life eternal.
All that is good and right and pure IS RESTORED, WITH ONE MIRACLE! CONTINUING WITH MULTIPLE MIRACLES, WE FIND THE WATERS OF "HOLY BAPTISM"" have healed us. The Body and Blood of Jesus in holy Communion have made us clean. We have died with Christ and been raised with him. For all this we should have returned to offer thanks.
We may be quite good at praying to God for things we need but often not so good at following up- thanking God for the blessings He provides. Too often we are like those nine lepers in our Gospel text, who, though healed, continue along their journey, neglectful of giving thanks. How can we hear the same message and discipline, like the Samaritan leper, always giving thanks for our healer?
Each time we receive the body and blood of our savior in worship, it is true heavenly gift, a thanksgiving- of what our Lord has given us now and what He holds for us in the future. Each time we come to the table of hospitality to feast on the bread and wine- the true presence of Christ- fills us with good things: the forgiveness of sins and life eternal.
You cannot understand the Christian story, the story that all Jesus followers have staked their lives and their eternal souls on, unless you begin to see the truth of Jesus by reading about his birth, death, resurrection, and the final three years of His life, which you find in the BIBLE.Because HE JUST didn't talk about turning the wisdom world upside down. , Jesus actually did it.
We are not merely to listen to the word, and so deceive ourselves, but, do what it says: God's purpose for our life will become a reality, and His word will be a blessing in our life.
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says, is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ( James 1:23-25).
2nd Timothy)suggests that, like St. Paul, we all suffer, but God joins us in our suffering and hardships, and continues the work of the spirit in us. Jesus wants us and the people around us to be aware that the work of the kingdom is going on right now.
The Pharisees asked a question of Jesus similar to one asked by the disciples at the time of his ascension:"Lord are you at this time going restore t he kingdom of Israel? "
Jesus journey to Jerusalem may have prompted the Pharisees question. With his answer Jesus wants to bring out the truth that one should not be looking into the future for the kingdom of God. The entire ministry of Jesus should have the cure, shown to all comtempories that the kingdom of God was already among you.
The text for today about the healing of the ten Lepers demonstrated that truth. Jesus had healed a single leper near the beginning of his Galilean ministry, Luke (12; 16), now ten lepers come to him asking for mercy,translates it "pity," NIV). In the case of the single leper, Jesus first healed him and then sent the priests to verify the cure. THEN Jesus sends the ten off to the priests and enroute they are cleansed. Only one returns to JESUS TO SAY THANK YOU. NOW THE READER LEARNS THAT ONE OF THE TEN WAS Samaritan. The other nine were Jews. Though Jews and Samaritan had no fellowship, misery love company. Jesus commends the "foreigner." for his act of worship.
At the start of Jesus journey to Jerusalem, He and his disciples came to a Samaritan village which refused to welcome him. James and John were rebuked for wanting to call down fire to destroy the village. People from the far corners of the earth will sit down at the banquent of salvation. The death of Jesus is the price of our sins. And actually became the death for us. The resurrection of Jesus is the triumph, the very power of God. Jesus leaves us with words surely: " I am with you always," to the very end of the
age.