Christ's
Teaching on Faith and Forgiveness
[Luke
chapter 17, verses 1-19]
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This
week as we continue our in-depth analysis of the writings of the
apostle Luke, we find ourselves moving on to chapter 17 of his
version of the Gospel. When we left off last week, Jesus was
expounding on his story of Lazarus and the rich man, and the folly of
the pursuit of riches and 'prosperity'. Today we find Jesus and his
apostles in a teaching session, which is apparently in a different
time and place than the end of chapter 16, but presumably soon after.
So let's all begin right from the top.
“Jesus
said to his disciples, 'Things that cause people to sin are bound to
come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be
better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around
his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.. So
watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he
repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day,
and seven times comes back to you and say, 'I repent', forgive him.'”
(Luke 17, verses 1-4)
In
what ways could one cause someone else to sin? This goes far deeper
than the usual definitions of people being misled into sinning
through deception, or by being enticed with money in exchange for
anything ranging from false testimony all the way up to contract
murder. Notice Jesus words – “It
would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone
tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones
to sin.”
People sin, everybody does, it's just a fact of life. Acknowledging
our sinful nature to Jesus and to ourselves is the first step towards
becoming his follower, and for the redemption of our sins. No one can
attain eternal salvation in and through Jesus Christ without first
doing those two things. But notice Jesus also said, “cause one of
these little ones to sin”. This means anybody who misleads or
pressures children into doing wrong, that sin will fall on the
adult's head while the child will be spared by the Lord because
he/she was an abuse victim. Children have been sold into slavery,
mostly sex slavery but also as child laborers, for the entire history
of humankind. So Jesus was also referring to all those children when
he spoke those words all those centuries ago.
“If
your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.”
Since we all want to be forgiven for our sins, we must first forgive
others for theirs. How can we pray for forgiveness and give thanks to
Jesus for dying on the cross and shedding his blood for us if we
still hold grudges against others, or if we refuse to let go of old
hurts and offenses committed against us by others? If your
brother/sister sins against you 7 times and comes to you asking to be
forgiven 7 times and repents each time, we have a moral obligation to
forgive each person because Jesus first forgave us when he made his
supreme sacrifice on the cross! Moreover, since we must be willing to
forgive, we must be equally determined not to judge others even if
they insult or otherwise offend us. Like it or not, this is Christian
living as it was truly meant to be. There are some believers who
would respond, “But the Bible says that when we see evil we should
expose it!” (see Ephesians 5, verses 8-14) What they don't
understand (or don't want to see, take your pick) is that this is
taking those verses out of context. The apostle Paul wrote those
words as exposing evils out in the world, but Jesus said, “If your
brother sins...”, meaning brothers within the church. It is a good
thing to expose evil, but that doesn't mean we are supposed to turn
into an army of tattle-tales or snitches. So let the distinction
between the two be absolutely clear! And now let's move on to part 2
of today's lesson.
“The
apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith!' He replied, If you
can have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this
mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey
you. Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the
sheep. Would he say to the servant who comes in from the field,
'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say,
'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and
drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant
because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have
done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are only
unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'” (Luke 17, verses
5-10)
Jesus
was telling the apostles they had a long way to go to understand what
true faith actually was, the intrinsic nature of it. To get a feel
for what Jesus was saying, try going outdoors and (after looking
around in case there is someone nearby with a camera or phone) walk
up to the nearest tree and tell it to go jump in the ocean! This is
essentially what Jesus meant, but much of the flavor of the original
meaning has gotten lost in the sandstorm of time. Then, Jesus
explains to his apostles why he used the example of the uprooted
tree. 'Since I have this level of faith and you guys are not even
close to being there at this point in your walk with me, do not
expect me to do any special favors for you just because I am the
Messiah', is very close to exactly what Jesus meant right here. You
are my apostles, Jesus was saying, but you are still my servants.
Jesus didn't owe the apostles a thank-you every time they served the
crowds that he attracted like a magnet to steel. They should not
expect any special accolades, Jesus told them plainly, for their
service to the Son of God, because God doesn't play favorites.
Moreover, the apostles' reward was not of this world, but the next.
As true followers of Christ, we should expect much the same. God
believes in unconditional equality and so should we! And now let's
conclude this week's study starting at verse 11.
“Now
on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between
Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men with
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. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising
God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus feet and thanked him –
and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, 'Were not all ten cleansed?
Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise
to God except this foreigner?' Then he said to him, 'Rise and go,
your faith has made you well.'” (Luke 17, verses 11-19)
Samaria
was located in what we now call the West Bank area around the Jordan
river just a few miles from the Sea of Galilee. So, the Bible
recounts the time when 10 men with leprosy met Jesus on the road to
Galilee. Because they had leprosy, a hideous and contagious skin
disease, they did not speak to him face to face, but only called from
a distance asking for healing for their afflictions. “Go and show
yourselves to the priests”, Jesus told them. Jesus had already
given them an affirmative answer and it manifested itself so that all
10 men were healed on their way to the Temple (presumably the Temple
at Jerusalem, although there were many more than just the one). Yet
only one of them had the good sense to come back and personally thank
Jesus for his healing, and thank him he certainly did!
“He
threw himself at Jesus feet and thanked him – and he was a
Samaritan. Jesus asked, 'Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the
other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except
this foreigner?'”
Samaritans and Jews hated one another, mainly because the Jews
thought they were much too good to associate with 'inferior' (in
their view) Samaritans. In modern times, this would be equivalent to
an American Jesus healing 10 “illegal immigrants”, only to have
just one come back to thank him. Or, ten gang members from the
roughest parts of any major metropolitan area, and so on. In other
words, it was amazing that any of them came back and thanked Jesus,
who was himself a Jewish man. This is a shining example of the mercy
and grace of the Son of God. Jesus wants to heal all who are
afflicted, no matter what it is, regardless of race, creed,
nationality, religion, sexual orientation, age or gender! Embrace
him! Embrace, don't merely “accept” Jesus like they say on
“Christian TV”, as if we're doing Him a favor! And, unlike the
other 9 Samaritans that Jesus healed, let's all be sure and maintain
an attitude of thankfulness in our everyday living. When we look
around us, we realize that we all have so much to be thankful for, up
to and including our very lives. So for all this week, let's continue
to have constantly thankful hearts. Focusing on this makes living
life so much easier, too. And next week we'll finish up chapter 17.
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