A New Way - Week One: This Foreigner

Yup, It’s Still the Season of Pentecost

We are teaching through a sermon series in October, entitled “A New Way.” 

As we continue our journey through the season of Pentecost, we are reminded that Jesus’ teachings were designed to inspire his followers to live their lives differently.  The early Christians were known as followers of “The Way,” which referred to a new way of living based on Jesus’ teaching and example.  This “new way” is something we need to keep learning to follow, and this series will help us do that. 

Today, we’re going to read a story about ten people that Jesus healed from a debiliating disease that made them outcasts, and how only one of them said thank you.  

Strangers In A Strange Land - What it means to be a foreigner. 

Being a foreigner is humbling, tenuous, and scary.  If you have ever had the opportunity to travel abroad to countries where you may not speak the language or understand the customs, how to dress, or how to navigate your way around, etc., you may have a taste of this.   

My experiences - both with and without a guide have taught me a lot about what it means to be a stranger in a strange land.  

When I've traveled to a place where I don't speak the language, I've had to rely on kind individuals who will either try to find a way to communicate or who offer to speak my language so I can understand.   

And even in places where I speak the language, I've still had to rely on the kindness of others to help me find my way and forgive any gaffes I might make while I'm bumbling with directions, how to pronounce certain words, and just generally being annoying.  

With a guide, everything is different, though.  I instantly have some credibility because they pave the way with the locals, get me right where I need to go, make sure I don't drink the water in some places, where to eat without getting food poisoning, and much more.  

I've seen people from the U.S. do the most ridiculous things when they travel abroad.  They think that by shouting everything in English, people who don't speak it can understand them.  They complain that they can't get the same food as they eat at home.  They complain that everyone living in the country they are visiting is rude and obnoxious, but they are most likely the ones who are rude and obnoxious.  

The bottom line is, being a foreigner without finding kind people to aid you, is hard.  

The story we’re about to read is about more than gratitude; it’s about learning a lesson from an unlikely source (Luke loves this)

Ultimately, the experience of a foreigner in this story teaches us the Gospel.   

THE WAY OF CHRIST HAS NO OUTSIDERS

Luke 17:11-19

11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten men with a skin disease approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 

To begin, a few words about leprosy in the Bible 

14 When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus’s feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 

Jesus heals ten men and then sends them all to the priest.  

The Samaritan has no place to go for restoration; instead, he returns. 

Luke’s Gospel highlights Samaritans in previous chapters.  

17 Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? So where are the other nine? 18 Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

The Old Testament text for today speaks to the healing of a foreigner by the prophet Elisha. The man Elisha heals is not simply a foreigner, but an enemy--a man who had conducted raids on Israelite villages and towns, and even enslaved Elisha's cousin.  

The experience of the foreigner in this text reminds us all what it means to be displaced, oppressed, exiled, and in need of grace and mercy.  It speaks to the unconditional grace of God for all those who are outsiders, including us.  

What Are The Lessons In This Text?

1.  God’s grace knows no boundaries or borders. 

Luke's Gospel highlights a Samaritan once again, as the only one in the story who gets it.  

2.  The way of Christ will not abide by arbitrary lines drawn between us.  

We should remember that there may come a time when we are on the outside looking in, and what that feels like.  And also what it feels like when someone reaches out to show grace in those moments.  

3. God often chooses the most unlikely proclaimers of the good news.    

The way we treat the stranger directly reflects how we feel about grace.  We've been given so much of it by God.  We can't go on believing that God's grace is only for us, and not for others. 

THE WAY OF CHRIST HAS NO OUTSIDERS