Luke 17:11-19

Where you are, your location, can make all the difference in the world. The old saying goes that the three secrets to a business success are location, location and location. Where you are makes a difference in our spiritual lives too. Where do we stand and where are we going.

The place where the healing of the ten lepers took place is important to understanding the meaning of this incident. Jesus and the Disciples are on their way to Jerusalem and they are passing between Samaria and Galilee. Peter, at this point, had already said that Jesus was the Messiah the son of the living God. They knew Jesus was the Messiah, but I doubt they fully understood what that meant. The disciples knew they were going to Jerusalem, but they had no idea that Jesus was actually going to die there. O, yes, Jesus had warned them that he would be killed and that he would rise on the third day. But even Peter, who was the first to know he was the Messiah, couldn't accept that. So they obediently followed their Master as he made his was to the cross.

The disciples were more concerned about their present location than their final destination. They were probably concerned about which side of the border they were on between Samaria and Galilee. As they entered each village they wanted to know if it was a Samaritan or a Galilean village. You see Samaritans and Jews just didn't mix. The Jews Considered the Samaritans to be the opposite of themselves. The Jews were the chosen people of God. The Samaritans were just another nation of unchosen people.

The disciples were so concerned about limiting their contact with any Samaritans that they missed the significance of where they were. They knew that the Messiah had come to save the children of Israel. But what they didn't realize was that the Christ had come to save the Gentiles too. Christ came first to the chosen nation of Israel, but only as a way to get to the rest of the world. So there they were. Headed for Jerusalem and the cross of Christ. On the one side were the children of Israel, the people of God, who would reject their king. And on the other side were the lost nations of the world who would be offered salvation from God through what a son of David was about to do.

As Jesus and the disciples traveled this road to the cross, they came to a village. As they approached this town a groups of ten people called to Jesus from a distance. We have all heard from Bible studies and sermons how lepers in the ancient world were required to stay away from towns. They were forbidden to enter lest people come into contact with their uncleanness. They were isolated from society and were required to beg for their food because they could not carry on a trade of their own. As if the ravages of their awful disease were not bad enough they were also isolated from their family and friends and way of life. They couldn't carry on a trade. They couldn't even go home for holidays.

But there is something interesting about this group other than the fact that they are lepers. This group of lepers included both Jews and Samaritans. It must certainly be true that misery loves company. Samaritans and Jews as a rule had nothing to do with one another. Yet this group, excluded from both sides of the border, roamed around together keeping one another company.

Somehow this group of lepers knew that Jesus was in the area. And they knew that he was a healer. Maybe they had heard how he had healed lepers in the past. They hoped that Jesus could heal them too. Then they could return to their families. And start their lives over again. So they went to see him and they raised their voices together and cried, "Jesus, Teacher, have mercy on us."

In other instances when Jesus healed lepers, he actually touched them and healed them on the spot. This group obviously didn't want to impose on the good teacher by coming too close, but they probably did expect him to heal them right then and there. Instead Jesus told them to go to the temple to be examined by the priests. Going to the priests was something that they were supposed to do after they were healed. They obviously were not healed yet.

Imagine what was going through their minds. "What is Jesus doing. Is he playing a dirty trick on us. What if we go all the way to Jerusalem to the temple just to be told once again that they were unclean. That would he awful." Despite their doubts they left for Jerusalem. Going in the same direction Jesus, the lamb of God, was going.

Imagine their surprise when it happened. Here they were on their way to Jerusalem and all of a sudden they were healed. Some of the group probably pinched themselves to see if it was a dream. Eventually most of them started running to Jerusalem so that they could be declared clean by the priests and could return to their families and their lives. But one turned around and ran back to Jesus.

The one who turned back was a Samaritan. When Jesus saw this he said, "Weren't there ten of you who were cleansed? But only one has returned. Where are the other nine. How come none of God's people wanted to return and give thanks."

We have good reason to give thanks. If we were to count all our blessings we might surprise ourselves. As Americans we enjoy freedoms that people in other parts of the world can only dream of. As Christians we are recipients of forgiveness of our sins. And of course there is the abundance of the material blessing we enjoy. I doubt any of us will go home to empty cupboards.

But we have something else to be thankful for. Like the Samaritans, we were once separated from God's people by our sin. And like the lepers we were unclean in our unrighteousness. But one day, as Jesus was on the way to die on the cross, he stopped at a village on the border between God's people and the outsiders. And he healed some lepers. And one day Jesus Stood on the border which separates us from his glory. And when we asked for mercy he showed it. Jesus healed us of our uncleanness and made us part of Christ's holy church. Amazingly enough only one out of the ten lepers who were cleansed came back to give thanks. That one was an outsider, not one of those who had been brought up worshipping God.

I believe the picture this story paints is true. Too often we fail to give credit were credit is due. We are not the authors of our salvation. We are not the creators of our blessings and wealth. Yet only one out of ten of us remembers to give thanks to God who gave us all these things. And often times it is not a Worshipper of God but someone from out side. And Jesus says, "Was no one found to give praise to God except this foreigner?"

Praise God above who saves us! Thank God who came in Christ to redeem us! Glory to the one who reunited us to our Heavenly Father and made us children of God! Every morning when you wake up give thanks to God! Give God the glory for every breath that you take!

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Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

One day the nation of Israel woke up and they weren't in Israel any more. They had squandered their birthright and like Esau sold it for a mess of pottage. They had placed their faith in armies and defenses and alliances instead of the Lord. And in the end they were conquered and carried off into slavery. A few weeks ago we read about the prophet Jeremiah and the siege on Jerusalem. When Israel woke up from the siege they were in Babylon captives and slaves once again to a pagan king just as back in Egypt.

Which presented them with a real quandary. How do you continue to be the chosen people of God when exiled from the land God promised? How do you continue to serve God when you are slaves to a pagan king who often has delusions of godhood? How do you keep the Sabbath day when your earthy master doesn't even have a Sabbath day on his calendar? How do you continue to worship God when the Temple, the holy dwelling place of God is just a pile of rubble half a world away? How do you continue to be Israel when you are not in Israel?

Like I said Israel woke up to this new situation. And in waking up they got some religion. We know this because many Bible scholars believe that this was the period when much of what we know as the Old Testament was put together in one book in the order we now have it. And some of the people probably remembered what Jeremiah had done and said. They thought, "Jeremiah said that we would return and that lands would be bought and sold again in Israel." So some thought they should hold off on settling down in Babylon and just wait for the day of promised return.

Well, on that same day that Israel woke up and found themselves in slavery in Babylon Jeremiah found himself still in Israel. You see the Babylonians had not taken everyone. They had only taken the best and the brightest: the scribes and artisans. The rest they had left behind. Even though Jeremiah was smart, they left him behind too.

And God told Jeremiah to write a letter to the children of Israel who were in exile. He told them that the Lord said to build houses and raise families in Babylon. God wanted the Israelites to make themselves at home in Babylon. The one who had delivered them from Egypt and made them Israel wanted them to work for their new captors. The Almighty wanted them to work for the welfare of their new communities.

You see God had a plan form the beginning and even Israel's unfaithfulness would not thwart it. God's plan was that Israel would be an example to the nations and peoples of justice and righteousness. But Israel had been unjust and unrighteous. The problem was that Israel was too comfortable. So if the would not be a light for the world in Israel, God would scatter them throughout the world to be a light in the darkness.

That is why God told Israel to make themselves at home in Babylon; so that they would be God's people in the midst of the Babylonians. So the Babylonians could see the righteousness and justice of God lived out in their lives. So that they would be a light in the midst of the darkness of exile. Oh, they would return, but they had to make themselves at home so that the Babylonians could see then live, grow old, and die in service to God the Almighty.

The early church faced a similar dilemma. They realized that in Christ they were citizens of Heaven. Jesus had rescued them from slavery to this world and transferred their citizenship to realms of glory. Earth was not their home! Heaven was! For Jesus said he had prepared mansions for them in Glory.

But what should they do in the mean time. Should they just wait for Jesus' return so that they could go home, or should they make themselves at home. At first the early church seems to have tried to wait out the evil of this world. To hide in an upper room until Jesus returned. But God couldn't let them do that so he sent the Holy Spirit to send them out into the world.

And Peter, Andrew, Thomas, Matthew, Paul and others spread to the four corners of the world carrying the Gospel. They still believed that Jesus would return to take them to realms of Glory. They still considered themselves aliens in a foreign land. But they made their home in this world until that day of return. They shined the light of Christ so that the people in this dark world might see it and join the Kingdom of God.

We are still in the same situation today. We who have accepted Christ are citizens of heaven. We may live within the boundaries of a particular jurisdiction like the U.S.A. or Canada or England in this world. But our home is in Heaven. And so we reside here on earth as aliens awaiting the day when we will return home. We are resident aliens here on earth.

So how do we continue to be the people of God on earth? Some people take the attitude that we should renounce this world and just wait for Heaven to come for us. They like to sing "When We All Get to Heaven" too much. Like someone once said, "They are too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good." Their minds are on the Kingdom to come and they forget the pain around them in the here and now.

You might call these people Sunday Christian. They gave their lives to Jesus and they sincerely believe in him. But all they do is go to church on Sunday and think about going home. They hide behind their Sunday bonnets and stained glass windows trying to wait out the evil in the world. They know that Jesus will return and so they do nothing until he does.

We are not citizens of this land. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God. And we are called to make ourselves at home here. We are called to live God's way in the midst of a foreign culture. We are called to keep the Lord's day in a society where Sunday no longer exists. We are called to live under a, dare I say, pagan government, but to do so by God's laws.

That is not easy to do. But we are called to do more than just come to church on Sundays. We are called to live the truth and the light of Christ for all to see. Like the Israelites in exile in Babylon, we are called to live, grow old, and die in the midst of a pagan land so that they might see the justice and righteousness of God. We are called to shine the light for others to see.

Thus says the Lord, "Make yourselves at home. I am returning, but in a day and hour that you do not know. So use your time wisely. Shine the light of God for all in this dark land to see. Then I will come again to bring you home."

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