16/2/2018
Jesus loves me. This is a study of Luke 17:11-19.
Now on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus (along with his disciples) travelled along the border between SAMARIA and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men (presumably 9 Jews and 1 Samaritan) who had leprosy (outside the village) met him. They (9 Jews) stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master (the one we heard who was mighty in deeds and words; and accepted and healed people like us) have pity on us!”
When Jesus saw them (9 Jews and 1 Samaritan), he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” As they (9 Jews) went from a distance away from Jesus then turned towards the village and (the 1 Samaritan tagged along with these 9 Jews), they were ALL cleansed.
One of them (the one Samaritan), when he saw (surprisingly) he was healed (immediately), came back (to the way he and the other took while the other 9 Jews kept going to their priest but he, the Samaritan could not keep going because he was not a Jew. The 9 Jews would ask the priests to examine them and then offer sacrifices so they would be restored back to the community. The Samaritan had neither a priest nor an understanding of offering sacrifices needed. So he was coming to closer and closer towards Jesus and his disciples and the distance had disappeared) praising God (the Creator and Judge who re-birth the world after the flood in the days of Noah, the God and Father of Jesus, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel, the faithful God who fulfilled his promises making Abraham into a great nation of millions, buried Pharaoh and his Egyptian army in the Red Sea and giving them the land of Canaan, the merciful God who forgives sins and restored the remnant from captivity in Babylon) in a loud voice (as he experienced a conversion experience). He threw himself at Jesus feet and thanked him (for healing him and showing him that his old god was no god at all and that the God and Father of Jesus was the true living God) – and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked (the disciples), “Were not all ten cleansed?" (Jesus could count. He knew that they would be cleansed. So what was he asked?)
“Where are the other nine?" (Jesus told the nine Jews to go to the priest. They obeyed and kept going seeing that they were cleansed. They were Jews, that was how they get confirmation that they were cleansed totally and they would present offerings so they could return to their society. They were doing the right thing exactly. Although they were Jewish lepers, they knew the scriptures. So what was he asking?)
“Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (The other 9 Jews lived outside the community as it was commanded to prevent the spread of the infectious disease and also protect them from accusing tongues for questioning them what they sow to reap such a state; but they were not lost, they knew the name of the only true God and they had been doing what God wanted and they were on the way to do what was required after being cleansed. They were on their way to be returning to their community after they expressed faith and obedience to Jesus. They were going into the village, their home. The Samaritan could not go into the village as he was not a Jew and he never had anything to do with a Levitical priest and understanding of the restoration process. He was a Samaritan who had an unique conversion experience that all Jews would never know as they were born into Judaism. This was obvious.) (So Jesus was asking the disciples with him whether this was a true conversion of a Samaritan or not. This was mighty, amazing, awesome. Jesus was mighty to save. Yes, the lost Samaritan was found.) (The disciples could see that Jesus saved a Samaritan, he dissolved the social barriers with kindness through healing. Jesus did something that fighting and force could not do for hundreds of years.)
Then he (Jesus) said to him (the Samaritan), “Rise (from Jesus' feet) and go (with the other 9 Jews as you had a conversion experience and the Samaritan people would not accept you any longer); your faith (in Jesus and the God and Father of Jesus, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel) has made you well (whole – spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically and now acceptable into the Jewish community; you are now part of the believers) (And Jesus did not choose this clean Samaritan to be his disciple. This man did not know many Old Testament scriptures. He would need to learn the Old Testament Scriptures. Israel did not have a society of equals but a society of hierarchy which this Samaritan could find a place as a foreigner living among them and be treated fairly.)
JESUS is the Prince of PEACE. Jesus is reconciling both Jews and far far off Gentiles to himself.
I do not have any Jewish background. I am a Gentile in biblical term. I have experienced Christ's healing, forgiveness and peace. I am glad and grateful for coming to know him as a tag along at the beginning of my journey as a Christian.
23/2/2018
I think this might be some of the things happened in the first few weeks for the Samaritan in that village in Galilee.
The Samaritan would find life was a bit slower than what he knew before he was sick. The Jews went to the synagogue (or local church) on the Sabbath (the day of rest), and they thought differently on that day from the other six days as they started their week from rest to work.
The Samaritan felt like to eat pork but he could not find any. He could not afford beef or lamb. He watched the Jews cooked their meat so thoroughly.
The Samaritan found the Jews use a bit more water as they washed things and themselves more often. Sanitation was paid with much more attention than he knew.
The Samaritan noticed the Jews honoured the elderly especially their aging parents.
The Samaritan spent some time each day to ponder upon what he heard from the synagogue and what people did with the teaching of Jesus in Galilee. There was a sense of excitement in that place everyday. He also listened to how the Jews prayed and sang there.
8/4/2018
I think this might be one of the things that the Samaritan received from God as he followed the way of life in that village in Galilee.
A family of that village hired the Samaritan and he was able to buy beef to eat. Over a number of weeks, he realized that Noah was commanded to take seven pairs of every kind of clean animal and two of every kind of unclean animal into the ark. When Noah and his family came out of the ark, he sacrificed some of the clean animal as burnt offering. He recalled that God delivered his people out of Egypt and commanded them while they were in the desert on the way to the promise land that when they enter the land, they are to eat clean animal only. He heard the verse in the Psalm sang in the synagogue: "I have no need of bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and cattle on a thousand hills."
The Samaritan got it: God made sure that there are lot of cattle from the beginning. God wants cattle as burnt offerings. God is good, if it is good enough for God, it must be good for us. If the Jews use the land to breed cattle here, they are not going to use the land to breed pigs. That is why they don't try to associate with us as they cannot work with us to produce what God want.
1/11/2018
There were other Gentiles in the Old Testament trusted in the LORD. Naaman, a military personnel of Aram was one of them who was healed from leprosy by the LORD through the word of Elisha in the northern kingdom of Israel. The ten lepers from the village between the border of Samaria and Galilee might consist of one Samaritan, number of Jews and God-fearing Gentiles in any combination.