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Nestled in Luke 17:20-21 is a most
profound statement regarding the kingdom of
God. Jesus has been saying that the Kingdom
is near and the kingdom is here, and now He
is saying that the kingdom is much more than
that:
Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when
the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied,
"The coming of the kingdom of God is not
something that can be observed, nor will
people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,'
because the kingdom of God is in your midst."
When Jesus is asked by the Pharisees when
the kingdom of God would come, He makes it
clear that the kingdom is not a visible,
physical, political kingdom that can be
observed, but it is invisible. It's
invisible because the kingdom of God is among
you. Some translate this phrase within you.
There are three primary observations here
worth noting. FIRST-Jesus is not speaking to
His disciples, but to the Pharisees. This
alone blows my mind. How can Jesus make this
statement that the kingdom of God is among
them?
SECOND-The kingdom of God cannot be seen.
It is something invisible rather than
visible. You won't be able to point to it at
some location.
THIRD-The kingdom of God is among y'all
right here and now. It is in your midst. It
is right here for those who have ears to hear
and eyes to see.
Here's how I am able to tie all three of
these observations together to make sense out
of this encounter:
I take this back to our understanding that
Jesus created all things and holds everything
together. He is the glue that holds each
cell together and without Him we would split
apart. Since Jesus created our cells and
holds them together, then He is the rightful
authority over our tissues and cells. He is
the king of kings. He is the ruler over all
of us. We now have a choice. We can
acknowledge that Jesus is the king and bow to
His Kingship and Kingdom or we can ignore it
and live our lives as if He isn't king at
all.
Therefore, when Jesus says that the
kingdom of God is among y'all, He is laying
claim on His kingdom IF WE WILL ONLY
ACKNOWLEDGE HIM AS KING. So, thinking in
this way, even the Pharisees could respond to
His original creation and His present work of
holding us together. If they were to bow to
Him as King, then they would enter into the
kingdom of God and His presence immediately.
Just this morning we met with a couple
whose hearts have been captured by the needs
of a family in Africa. They are following
their hearts and doing everything they can
think of to support this young family of
seven. In the process of moving in
compassion toward meeting the needs of this
dear impoverished family, they are
ministering to Jesus personally. You know,
when He said, "When you feed the poorest of
the poor, you are feeding Me." Now, as this
non-churched couple moves according to the
principles of the kingdom of God, God is
bringing all sorts of connections with just
the right person to open the next door or to
solve the next problem. It is absolutely
amazing to watch. You see, when you step out
and follow the kingdom principles, you will
be led directly to Jesus, Himself. To hear
them acknowledge God's assistance and
miracles they are experiencing was a
wonderful thing.
As they follow their hearts in this effort
to do good toward the poorest of the poor,
they are going to continually encounter
Jesus. And, soon they will be able to see
Jesus has orchestrated the entire plan, just
so He could bring them to Himself.
Yes, the Kingdom of God is near, it is
here and it is among us right now. What
Jesus wants is for us to walk in the kingdom
lifestyle right where we are. And, He will
show Himself to us as we progress along this
journey.
You see, we haven't rejected the kingdom
of God, but we tend to reduce it. We reduce
it to a future place and time. We reduce it
to a mystical kingdom concept that we can't
define or experience. We reduce it to our
local church. Or, we reduce it to a social
welfare project in an area of need.
The kingdom of God is all-consuming. The
kingdom is wherever the king is and wherever
He reigns. And, as we learn to practice the
presence of Jesus in our lives, no matter
what we're doing, we are living in the
kingdom of God right now. There is nothing
more magical-nothing more joyous and nothing
that offers more freedom that living our
lives according to the kingdom of God. It's
here! Submit your life to the king and learn
to enjoy the kingdom lifestyle for yourself.
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We are moving through the Gospel of Luke
and we have come to the place where Jesus
heals 10 lepers. This is not a parable; this
is a real life story. In this case, you
might call it an enacted parable.
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled
along the border between Samaria and Galilee.
As he was going into a village, ten men who
had 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.
Jesus and His disciples are slowly making
their way toward Jerusalem. This particular
story occurs on the border between Samaria
and Galilee among a racially-mixed group of
lepers. Leprosy is no respecter of persons.
Leprosy back then was a skin disease that
slowly rotted away the skin, destroying the
nerves as it moved through a person's body.
It was considered incurable and very
contagious. Therefore lepers were banned
from normal society and lived together as a
group, whenever possible. According to
Leviticus a person with any kind of
infectious disease was to wear torn clothes,
unkempt hair, covering the lower part of his
face and was to cry out, "Unclean! Unclean!"
whenever he came near others. They were not
only socially unclean, but they were viewed
as ritually unclean as well.
They were allowed to attend synagogue but
must be huddled in a separate area by
themselves. They were the first to arrive
and the last to leave the service, so not to
contaminate anyone else. Leprosy was a
dreaded disease and was viewed as a death
sentence. Only two people by name in the
Bible were cured of leprosy-Miriam and
Naaman. Up to this time it had been over 700
years since anyone was cured of leprosy.
This is why it was said that "When the
Messiah comes, He will be able to heal a
person of leprosy." This was to be one of
three miracles that "only the Messiah could
do" and therefore became a clear sign of
discovering the genuine Messiah.
NOTE Jesus encountered these ten lepers
outside the village. They stood at the
proper distance away from Him and called out
loudly, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"
It's not clear that they were asking for
healing, but for some act of compassion on
them in their isolated poverty. Jesus told
them to go show themselves to the priest,
because only the priest was able to declare a
person healed of leprosy.
The text then says, "In the act of going,
they were cleansed." This is striking to me.
As they simply obeyed Jesus, they found the
greatest gift they could ever have
imagined-full cleansing. Their faith was
simple enough and had genuine action to it.
I mean, what did they have to lose?
So as they were walking together toward
the priest, they noticed that they were
cleansed. It must have been an amazing
experience-a dramatic feeling of shock and
freedom.
Only one leper, when discovering his
healing, returned to thank Jesus for what He
did for him. In the same loud voice that he
asked for pity from Jesus, now returns and
gives him thanks loudly. Jesus takes care to
point out once again that the only one who
came back to give thanks for his healing was
not a Jew, but a Samaritan.
Four observations come to mind here for
me. FIRST-Jesus' healing and cleansing
power-His salvation-is for everyone, no
matter what the religious and cultural
background.
SECOND-When Jesus says to do something, it
pays to do it-even if it is such a simple
step. The end result may be more than we
asked or could have imagined. These lepers
only asked for pity-a little help, but He
fully cleansed them of their leprosy.
THIRD-Jesus expects gratitude from us as
well as our requests for help and healing.
Remember, God is always looking at the heart.
FOURTH-Jesus rewards gratitude toward Him.
NOTE that He said, "Your faith has made you
well." The others were now cleansed, too, so
Jesus seems to be blessing this grateful
leper with an even deeper healing-the healing
of the soul.
You know what strikes me most in my life
right now? Everyday is a day for gratitude
and thanksgiving to God for His blessing.
Don't be one of the nine who were so excited
about their healing that they forgot the
healer.
This is the most critical and pivotal
point of all. We tend to drift away from
acknowledging the blessing of God in our
lives. We neglect giving thanks. This is
precisely what Paul references in Romans 1
when he says, "For although they knew God,
they neither glorified him as God nor gave
thanks to him, but their thinking became
futile and their foolish hearts were
darkened."
This is always the beginning of
the end-to neglect giving thanks to God for
what He has done and what He is doing in your
life.
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As we continue in this study of Jesus and
the kingdom in Luke we come to Luke 17.
Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that
cause people to stumble are bound to come,
but woe to anyone through whom they come. It
would be better for you to be thrown into the
sea with a millstone tied around your neck
than for you to cause one of these little
ones to stumble. So watch yourselves.
Things that cause people to stumble are
inevitable. These are traps that are
continually set in your path. However the
worst trap or temptation is when one person
causes another to stumble. Jesus mentions
"little ones" here which could mean new
believers or literally children. I believe
He is speaking of the insignificant, those
who don't stand out as leaders-the "little"
and "powerless" people of our society.
The punishment is severe-to tie a
millstone around your neck and be thrown into
the sea. Each household had a small stone
mill to grind grain into flower. Obviously,
you would surely drown with this heavy
millstone around your neck. NOTE He says
that it would be better to be punished in
this way (with a millstone around your neck).
In other words, you deserve worse than this,
if you cause the "little" ones to stumble.
Then Jesus turns the attention toward what
happens when a person sins against you:
"If a brother or sister sins against you,
rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive
them. Even if they sin against you seven
times in a day and seven times come back to
you saying 'I repent,' you must forgive them."
Did you get that? When a brother or
sister sins against you, call them on it. If
they "repent" or have a change of heart,
admitting that they were wrong, then you are
to forgive them. BUT on top of that, if they
sin against you seven times in one day, then
you are to come back to them seven times and
forgive them! The disciples' response is
interesting:
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our
faith!" He replied, "If you 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."
Wow, Jesus, if we are going to practice
this kind of response toward those who sin
against us then we need a large amount of
faith. Jesus quickly points out to them that
they only need faith as small as a mustard
seed and you will be able to do miraculous
things. I think this is because it isn't the
amount of faith, but the object of the faith
that matters. So, you have more than enough
faith to be effective. Then Jesus goes into
a story:
Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around your neck than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves.
“If a brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
He replied, “If you 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 has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will 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 unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
In these first 10 verses of Luke 17 it's
as if Jesus is setting forth a list of
spiritual qualities we are to embrace in the
kingdom-a quality of spiritual life that
doesn't cause others to stumble, a community
that knows how to forgive and get along, a
faith that is powerful and now, HUMILITY.
You see, we exist to serve God, and not
vice-versa. It was inappropriate for slaves
to feed themselves before they fed their
master, no matter how hungry they were. God
promises to meet our needs, but that's not
the main point. We are not to view ourselves
as God serving us-"What have you done for me
lately, Lord?" But, we are to gratefully
take on the responsibility of serving God.
We don't work for God in an advisory
capacity. He is God and we are not! We are
not to be looking for God's praise or
blessing because we serve Him. He is our God
and we are to be His servants.
These four qualities are part of what
makes up lifestyle in the kingdom of God as
opposed to the kingdom of man. If you are a
follower of Jesus, the King, then you must
seek to embrace the kingdom lifestyle that
goes along with it. This is not a system of
do's and don'ts, but a lifestyle that you
will discover is most meaningful and
fulfilling.
I am reminded of the words of Jesus in
Matthew 11, when He said, "All of you who are
weary and burdened down, come to Me." Or, my
favorite paraphrase of that same message is:
"The Lord says, 'this is a special
invitation to all of you who don't have all
the answers. Who struggle with life. Who
are tired. Who are burned out. Who are
bruised. Who struggle with grief. Come to
me I will teach you how to trust. I will
teach you how to learn. Walk with me, work
with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the
unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay
anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep
company with me and you'll learn how to trust
and live with joy and freedom.'"
That's the joy of embracing the lifestyle
of the kingdom! Have you tasted of that yet?
