What Real Healing Looks Like | The Gospels | Luke 17:1–19

[music] Welcome to 10 Minute Bible Talks. Where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jeff Parrot. When something is broken, we want healing to happen as quickly and completely as possible, which makes it all the more frustrating when healing feels lost in the confusion of unclear timelines and unfinished restoration. For instance, there's a medical phenomenon in orthopedics called a non-union fracture. And non-union fractures broken bones might experience some degree of healing, but they don't heal all the way back together. The growth stops. And all that's left is a gap of unrestored space. There are a variety of reasons why someone might have a non-union fracture that remains unhealed. Could be insufficient blood supply or misaligned bone placement or complications from an especially traumatic fracture. Regardless of the cause, the effects of a non-union fracture are widespread. On top of the profound physical pain is the deep emotional frustration and confusion. You thought you were on the road to recovery, thought you were getting better, only to feel lost in the incompleteness of unfinished restoration. Now, why are we talking about non-union fractures before getting into the Bible? Because there's a spiritual version of the non-union fracture, a non-union faith. It's a version of belief or experience that shows some signs of growth, some signs of healing, but it's fundamentally left incomplete with a gap of unrestored space. In non-union faith, there's evidence of progress, maybe a change in behavior or an alteration in vocabulary, but the fullness of restoration is left undone because there's no real life-giving connection. Something essential is still cut off. How does the Bible portray the spiritual phenomenon of non-union faith? And what hope is there for those of us who might look like we're flourishing on the outside, but realize we're fractured on the inside, trapped with a non-union faith that's left something essential incomplete? Those questions are addressed in our passage today from Luke 17. As Jesus encounters people like you and me, people who need his whole, complete restoration. Now as we prepare to approach God's Word together, let's slow down and ask for His grace, ask for His mercy to move through our time. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the gift of life and breath. We thank you for the gift of your Word. All of it is grace from you. We bring before you every part of our experience in this moment or in this season of life. We bring before you our joys and our sorrows, our anxiety and our excitement. Our calendars and our contingencies. God, you see all of it. Meet us in this space. Jesus, help us abide in you as we engage with your truth. Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through this time and Luke's gospel account. As we read your living Word, may it read us and restore us to life with you. And Jesus' name, amen. Okay, Luke 17 verse 11 sets up some helpful context for our passage today. Jesus is still on his way to Jerusalem to accomplish His Exodus, His deliverance. And here in this moment within chapter 17, He's passing along between Samaria and Galilee, areas that were inhabited by people of suspicion in the eyes of the Jewish people, the Samaritans and the Gentiles. And it's here that Jesus confronts the need for full restoration in Him. Let's see what happens as this scene unfolds in verses 12 through 14. And as He entered a village, He was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance and lifted their voices saying, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. When He saw them, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed." Let's pause and make some observations about the characters and the events in this moment here. Jesus is met by 10 lepers who have a skin disease, making them not only physically contagious, but also ritually impure in the eyes of Jewish law. One of the biggest tragedies for these 10 people is not only their physical condition, but the relational implications it carries. They are cut off from relationship with other people. They're isolated from family and friends, only having each other as companions. And so when they see Jesus, they see a merciful master who can mend their brokenness. And what Jesus does here is astounding. He could have touched them to heal them. In another moment, He does touch people with leprosy to not only restore them, but show them how much He loves them. But here in this moment, Jesus displays the vastness of His power by simply speaking words of restoration that bring about healing. And telling them to go and show themselves to the priests, Jesus is sending them to be examined and initiate a process of being declared ritually clean. Doing so is a way of sending them back into relationship with other people. Not only is their skin disease gone, but their deep connection with other people is also restored. So Jesus is healing these lepers in two important realms, both physically and in relationship with other people, physically and socially. And both of those realms matter to Jesus. And yet there's another realm that isn't mentioned in this passage, not yet. It's actually the most fundamental foundational realm of healing that has so far gone unnamed. Let's keep reading and see how far Jesus' restoration is meant to reach. We'll pick up here in verse 15. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, "We're not ten cleansed. Where are the nine?" Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, "Rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well." Now do you notice the third realm, the third dimension of healing that is only revealed in this one leper who returns to Jesus? The others were restored physically and socially in relationship with other people. But it's only this one leper who returned, who is restored in relationship to Jesus. He's the one who sees that the restoration physically and with other people, that those restorations are founded on his restored relationship to God. Externally, this leper who returned experienced the same kind of healing as the others. But spiritually, he receives a healing that is far deeper and far more complete. Jesus acknowledges this in his parting words to the healed man, saying in verse 19, "Rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well." The Greek word behind that phrase "made you well" is the root word "sodzo." It can also be translated as "saved." This man has a complete healing, a complete restoration, a salvation. Why? Because he's connected to Jesus. The other nine lepers, they experienced a sense of healing, a foretaste of his, but they suffered from a kind of spiritual non-union. Now, that's not to say that Jesus didn't care about their physical healing or their social reconnection to other people. He did. The physical dimension absolutely matters to Jesus. The relational realm with other people is vital to Jesus. But the cornerstone dimension, the root realm, is that of relationship with Jesus himself. See, Jesus didn't simply want the cleansing of the lepers physically and socially. He wanted their connection with him spiritually. Without Jesus, they were still trapped in the incompleteness of unfinished restoration. Now, all of this goes to show that you can look like you're doing well. You can look like your whole physically and socially, but spiritually, you can be left with a gaping wound. The healing isn't complete because you're not really connected to the source of healing. You're not really connected to Jesus. Now, for non-religious people, this is the surprise of Luke 17. That true flourishing and healing can't be measured by material possessions or social status. It can only be sufficiently measured by the mending of Jesus. Now, for religious people, this passage is also surprising. Notice in verse 16 that this leper who returned was a Samaritan. Someone despised by the typical religiously observant Jewish person of Jesus' day. Jesus highlights the foreign ethnicity of the Samaritan in verse 18 to make a point about the kind of person who's connected to him. It's not the person who is externally identified as religious, who's physically or socially set apart like the religious people in his day were. The person connected to Jesus is the one who goes to him, who falls at his feet, who praises him, and depends on him. That is where true healing, true connection, and true life are because that's where Jesus is. Now, it's possible to walk away from this passage and feel like the pressure is really on, especially if you're realizing that you've been living with a non-union faith that's been disconnected from Jesus. You might feel like you've got to get to work now. But here's the thing, the truth of this passage is not meant to burden you. It is meant to free you. The idea of complete faith or full restoration does not mean that we have 100% perfect belief in obedience and love all the time. I still have not yet met a Christian who can say that and the Bible does not mention a mere human being like that either. The idea of complete faith and full restoration, it's not about the strength of your faith. It's about the strength of the one you put your faith in. Complete faith is a faith that's connected to Jesus. He is the one who makes us whole. He is the one who restores us. Faith is complete as long as it's a faith rooted in Jesus, in his life, death, resurrection, and rain over all things. In the purest sense, Luke 17 and the leper who returned are all really just trying to get us to fix our eyes on Jesus, on who he is, what he's done for us. And what he'll do when he returns again. And because that's true, we're not aiming for complete physical and social restoration here and now on this side of the New Heaven and New Earth. Because here and now there will still be elements of the physical and social healing that we long for. I mean, think about it. Even this leper who returned to Jesus was left with unfinished restoration. Because eventually he died. And currently, as you listen to this and as we ponder his story, he is waiting for Jesus to come again and resurrect his body and bring the renewal of all things. And yet, even though that's true, Jesus could still look at him and tell him that his faith saved him and healed him. Why? Because when he was connected to Jesus, he had all the life and all the flourishing he needed. As we prepare to turn into the rest of the day, consider how you might be functionally living with a non-union faith. Maybe you're flourishing physically and socially, but you're floundering with Jesus. How is God using this passage to call you to return to him, to give him praise, to be connected to him? Whoever you are and wherever you are, union with Jesus is always possible. Healing and salvation are possible. Not because you can make yourself great, but because Jesus already is great. He's the only foundation for your complete restoration, both here and now and forever. Father, we praise you for your relentless steadfast love that is revealed in the gospel. Jesus, we return to you. We praise you and recognize our absolute need for your grace. Spirit help us see our need to be united to Jesus and to one another as we experience the fullness of your restoration. We pray because of your grace for your glory and in your story. In Jesus' name and in Jesus' reign, amen.