Grateful for Grace (Luke 17:11-19)

Christ has set his face to Jerusalem.  The vision of peace is not going to be very peaceful for Christ. It seemed like the travel narrative stalled a bit, but now Luke tells us that, “On the way to Jerusalem.”  Christ is still en route to embrace his destiny, which is to establish peace, but not in the way that we expect.  He will endure a kangaroo court.

Christ is now traveling through a village as he is going between Galilee and Samaria.  These are two places where Christ has a history.  Back in chapter 9, the Samaritans would let Christ pass through their district, but Christ had to stay with them.  They did not want Christ to go to Jerusalem because they wanted Christ to stay with them.  There has been a bit of tension between the Samaritans and Israel, as the Samaritans could not help with the temple rebuild.  This stems from their history in 2 Kings 17, where they intermingle with Assyrians and foreigners.

Galilee is not much better.  Yes, it is true that they are more consistent in their roots with Israel, but they have not received Christ’s message well.  In fact, in Luke 4 they tried to throw Christ off a cliff.  This is a pretty good indication that people are not receptive to you being in their area.

As Christ travels and enters a village, he encounters 10 lepers.  We do not know if they are Galilean lepers or Samaritan lepers.  They see him as master and ask for mercy.  Christ heals them, but tells them to go to the priest even before they are officially healed.  This is a call for them to step out in faith like the mulberry tree in the previous context.

As the ten lepers leave, they are all cleansed, but there is only one who returns: a foreigner.  This foreigner, or a Samaritan, returns and thanks Christ. Christ is taken back that only one returns when ten are healed. Christ assures the leper that his faith has made him well.  This is not because faith has power, but because the leper had faith in Christ.  Christ brings the kingdom and true cleansing.

Christ is making clear that he is not failing when he arrives at Jerusalem.  No, he will embrace the city that kills its prophets.  It is through the vision of peace, Jerusalem, that the true peace comes: Christ’s completed work to establish the kingdom.  Our cleansing is not in us, not in the worthiness of our faith, but only in Christ’s person.