November 4, 2012
Scripture:
Hymn 345 - Jesus loves the little children
Prayer
Matthew 9:1-7
The man in today’s story was sick with palsy. Palsy was a sickness that made a person unable to support his own weight. This is why his friends had to carry him to Jesus. They were bringing him because they wanted Jesus to heal him. Instead of healing him right away Jesus first told this man that his sins were forgiven. In this story, I believe, there are two miracles. First, Jesus forgave this man’s sin; but then He also healed him. Jesus was the only person on earth that could forgive sins. To forgive someone is to pardon them for doing something wrong to you.
Imagine I am sitting in my living room reading, when a rock comes flying through my window. When I get up and look out the window, I can see the culprit on my lawn. I go and talk to him, saying that it would cost quite a bit to fix the window. Then, my neighbour comes out and tells the boy that he is forgiven. Can she say that he is forgiven? No, because she wasn’t wronged. I would have to because I was the one wronged.
Everybody in the world has sinned. Jesus forgave this man’s sins and those standing around didn’t like what He said. They thought that God was the only one able to forgive sins. They were right, but what they didn’t know was that Jesus was God. Jesus is able to forgive sins because he payed the debt for sin on the cross.
This man was helpless, but Jesus gave him hope. Jesus told him to rise up and walk; and this man that came to Him unable to walk stood up and walked. The marvellous thing is that salvation isn’t just having our sins forgiven; it’s also being given the strength to do the right thing.
This is a story with a double miracle. Jesus was able to heal his disease, but He also forgave his sin.
Luke 17:7-19
Even if we do all our duties—if we fulfill the whole letter of the law—we’re unprofitable. We need to go beyond the letter of the law and fulfill the spirit of the law, as this Samaritan did. The other nine lepers fulfilled the requirements, but he went above the requirements and glorified God. The servant wasn’t—and we aren’t—worthy of special praise for simply doing his duty. Jesus wants us to go beyond the law, saying things like: “Ye have heard that it hath been said…but I say unto you”. He raised the standard.
The Lord was on His way to Jerusalem, on the path to the cross, and He met these ten lepers. They were far off, just as the law commanded, unlike the first leper who came and fell down at the Lord’s feet (ch. 5). Our Lord touched that leper, but these lepers didn’t get that blessing because they were in the position of the law. Jesus sent them to the priests, because that was the lawful action; and as they went they were cleansed.
But one turned back, and this pleased the Lord. This man was a Samaritan and therefore not under the law. Maybe that was an advantage, because the law-keepers had a hard time accepting grace. The scribes and Pharisees were so proud thinking they kept the law that they couldn’t see they didn’t. They needed something more.
The Samaritan turned back and gave glory to God. He wasn’t a Jew, and therefore not under that blessing, but he got blessed anyway. It’s our privilege to give glory to Christ, and we see the glory of God in Christ. Some of the old writers bring out Christ’s glory in the types and offerings beautifully, but what is glory? One says that glory is the display of excellence; and another that it’s the manifestation of the characteristics that magnify a person.
We should meditate on the Lord’s glories on the Lord’s day; some of which are mentioned in our hymns. As we are affected by these glories, we will be transformed from glory to glory and will want to give glory back to God, which we can do through singing and praising. That’s what this man did: he gave glory to God.
I hope we have been able to praise God through our voice and behaviour, because He is worthy. The Psalmist says, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me,” (Psalm 50:23). But this shouldn’t just happen on the Lord’s day; we have the privilege to glorify the Lord every day of our lives.
Back in the day there were those who searched for business excellence. When we search for excellence, we look to Christ. And although it’s fallen, we can see His excellence in nature. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” (Psalm 19:1).
The Lord saw this Samaritan’s faith and didn’t tell him to go to the priest. He was beyond the priest. He had the Lord, the Great High Priest! The other nine had faith enough to go to the priest, and were cleansed on the way, but this Samaritan had special commendation from our Lord. And he didn’t stay far off, but was at our Lord’s feet. Grace says, “Come near unto me, I pray you.”
This man wasn’t a Jew, but was brought under blessing. And so it is with us who have been brought near. We “were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world,” but, “Now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
Hymn 130 - “To God be the glory, great things He hath done”
Prayer