Knee Jerk Devotional: Luke 17:11-19
The one where I confess my entitlement.
Passage:
It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met him. They kept their distance but raised their voices, calling out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
Taking a good look at them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests."
They went, and while still on their way, became clean. One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. He kneeled at Jesus' feet, so grateful. He couldn't thank him enough—and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus said, "Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?" Then he said to him, "Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you."
For most of our road trips we start with a word of prayer and asking God to bless our trip and keep us safe. So far, every single trip God has answered that prayer. Pretty great right? You would think that when we arrived at our destination we would be grateful that God answered our prayer. You would think we would stop and be grateful. Perhaps we might offer a prayer of thanksgiving.
We don’t.
Why?
I don’t know, other than we expect God to answer our prayer and in so doing God has simply done our bidding as we expect God to do. The other alternative is that we simply pray because it’s a thing we do and we don’t really believe that God has much to do with getting us to our destination safely.
Either way, it’s not a great look for the “Pastor.”
It’s like this story, there were ten lepers and all asked Jesus to heal them. Only one showed gratitude and it wasn’t the those in Jesus’ community. It was the one on the outside of his ethnic community. Notice that Jesus’ healing wasn’t determined by their noticing. They were simply healed on their way. But, the joy and wonder and celebration of the one that did notice is what makes it remarkable.
Why didn’t the other nine notice or celebrate or offer gratitude? Perhaps they felt entitled to their healing by Jesus. They just expected the healing because, of course Jesus would heal them.
The outsider noticed and was reconciled at a deeper level and this brought a greater sense of joy and celebration.
How many things to do we miss each day that are cause of celebration? How much joy do we miss out on because we feel a sense of entitlement?
Try to notice the little things today. The little joys that you didn’t earn and celebrate them. How do our lives change if they are focused on celebration?