The Worlds Okayest Pastor

Ten Healed, Nine Ghosted, One Got It

• Jason Cline

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What if the difference between being helped and being healed is the turn you make after the miracle? We walk through Luke 17 and pause at the moment ten lepers are cleansed yet only one returns. That turn—away from business as usual and back to Jesus—shifts the story from getting life back to giving life back. It’s gratitude that doesn’t stop at thanks, but moves into trust, obedience, and a new identity.

We open with the sweep of the chapter: warnings about causing others to stumble, real forgiveness, mustard seed faith, humble service, and the already-not-yet kingdom. Then we sit with the lepers’ reality—exile, shame, lost community—and the power of Jesus’ word that cleanses them as they walk. The Samaritan, doubly excluded, models the response that changes everything: he praises God loudly, falls at Jesus’ feet, and hears, your faith has made you well. Healing touches all ten; wholeness takes root in the one who returns.

From there we explore a hard truth: we crave being the rescuer, but the mission starts with being rescued. Self-salvation—through strength, success, or control—exhausts us. Jesus meets us on the margins and restores what we cannot fix. Our role is not to save but to introduce people to the Savior. We talk about what that looks like in real life: gratitude that becomes a lifestyle, witness without ego, forgiveness that is costly, and service without spotlight. No other name restores families, mends addictions, heals marriages, or reconciles enemies. When we live out that conviction, our days become invitations for others to return with us to the feet of Jesus.

If this conversation moves you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review with one way you’ve seen rescue show up in your story. Your words help others find their way back.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know. And my my headspace is a little wonky this morning, so bear with me. We are going to be in Luke chapter 17 this morning, though. And just so you know, I I don't know what it is. I say Luke and John interchangeably a lot of times, and they're not. They're both gospel, but they're pretty dynamic from indifference. But Luke chapter 17, and um we um we're kind of finishing up. So next week I will be starting a series called Scrooge. Uh I'm really excited. So the the next couple weeks, uh, all of December is next week, we're gonna have stuff to give you to take home because the sermon series is interactive and it's meant to be done at home. Uh so there's a a faith uh media group uh who has produced a podcast, which is the the retelling of a Christmas Carol, right? And so everyone knows the Christmas Carol. We've read it, we've seen it. Some of you might be familiar with the Muppet's version of it. Uh that's my favorite version personally. Um, but the the podcast is designed to you'll sit down with your family. Uh each episode is about 25 minutes long, and it's a dramatic retelling of the story, and then you will have resources to go through the podcast together as a family and activities you can do to focus on some biblical concepts that we learn from that story, the idea of being joyful and content and gratitude. And uh, so this is it's all meant to be interactive. Now, I'm not coming into your house to make you do this with your family, but I would strongly encourage you to do it with them. Because I think it would be a really neat experience, especially if we're all doing it together. Um, but that'll be next week. So this entire message this morning actually kind of shifted direction. Uh, one of my favorite things about God is he is really good at at moving us oftentimes in the right direction. Um the thing I struggle with the most is when it's Saturday afternoon and God's like, you're not preaching what you thought you were preaching, we're moving somewhere else. And I'm like, okay, God. Uh thanks. But but but that's important. I've learned to trust that with myself, right? Uh so yes, this message is part of this series, but this wasn't actually part of the original uh where the message was going. You know, last year we, or last week, man, last year, I can't believe it's December. One of Monday. Um, last week we we talked about this idea that you and I we were part of this divine rescue mission. You know, I've um this is one of my favorite things that I currently own, in case you don't know. Uh and yes, this is a real axe. Uh this was given to me as a as a best man gift uh by Jesse Birch. And I love it. Um, because not only did Jesse give it to me, but he made sure that it was big, because you know, that's important for me. Um so it's weighted properly, it's sharpened correctly, uh, and I have decided um that if anyone, if the world ever goes south, I'm ready. Um but but my whole life I've been big and and I've always I love action movies. I I love being the hero. I I tell people all the time that not that I believe what Vikings believe, but if I could be a Viking, I'd be a Viking. I mean, those are some great stories. Because the reality is, is maybe it's just me, but I don't think it is, is we all want to be known as rescuers. We want to be the heroes. We want to be the people that are saving the world. Right? And so stuff like this appeals to my inner nature. As a guy, as a guy my size, I'm convinced that I could defend the entire state of West Virginia from attack. It's probably not realistic. But with this, I feel like I'd have a good chance. I I I told my wife recently, I don't want anyone ever break into my house, but I hope they do, because I'm gonna greet them at the top of my steps like this, and be like, hey, what's up? But but there's something about this idea of rescuing people that that we love. It appeals to us. There's there's glory in that, right? There, the the what is it, the the Vikings always said, you know, to Valhalla, to die in battle, right? That that's that's what they wanted. But but the problem is we're not we're not all rescuers. Not all of us have the same desires. But we're all part of the rescue mission. We have different talents, different strategies, different focuses, right? But here's what I've learned is in order to rescue people, I have to be rescued. I can't save anyone if I'm stuck, if I'm captured. I I can't protect anyone if I'm still caught in my own captivity. And so we're gonna look at Luke chapter 17 this morning, and we're actually gonna look at this story from two different angles. So just a quick run through through Luke chapter 17 when Luke writes. Uh, he writes verses 1 through 2. It's a warning uh about people who cause others to stumble. Uh verses 3 through 4, Luke talks about forgiveness. These are things that we're supposed to do. These are actually conversations that Jesus is having. Uh Luke chapter 3, or Luke chapter 17, 5 through 6, it's the faith of the mustard seed. Again, these are conversations that Jesus is having. And Jesus talks about uh verses 7 through 10, uh 7 through 10, the parable of the dutiful servant, people who do what they're supposed to do. 11 through 19, which is where we're going to be, uh Luke writes the story of Jesus healing 10 lepers. And we'll come back to that. And then 20 through 37, uh Luke uses the rest of his this chapter to talk about the coming of the kingdom of God. Again, this is Jesus talking and trying to explain people what it looks like. And in so 17, Luke chapter 17 touches on six major topics: the responsibility of community, uh, faith that acts, humility and service, uh, gratitude matters, uh, the already not yet kingdom. By the way, that's a whole big concept, that's pretty cool, and then judgment and readiness. But but right in the middle of these interactions, Jesus uh comes to Luke chapter 17, verse 11. So we're gonna read 11 through 19. On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 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. And when he saw them, he said, Go, show yourselves to the priest. And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. By the way, that's significant. Jesus asked, Were not all ten cleansed? Or are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner? Then he said to him, Rise and go. Your faith has made you well. So Jesus is in the habit of healing people. So he comes across these ten men who are lepers. And listen, leprosy was it's a skin disease. It's easily transferable, it's contagious. So we have to understand that a leper in this culture, uh, lepers were considered outcasts. If you were a leopard, uh, you were actually cast out of the village. You were called, you were actually told to go live in what they call leopard, uh leopard communities, not leopards. They're not cats. But you would say you would have to go live in this community with other people who had leprosy. And listen, it's not just this idea of leaving and being pushed outside the city. You were cut off from everyone else. You weren't allowed around people, you weren't allowed around your family, you lost your job, you lost access to the temple. Uh next being next to a dead body, leprosy was number two in one of the commands that you did not, you had to be so far away from everyone else. It was right up there again, being next to a dead body. The rules of the culture ostracized you, forced you out, made you live in a community full of other people who had leprosy. You weren't even allowed to come near people. You you weren't allowed within six feet of people. You weren't allowed within 150 feet of people if the wind was blowing. It was so bad that their entire life was lost. Physically, spiritually. Leprosy uh was considered incurable by man. A lot of people even believe that God inflicted the curse of leprosy upon people because of the sins they committed. So they believed that leprosy was your fault. We know that's not true now, but you were despised, you were loathed, you lost your wife, your family, your kids, everything. You no longer were considered clean, but in your unclean status, you were removed from life as you know it. So this is why this interaction is so heavy. This group of ten men had been living outside the city. They had lost everything. They didn't just have a disease, they had lost their entire life. And so when Jesus approaches and they say, Master, heal us. And he does, all ten of them collectively. He says, Go and show yourself to the priest. And on the way they were walking, my mind likes to think that the leprosy just started to fall off. They probably were a little freaked out, thinking their skin was falling off. By the way, that happened. That's part of the disease. But but as they walked to show themselves to the priest, their skin started to fall off. And their skin started to become clear. And I can imagine as they looked at their hands and they realized that they were no longer covered in this awful disease, this uncurable disease. As they walk and they show themselves to the priest, all ten of them, because you you had to, you had to go to the priest and say, look, I've been clean, I've been cleansed in order to be established. Jesus gave all ten of them their life back. And only one of them came back then. Jesus has a 10% success rate. Ten people went out, one man came back, and the man wasn't even a Jew, he was a Samaritan. He was those people that the Jews considered awful and vile, deformed, wrong. He comes back and he acknowledges who Jesus is, and Jesus even says, Where are the rest of you? Where's the other nine? The just you? It says your son. Tells him to go. Your faith sealed you. You know, when we think about lepers, it's not something we we commonly see in in our culture today. I've been in other countries, I've seen it in other places, but for the most part, uh the disease itself is curable. They've found a way to address it. But but but ten of these men, they they get their life back. And and here's here's what I know is a lot of times when we talk about this idea of being isolated, ostracized, feeling like we're on the outside looking in. I think when we read this story, we realize that we actually fit this model more than we think we do. How many times have you walked into a church and it just didn't, something felt wrong? You were worried because people were looking at you different. How many times have we been in a room full of people and you felt like you were completely alone? No one was there? How many times have we approached God feeling like we're not worthy enough? That He doesn't love us, that He doesn't care, and so much of that is reflected because we surround ourselves or we see other Christians who aren't really living in out like they're supposed to. How many times have we sat on a Sunday morning thinking, man, I would rather be anywhere but here? That's the nature of what the church can be sometimes. That's the downside to being human, is we are so imperfect. I love the church, but sometimes the people of the church can be ugly. But but that that's not the point, right? That that's not the goal. When we talk about this, Jesus, the Samaritan comes back. He's the only one who comes back and thanks Jesus for giving him his life back. And again, Jesus poses the question, where are the other nine? Did I not do the same thing for them? And and so when I when I look at this story, there's a couple things that that I think are important to note. One, we talk about gratitude. When we sing that song about gratitude, which by the way is one of my favorite songs currently, but when we talk about gratitude, those nine didn't really appreciate what Jesus had done for them. Now, I don't I don't know what they did after that. Maybe they went around and told everyone what had happened. Maybe they were, you know, maybe they just went back to the business as usual. But but but something about their response sparks Jesus' question where are the other nine? As the Samaritan comes back, the Samaritan acknowledges not only what Jesus has has done for him, but but he decides that, okay, now I need to follow him. Now I need to understand him. Now listen, thank you, Jesus, for setting me free from leprosy, but I'm not interested in that as much as I'm interested in you. Because you you did this for me. I don't know how, but you did this for me. You rescued me. You you gave me my life back. All of this is great, but but I want to know why. I want to know how. I want to know, Jesus, I just want to know. I want to sit at the feet of the one who rescued me. I think that that's the point of this conversation, is our response to what Jesus does for us. Oftentimes, if we're honest, we're a whole lot more like the other nine than the one. Thank you. Thank you, God, for blessing me today. Thank you, thank you, God, for healing me. Thank you, thank you, God, for everything you've given me. And then we get up and we leave and we go and live our life as if we don't really care what he's done. We act as if our time and our in our and our health and and our money and our fight, like all of this, like all the blessings he gives us, we act, we are so thankful for what God has given us, but but but then we walk away and we don't live out. We don't live it out. We don't show people that gratitude. We don't we don't live a life that shows how gracious we are. Listen, when we look at this story, in my understanding, the only response to me that makes sense when I think about everything God has done for me in my life. The only response is to turn around and to sit at his feet and to give my life to him. Because I have been rescued, I have been saved, my life has purpose. I cannot tell you enough. 15-year-old me would be sitting in the same place you're sitting, going, This guy is crazy. Because I've been there. I didn't follow Jesus my whole life. I tried so many other ways to satisfy my life, but but when I met Jesus, everything shifted for me. Because I realized that it's not my job to save me. That's the goal, right? We try to save ourselves. As a 39-year-old man, I can tell you the hardest thing that I struggle with in my life is letting other people help. Because I don't feel like it's my job. My my job is is to protect. Maybe even conquer. Although we don't really conquer anymore. It's not really a thing. But but my job has always been to protect. But the moment I found Christ was the moment that I realized that I I needed saved. I I think that that's the message of the gospel. I don't think it's an accident that the only one who comes back is a Samaritan. Listen, the Samaritan had everything to lose. He he he was not only a leper, but he was already ostracized because he was a Samaritan. He wasn't even allowed in the Jewish temple. He knew what it was to feel separated, to live outside the community. He was the one who showed up to church on Sunday and everyone looked at him weird. He was the one who stood among other believers and knew that they doubted what he really believed. He was the one who walked into a Sunday morning service and thought to himself, I would rather be anywhere but here. Then he met Jesus. And it didn't matter anymore. It didn't matter that he was a Samaritan. It didn't matter that the outside world thought of him. It didn't even matter what those other nine men thought of him. All that mattered is he had been rescued. Jesus had given him his life back. He had been restored. He had been saved. He had been saved by the only one who can save. The only name that matters. The only person who could do what Jesus did was Jesus. That's it. And this man understood that that it was about so much more than just being set free from leprosy. His life had shifted. His focus was different. He he wanted to sit at the feet and serve the one who rescued him. You and I get to be part of a rescue mission. It's not always easy. Some people want to be rescued. Some people wish you would leave them alone. Some people don't want to hear the message of the gospel. Some people are so busy trying to save themselves that they miss it. Some people are convinced that they have everything they need, but without Jesus, they have nothing. The world has convinced us that especially, listen, I'm telling you right now, there's a reason why guys have such a hard time finding Jesus, and it's because we are taught from the very beginning to be a savior. Every game my kids play in our house, someone somewhere is being saved. It's usually mine, because he's the smallest. But they have this innate desire to rescue people, and I love it. And from a very young age, I that's all I could remember is I I wanted to save the world. And I thought the way that I could do that was fighting. Or being bigger or stronger, or wielding axes. And then as I get older, I realize that trying to save the world is a really hard thing. Sometimes the world doesn't want it. But that doesn't change the mission. Listen, I I cannot think of an actual scenario in my life while I will ever wield this to fight someone off. I don't know. It could happen, but I I really doubt it. This this would be a nice little thing on my wall for the rest of my life. I I cannot right now think of a time when I might actually use this thing for its intended purpose. But every day I have an opportunity to spread the gospel. I have a chance to help others find rescue. Because that's what Jesus does. He saves us from ourselves. And listen, it doesn't matter where you are, it's not about political affiliation, it's not who you are, your title doesn't matter. You could be a Samaritan and still get healed from leprosy. Like that, that's the point of this whole conversation. The message of the gospel is I said it last week, you and I are on a rescue mission. But we aren't the we're not the ones saving people. We can't. The weight of that is heavy. But but we can introduce people to the one who can save them. No other name but Jesus. No one can do what he can do. No one can restore families, no one can restore brokenness, no one can heal addiction, no one can heal marriages, no one can heal sickness, no one, no one can provide, like no one. There's no one outside of him that can do anything that he can. He does it all. That's the gospel in and of itself. The gospel is Jesus, the Redeemer, the one who restores, the one above all creation, the one who at just the right time came into this world, showed people who God was, and then he died. The only reason that I get to be part of the rescue mission is because I've been rescuing. That's Jesus. A 15-year-old pumpkin. A 15-year-old kid who thought he had life figured out. In just the right moment, he reached down into my life and he showed me what it really meant to be loved. He showed me what it really meant to have purpose. He showed me. He gave me my life back. And the only response in my mind to that is to give my life back to him. To do everything I can. Because listen, I might never battle physically anyone. But you better believe that I'm going to fight for every soul that I can while I'm still alive. Because when I die, and I've said this before, my hope, my prayer, and I don't know what heaven's going to look like when it's all said and done, but my hope is when I die, that I get to see every face of every person that I ever share the gospel with. And then as God, as I enter into my eternal home, God says to me, Well done, good and faithful sir. Not because I had all the money, not because I was perfect here on earth. Because I helped rescue those who need a rescue. I live my life and I gave it to him so that other people could find Jesus in me. That's the rescue mission. We're only part of the rescue mission because we have been rescued. That's what Jesus does. He rescues us. No greater story than that. That's right.