Thank people and God
Daily Scripture
Luke 17:1-19
During Lent, we are using short videos to share a daily idea (linked to the gospel of Luke) on how to grow spiritually. Watch today’s video. Click here or on the image below:
Note: We are reading the entire gospel of Luke in the GPS. Some day’s readings are longer than usual. We hope you’ll have an extra cup of coffee, or use your lunch break, and read Luke’s entire story of Jesus.
1 Jesus said to his disciples, “Things that cause people to trip and fall into sin must happen, but how terrible it is for the person through whom they happen. 2 It would be better for them to be thrown into a lake with a large stone hung around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to trip and fall into sin. 3 Watch yourselves! If your brother or sister sins, warn them to stop. If they change their hearts and lives, forgive them. 4 Even if someone sins against you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times and says, ‘I am changing my ways,’ you must forgive that person.”
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
6 The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
7 “Would any of you say to your servant, who had just come in from the field after plowing or tending sheep, ‘Come! Sit down for dinner’? 8 Wouldn’t you say instead, ‘Fix my dinner. Put on the clothes of a table servant and wait on me while I eat and drink. After that, you can eat and drink’? 9 You won’t thank the servant because the servant did what you asked, will you? 10 In the same way, when you have done everything required of you, you should say, ‘We servants deserve no special praise. We have only done our duty.’”
11 On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten men with skin diseases approached him. Keeping their distance from him, 13 they raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, show us mercy!”
14 When Jesus saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” As they left, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw that he had been healed, returned and praised God with a loud voice. 16 He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus replied, “Weren’t ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 No one returned to praise God except this foreigner?” 19 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up and go. Your faith has healed you.”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Jesus told his disciples they must forgive “even if someone sins against you seven times in one day” (Verse 4; Matthew 18:21-22 said either “seventy-seven times” or “seventy times seven”). In any form, that’s a lot more forgiving than we do innately! “Increase our faith!” the disciples gasped. Jesus said faith isn’t a matter of quantity. He healed ten men of skin diseases when they showed just a little faith.
- Do you ever fear that Jesus’ words about forgiveness meant you should be a docile “door mat”? They didn’t. The gospels show Jesus firmly confronting his foes (e.g. driving money changers from the Temple—Luke 19:45-46). How can God (and wise human therapists) help us deal with hurt or betrayal in healthier ways than refusing to forgive (which harms us more than others)?
- On his way to Jerusalem, somewhere near the border between Galilee and Samaria, Jesus met the ten outcasts with skin diseases. Jesus healed and delivered them all, yet only one of those, a “bad” Samaritan, praised God. What experiences or inner obstacles make it harder for you to feel gratitude? Are there things you have forgotten or neglected to thank God for?
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Prayer
Lord Jesus, forgive me for times when I hurt you, or another person, without knowing what I was doing. And forgive me for the times when I’ve defied you, or hurt someone else, knowing exactly what I was doing. By your grace keep me forgiven and forgiving. Amen.
GPS Insights
Ginny Howell
There are many things in life that I personally recognize as evidence of the Divine. The stillness of nature, the delicate fingers and toes of a newborn baby and the sounds of laughter all evoke a sense that there is a God who loves us and wants what is best for us. I have told my children for years, “You just can’t eat a strawberry and not believe in God…” Something so sweet and satisfying, straight from nature, perfect just as God made it, must reflect the beauty of our Creator. I’m sure they got tired of hearing it, but then again, maybe, they think about God every so often when they taste a strawberry.
Jesus shared a glimpse of his divinity when he spoke in Luke 17:1. Speaking of sin, and reminding us of our humanity, as “sin must happen,” Jesus’ words then take us in a different direction. He moves straight to empathy, recognizing the sinner must feel terrible. Not a typical human reaction to the concept of sin. Jesus doesn’t dwell on the transgression, instead tells us to look out for one another, and reminds us that there is no limit to how often we should forgive. I understand the apostles’ response in asking to have their faith increased.
I have always been a very patient person; slow to anger and quick to forgive. Sure, some things get to me, and I can hold a grudge longer than I’d like at times, but pretty regularly someone will comment about my ability to be patient and stay calm even in situations that would make most people react differently. I casually respond and say something like, “I’m just wired that way…”.
In a deeper conversation, where I am speaking with more vulnerability, I elaborate and share that I cannot claim the sense of patience or calm that I display as my own, because I know it was gifted to me by God. I have felt God’s presence at times when the actions of another should have sent me into absolute fits of rage. Going to that place for just a moment in my mind, my heart has been almost instantly settled, and I have felt a shift in where my attention needs to be placed in ways that my human brain just can’t explain. I think this is the kind of faith booster the apostles were looking to receive.
I can’t explain the abundance of patience I seem to have any more than I can the freckles on my face or the way my hair seems to always want to flip to one side. What I can say is that the more I listen for God when someone has hurt me or mine, the better attuned I am to live as Jesus describes in these passages. I don’t always get it right, and some days my ego gets in the way of listening for God when I need to the most. Knowing the apostles turned to Jesus and asked for increased faith reminds me that when I am getting in my own way, that’s a great place for me to start too.
