0601 – Focus on Jesus

Luke 17:11-16, 19 (NKJV) Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan… And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

One of the greatest concerns during the current Coronavirus outbreak is the absence of an anti-viral treatment. In post-modernism, we have placed so much hope in our intellectual abilities and the advancement of medical science that we have ignored or even rationalised away the supernatural power of God. However, it is precisely at times like these, when all else has failed, that we should rethink about the healing power of God and place our faith in Him.

We live in a broken world. While God is good, there is an enemy, the devil, who wants to kill, steal and destroy us. God is not the source of a virus outbreak, but it is the fallen nature of man that has created the chaos.

The opening passage illustrates an equally hopeless situation in the Bible, where there was no cure for leprosy and because the disease was contagious, the 10 lepers were separated from and forbidden to have any contact with other people including their relatives. Considered unclean and untouchable, there was no hope for them, and they were basically waiting to die.

The people of Israel are God’s covenant people with a rich history God’s faithfulness to them, including the protection of their forefathers in Egypt and healing in the wilderness. The one leper who was a Samaritan was ignorant of the covenant, foreign to it, and living a life without hope and without God in this world, but fortunately, he was placed in the same camp as the Jews. Nevertheless, all of them were faced with a hopeless situation unless something supernatural happened. However, they saw hope when they heard that Jesus was passing through the village!

Similarly, Jesus is the one we should look to, just like the lepers of those days who had no cure for their disease.

Sermon Series: Focus on Jesus


定晴在耶稣上

路加福音 17:11-16,19 耶稣往耶路撒冷去,经过撒玛利亚和加利利。进入一个村子,有十个长大麻风的,迎面而来,远远地站着,高声说:“耶稣,夫子,可怜我们吧!” 耶稣看见,就对他们说:“你们去把身体给祭司察看。”他们去的时候就洁净了。内中有一个见自己已经好了,就回来大声归荣耀与 神,又俯伏在耶稣脚前感谢他;这人是撒玛利亚人。 ……就对那人说:“起来,走吧!你的信救了你了。”

目前在新冠状病毒爆发时期最令人担忧的问题之一就是缺乏抗病毒的治疗。在后现代主义中,我们把太多的期望寄托在智商和医学科学的进步上,以致我们忽略或甚至把神超自然的能力合理化。然而,正是在这样的时刻,当其他一切都失败了,我们应该重新思考神医治的大能,并把我们的信心放在祂身上。

我们活在一个破碎的世界。神是良善的,然而有一个仇敌,就是魔鬼,要杀害、偷窃和毁灭我们。神不是病毒爆发的源头,而是人类的堕落造成了混乱。

前面的经文描述了圣经中同样绝望的情况,麻风病是无法医治的,而且因为是传染性的疾病,这10位大麻风病患被隔离,并且被禁止和他人接触,包括他们的亲属。他们被看做是不洁净的或不可触摸的,他们看不到希望,基本上是在等待死亡。

以色列人是神盟约的百姓,有着神恩待他们的丰富历史,包括神在埃及保护他们的祖先及在旷野的医治。有一个长大麻风的撒玛利亚人,他不认识且对这盟约陌生,在世上过着没有盼望、没有神的生活,但幸运的是,他和犹太人同处一营。虽然如此,他们所有人还是面对一个绝望的处境,除非有超自然的事情发生。然而,他们在听见耶稣正经过那村子时看见了希望。

同样地,就像那个时代无法治愈的麻风病人,耶稣是我们应该仰望的人。

讲章系列: 定晴在耶稣上