Episode 667

TODAY’S EPISODE

Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy

11 Now, on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a] met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

luke 17:11-19

I can see many different scenarios in this story. But I want to tell you a story about what happened to me yesterday, I was in the car driving to work, and the Bluetooth in my car connection no longer works. The phone has advanced to my car. And now I’m stuck listening to the actual radio instead of playlists. That I’ve curated. Anyway, I’m listening to Christmas music on the radio, Jingle Bell Rock, probably something very secular. Maybe it was like Santa came into town. And at the end of the song, the lady on the radio station said whatever station it was, I’m not going to close. You can find 24/7 worship-free Christmas music here. I thought to myself, did she just say, and I played it again and again in my head. And that’s precisely what she said. Worship-free Christmas music and my heart broke in an instant because I realized that that’s the thing people look for worship less or worship-free Christmas music, but it’s an oxymoron itself because Christmas is about Christ. And I can see that scenario in this story. Out of the ten lepers, one came back to give God things, and the other nine just took the blessing of the Lord and just went along their merry way. I am not saying that secular Christmas music is bad because it brings so much joy, and I can start many conversations with someone who doesn’t know Christ. 

What I am saying is that we need to continue to fill our homes with worship-centric Christmas music so that we continue to remember why we celebrate in the first place because we give God thanks for everything that he has done. He sent us a baby boy on December 25, 2023, years ago, and it is a blessing to celebrate the birth of Jesus because we know his life story. We know what he grew up to become. We are listening, and we are studying the miracles that he performed. We know that he died on the cross for us. And we know that there is so much significance to his life. So continue to listen to all of the Christmas music. Continue to have conversations with people who love to listen to Christmas music and don’t know Christ but keep Christ at the center of your life. Because we need to be like this foreigner, we need to be like a Samaritan who gets a blessing from the Lord and comes back and says thank you. We have to be people who say thank you, God, for absolutely everything in our lives. Give him the praise that he deserves.

Prayer:

Father God, we’d love you, Lord, to give you all praise today and every day. This is the season of Jesus, we are celebrating the birth of your son, and we cannot be, so we cannot be more excited, Lord, to be doing this together. We thank you for the opportunity to go deeper into our relationship with you. We thank you for the opportunity to get to know you more. We love you; we pray this all your son’s mighty name. Amen.