Too Religious?

Today, I just wanted to share a thought I had recently while reflecting on a certain story in the Bible. One of the themes is thankfulness, so even though I wasn’t intending on writing a Thanksgiving themed post, it just kind of worked out that way.

I kind of struggled in how I wanted to put this post together. Fun Fact: I was originally going to title this blog post something to the effect of “When Jesus is Okay with Disobedience,” but I figured that it would too controversial, click-baitish, and confusing to actually be worth it.

After all, I don’t want to let my attempted cleverness lead people astray. It’s not really about obedience and disobedience, though by the end of this post you’ll probably be able to see why I played around with that title.

But really, my insight in this story has more to do with gratefulness, relationship, duty, and religion. Before I get ahead of myself, let’s look at the scripture I got this from.

Luke 17:11-19 (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.

So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

So, this seems like a standard Jesus-heals-people story. Nothing new to gain here, right? Wrong.

You see, I’ve read this story dozens of times. I remember learning about it as a kid in church Sunday School. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard sermons preached on this text as well, and pretty much every time, I’ve felt the same way.

I thought, what’s wrong with those other nine lepers? That’s crazy that only one came back to thank Jesus. Only the Samaritan returned, and Jesus marveled that only the foreigner bothered to thank him for healing him.

But this last time I read the story, a couple new things jumped out at me.

One, Jesus told the leper, “Your faith has made you well,” but Jesus healed all ten lepers. So, either Jesus was equally nice to all the lepers regardless of their faith, or they all had faith, but only one thought to thank God in the midst of the healing.

Two, the healing happened while the lepers had already left Jesus. They were healed on their way.

On their way where? On their way to show themselves to the priests.

Why were they going to the priests?

Well, a biblically astute Christian would readily answer that it was because of Levitical Law. In the book of Leviticus, among other laws given in the Torah, the priests are taught how to deal with people suffering from leprosy and other skin diseases.

There was an official process in place to where the priest would examine the person, and if the skin looked a certain way, they could judge whether the person was afflicted with the disease and whether or not the person should be quarantined outside of the city for the protection of the congregation. But if the disease is gone, the priests could then allow the leper to reenter society without being condemned as “unclean.”

A biblically astute Christian would give you all those facts, but let’s also look at the simple answer: The ten lepers left Jesus to go to the priests because Jesus told them to.

No doubt, Jesus knew Levitical law, and he does send those he’d healed to priests on multiple occasions. This is not outside of Jesus’s normal modus operandi for healing.

So, Jesus tells them to go to the priests, and they get healed as they’re running away from Jesus back into the city towards the temple.

But only one goes back to thank Jesus.

Do you know what that means? The other nine cleansed lepers weren’t selfish and ungrateful—they were following Jesus’s instructions!

So, why would Jesus tell ten men to go through the established religious process to verify the healing about to take place, only to then turn around and commend one of them for not following his simple instructions?

Technically, the man disobeyed Jesus! If you didn’t know the end of the story, you could guess it’d end with Jesus saying something like, “No, you didn’t follow my directions. Therefore, because of your disobedience, you will be plagued with the leprosy of the other nine who were healed and did follow my instructions.”

Obviously, this is NOT what Jesus said to the one leper who returned.

So, how does this make sense, and what does it mean for us when we read this, and seem to be getting some mixed messages from Jesus?

This story isn’t really about whether or not you need to thank God, nor is it about which lepers were good or bad.

My contention? This story speaks to the dichotomy of religion and relationship.

You may have heard Christians say, “Following Jesus isn’t a religion; it’s a relationship!” Christians have often repeated this phrase, this idea of religion over relationship, to the point where it had become a cliche of Christian culture.

Anyone else remember when Jefferson Bethke went viral with his spoken word poem “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus”? Most Christians loved the video, but I remember a small minority saying, “Hey guys…you know Christianity is a religion, right? Like, by definition, it is a religion. You can’t go around saying it’s not a religion when it clearly is.”

Though I would argue that those Christians who criticized the video have a point, I would also say they missed the original point the video was trying to make.

After all, the core of the gospel is relationship!

Before I continue, I think you’re probably wondering, what does Jefferson Bethke have to do with the lepers from Luke 17? Technically, nothing. But, when you look deeper, this story is a good example of Jesus’s interesting relationship with religion.

So…what is Jesus’s relationship with religion?

Let’s review.

Before the time of Jesus, we had only what Christians now call the “Old Testament.” Also known as the Jewish Bible, or the TaNaKh, the Old Testament gives the framework for Jesus’s appearing.

We have original sin in the garden of Eden. We have Abraham being called by God to leave his homeland. We have God making a covenant with Abraham, that his seed will bless the nations. He have God making a covenant with Moses and establishing the Law. We have God making a covenant with King David. We have the Babylonian Exile. And we also have the prophecies setting up the Jewish people’s expectations for a coming Messiah, who will reestablish the throne of David.

Jesus knew all of this background information, and he respected it. He operated within the framework of Judaism. He never disrespected the Jewish religion; after all, he was one of them!

Jesus didn’t come to abolish Judaism—he came to fulfill it.

Jesus even said himself,

“Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18 HCSB).

For Judaism, Jesus is not the ruination, but the culmination. Everything in the Old Testament points forward to Jesus!

Jesus is not anti-religion. He understands the Law of Moses even better than Moses did. Jesus understood that as Messiah, he would have to die as the Passover lamb without blemish for the sins of all. Jesus understood that the Law condemns and convicts, but only He could save.

He also knew that relationship is higher than religion in the priorities of God.

Yes, God gave the Law to Moses. The Law put the problem into words. The Law illustrates God’s holiness and His standards. The Law shows us the consequence of sin, which separates us from God.

Because God is so great, His holiness so awesome, his perfection so unmatchable and unreachable, God gave the law to out this problem into words and to point towards the solution to that problem.

The problem? Broken relationship. Everything comes back to relationship! God wants to be in an eternal relationship with His creation, but sin ruined it.

The solution? The person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said He came to reveal the Father. Because the people couldn’t have a real relationship with God apart from Jesus, they only knew him through the Law. Which means they didn’t understand the kind of relationship dynamic God wanted to have with them.

Jesus fixed that. Jesus made it so people could once again be free from their sin. Nothing would be able to separate them. It’s the ultimate reunification since the fall in Eden.

Now that this is understood, let’s return to the story of the ten lepers.

Jesus, in full awareness, appreciation, and reverence to Judaism, tells them to do the religion’s standard practice—”go to the priests.”

The ten lepers follow his instructions, the letter of the law, until they are all healed on their way. Nine of the lepers presumably complete the task Jesus gave them, and the priests were likely extremely confused.

But that one leper, the only Samaritan of the group, decided to delay his mission to the priests. He decided to return to Jesus to thank Him. In returning to Jesus, he gave Jesus glory and Jesus commended the man’s faith, and Jesus marveled that only the samaritan returned.

I have no doubt that the other nine men gave glory to God. But they were tunnel-visioned on the religious nature of Jesus’s instructions that they missed out on a greater opportunity.

These Jews chose to follow the religious commands of Jesus because they saw him as Master, as a man of religious authority, but they missed an opportunity for relationship.

It’s not that the Samaritan refused to acknowledge Judaism, and it’s not that he didn’t see the importance of going to the priests. But the Samaritan saw that the authority and power of Jesus the Messiah superseded the simplicity of religious adherence.

All ten lepers had an encounter with Jesus. Nine drew near to the Law, prioritizing behavior, but the one drew near to Jesus prioritizing relationship.

The Samaritan recognized that the goal of any work Jesus does for us stems from the heart of reconciliation. Everything Jesus does is to bring us into closer contact with him, not to simply change us and conform us to right religious practice.

Yes, religion is important, but true heart change comes with a real relationship birthed out of thankfulness—the type of thankfulness that draws near to the savior.

The Application

When you encounter Jesus, there are many ways you can respond. Maybe you ignore Him and run away. Maybe you spit in his face.

Or maybe you’re like the lepers.

You see, sin is like leprosy. Its insidious disease degrades the body and mars God’s creation, and it also makes you unclean and separates you from the holiness of God.

Just like Jesus cleansed the lepers, Jesus came to cleanse us of all sin, so we can be clean and reintegrated into society. Reintegrated into relationship with God!

Just like cleansed lepers re-entering the holy city, we can enter the Holy of Holies beyond the now-torn veil.

We can enter Eden and walk with our Father in his immaculate garden.

If you respond to Jesus by running headlong into religion, you don’t understand the gospel.

We should respond to Jesus by drawing near to him with gratefulness, reverence, affection, and friendship.

Yes, it starts with healing, and thankfulness is the obvious response.

But if you don’t turn and run into the arms of the one who healed you, you may be missing out on the reason you were healed.

You might be too religious.