Luke 17:7-10 (ESV)
[7] “Will any one of you who has
a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the
field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? [8] Will he not rather say to him,
‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink,
and afterward you will eat and drink’? [9] Does he thank the servant because he
did what was commanded? [10] So you also, when you have done all that you were
commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our
duty.’”
Jesus had just told his disciples
that they need to forgive repeatedly. Following their cry of “Increase our
faith,” Jesus responded that they didn’t need greater faith, they just need faith
in God. This passage is then followed by the story of Jesus cleansing ten
lepers, but only one, a Samaritan, shows any expression of gratitude. What
Jesus is articulating is that obedience does not earn God’s favor.
That is a truth at the heart of
the gospel. The Pharisees’ assumption was that external obedience to the Law of
God earned God’s favor. Because of their attentiveness to the Law they felt that
they deserved God’s blessing. Jesus wants them to understand that obedience is
not a way of manipulating God into blessing them. Rather, it is simply their
duty. Blessing is an act of grace just as repeated forgiveness is an act of
grace. God’s favor is not earned; it is gifted by grace.
How easy it is to slip into the
pharisaical way of thinking. We ask, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
The very question assumes that we somehow deserve good things because we have
been good. We question our faith when things don’t go our way or when following
Jesus becomes hard. We pray because our day won’t go well if we don’t pray, or
we read our Bible because God won’t bless us if we don’t. But that is the wrong
motivation. We pray because we desperately need God. We read our Bible because
we desperately need his wisdom. We meditate on his Word because we desperately
desire to know him. We don’t earn his favor by doing these things. These things
are available to us because he shows us favor.
When we approach God in a
transactional mindset, assuming that obedience gains favor, then at the end of
the day we must conclude that we have only done our duty. But when we understand
that God’s favor is poured out on us because of Jesus, then we fall on our face
at Jesus’ feet and give him thanks like the Samaritan leper (Luke 17:16). Jesus
responds, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:19).
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