:                                        Have mercy on us! 

Luke 17: 11-19 v 12 “ As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, crying out Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

Jesus was on His own journey but as He walked He saw a group of men who called out to Him. He told them to show themselves to the priests. As they obeyed His command they were cleansed of their leprosy. One out of the ten turned around and came back to Jesus, shouting “Praise God”. He was a Samaritan. A foreigner in that border town. And Jesus said to the man “stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.”

I lived in a border town, on the border of the USA and Canada. There was constant traffic going back and forth over the border. A friend of mine worked as a border guard and he told stories about old ladies coming over the border from the USA to Canada turning back as they were not allowed to take the gun, they kept in their glove compartment, into Canada. My daughter’s ringette team went up north in Ontario to a tournament and part of the journey was across the border into the USA. They were on a bus and had all the things they would need for the tournament.  Border guards took all the fruit they had packed for after the games as they were not allowed to “import” it into the USA even though they were only passing through and would not consume or leave any there. Understanding the different rules in different countries is difficult. There was certainly plenty of discussion in both these cases about the ‘rules’ crossing the border. The Old lady refused to be without her gun and turned back.  The fruit as I said was taken away before the journey could continue.  These men standing around in a border town followed Jesus’s commands without hesitation. There was no reported back and forth conversation and nine followed the request without turning around. One however had insight to who cured Him. It was not the priests they were going to visit. Their job was to affirm that they were healed.  Jesus was given the glory and praise. The man was further blessed by Jesus who said, “your faith has healed you.”

In our lives today we find ourselves in unfamiliar places with people who have different rules. Do we look to Jesus for advice? Praise God for the circumstances we find ourselves in? Follow Him and He will tell you to stand up and go!

Prayer: Holy God, we thank you for guiding us on our path every day as we negotiate the familiar and the unfamiliar. Have mercy on us as we try and let the light of Jesus shine from our hearts as we follow Him in all we do. Amen.