By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
October 26, 2025
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Luke 18:9–14 (ESV)
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
This week I have been convicted by our gospel reading. If any of you watch the news, you might have noticed that there were some architectural changes happening in Washington DC. This upset me a bit, and when I say a bit I mean to say it infuriated me. I mentioned my concerns on social media, knowing full well that I would be trolled by all sides, but I had to express my frustration.
Why does this infuriate me? I have nothing at stake. I remember about twelve and a half years ago that we needed to make some changes here at the meetinghouse. We had two women expecting children, and the room set aside for the feeding and care of babies had some issues. As a pastor I asked that the stewards call a meeting to discuss things, but the meeting was not called. It was a time sensitive issue so action needed to be taken. So as a pastor, I decided to get permission from the clerk to make the changes and we proceeded. Our family provided the labor and the finances for the change because I wanted to protect my wife, and she was allergic to the corkboard in the room. So we removed as much as we could, sealed the remaining corkboard with massive amounts of paint, added trim, put up new paneling, and purchased furnishings to allow the expecting mothers some comfort during those early months of parenthood. It does not seem like much of an issue. Most people thought it was a good idea. But I faced some pretty heated backlash from some. The argument was that proper channels were not followed.
This incident had me questioning if I was going to be able to continue being a pastor or if I would be asked to leave. It made me very aware of the importance of doing things within the proper established framework and if you go against the framework you better have a very clear objective.
The arguments I used back then were the arguments many are using today. It is self funded so why does it matter. It matters. Believe me when I say it matters. This is why I am very passionate about bringing ideas to the meeting instead of just acting on them. It is not because I want to hinder progress, I want to protect the ones I care about and support them in their pursuit of ministry and expression of gratitude to our community.
With that being said I want to bring up one item of business. Would the Meeting be willing to accept a donation of a folding ping pong table for the students and the young at heart to use? We have two people that want to purchase one, and someone that would like to donate one that they already have.
That is some back story about my current state of mind. Why then do I say that today’s reading convicted me?
“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:”
I was prideful this week. I was arrogant. I thought of myself as being more intelligent than others, and I spoke out…well typed out…without deeper thought and contemplation. And just so you know I am still right, I am just wrong with how I presented myself.
Pride and arrogance are difficult areas within our spiritual lives. We are encouraged to believe in ourselves, we are encouraged to reach for the stars, to take a risk and challenge ourselves to become better. I say these things to my son as he goes to hockey practice. I say these things to all our students. Our minds are filled with these words urging us to excel. And the amazing thing is we are capable. We are capable to do great things. If we look around our meetinghouse, I see people that have overcome tremendous challenges, I see people that are actively pursuing dreams just a short time ago they did not think was possible. I see amazing parents raising children to independent and strong. I see students achieving and trying new things. I see people that have risked everything with the hope of making life better for their family. We have a great deal to be proud about. Is this a sin?
Humility is the opposite of pride. Humility is defined as bringing low, or regarding others as better than yourself. As Christians we are encouraged to be humble. Mainly because this is what is taught within these verses we read today. I want us to think of humility in a different manner. We all know of people that are falsely humble. They will humble brag about their achievements, this is not humility, it is still pride. Humility is being honest about yourself.
I struggle with this personally. People will give me a compliment and often I do not know what to do with it, so I simply say thank you and quickly try to change the subject. But being humble is being aware of who you are, your strengths and your weaknesses. It is making sure that we recognize where we need help and if we have received help to acknowledge that they contributed. To be humble is to find your place within a community and live in that place fully.
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.”
Before we get too deep, I want us to fully grasp who these people are. The Pharisee is a religious leader, but there is more to that title than what we might think. The Pharisees were teachers, they were lawyers, judges, and community leaders. We often only see them as religious leaders because much of the context of scripture is about the expressions of faith. The Pharisees are social framework society is built around. They are the educated, the wealthy, they are the elite of the society. To know a Pharisee is to have status within that community. And if you were a Pharisee your life was set.
Then there is the tax collector. In the first century the tax collector was seen as the worst of sinners. They were the ones within this society that sold out to the pagan overlords and turned their backs on their community. They were often seen as corrupt, greedy, and criminal. Jesus uses these two men in his story to be an example of the polarity of society. Those that are completely bought into the traditions of society and those that sold out for worldly gain. One might say that they were Right and Left.
The Pharisee approaches the temple and begins to pray, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.”
I can often be like this man. I sat this week thinking about what he was saying. And then I looked a bit deeper. If you were to look up the law, or the teaching, on fasting you would find that God only commanded one mandatory fast. It was a fast prior to Yom Kippur, or the day of atonement. I sat looking at this and I wondered where did this two day fast come into play? There are many fasts mentioned in scripture. They are encouraged to fast while they mourn, and there are fasts dealing with urgent prayer. If there was a serious plea within the culture, like if a war was about to occur the leaders would often call Israel to come together to fast and pray. The use of the fast is not magic, it does not convince God that you are serious and it is not a hunger strike used to manipulate God into granting your petition. The fast is to prove to yourself that your survival is not based on the things that you can do but that you are in full reliance to God.
When we fast as we pray about something serious in our lives. We are saying not to God but ourselves that we will rely on God for all that we need. I am in such need of God’s direction that I will not seek anything else except the word of God. This is why when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert to make stones into bread, Jesus said, “Man does not live by bread alone but by the word of God.” The fast is an important spiritual discipline when used correctly. It is a sign of submission to God not a tool of manipulation.
If fasts are important, why does Jesus seem to be speak poorly about this man’s statement?
The two day a week fast was something that began during the Exile to Babylon, and can be found in the Babylonian Talmud. This was a time where there was no temple, no sacrifice, there was no way to express your devotion to God. How then are people of faith supposed to express themselves, and how do they release their sorrow and repentance to God?
This is where the fasts come in. It is a sacrifice, and a manner to express your devotion. The fasts were done on Monday and Thursday. Monday to represent Moses going up the mountain to receive the Torah, and Thursday to represent Moses’s return. The teachers used the sacrifice of food to symbolically replace the sacrificial animals on the altar. And their idea was that if you cannot express your faith in the temple then you should express yourself in body.
This fast was important, it has been preserved to this day as a symbol of faith in contemporary Jewish communities. Jesus is not speaking out against the fast, he is not condemning the tithes, he is not rejecting activities that we can participate in to remind and redirect our attention to our reliance on God. What he is condemning is why this man is participating.
Prior to his list of righteous acts. He compares himself to others. “Thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” He looked over at the other man and openly spoke out against him. He found a place within the temple where everyone could see what he was doing, in a place where the acoustics were just right that his voice would echo through the entire sacred chamber so that everyone present could hear his words. “Thank You God that I am not like all these other people.” And he lists off the things their contemporary society finds deplorable.
He did not pray for guidance or submission. Instead he prayed to demand God’s allegiance to himself. I am good, he tells God. I am great. I am powerful. And you know it. I have given a tithe on every single source of income I have. I have filled the temple with gold, and you and everyone listening should do what I say. I have fasted two days a week! I have made the sacrifice, and you should do exactly what I demand because quite frankly God you could do nothing without me.
And the people of the temple heard his prayers and they responded just how he expected they would. They agreed with him. This is a great man. God should bless him. And he is rich, so clearly God has blessed him. He has power which was granted by God. We should follow him. We see this all around us. The praise of humanity. The cult of personality. They were put here for a purpose and we should not question them because they are in a position of authority.
Jesus continues his story, turning to the other man, the tax collector. He redirects our attention the man that seemingly sold himself out to the world. He turned his back on his countrymen, his society, and his culture and he dedicated his labor for the continued occupation and oppression of the empire.
This man could not lift his head to heaven, but kept his head bowed in submission. He could not speak of greatness, but beat his breast. And he said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
The one man demanded praise for himself. And the other recognized who he was in reference to God.
The world may say that they are good, but Friends none of us are equal to the goodness of God. None of us are righteous enough. We all need the mercy and grace provided through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We cannot look to the heavens and say, “Thank God that I am not like other men,” because each and every day we have extorted money from our global neighbors as we purchase good that were produced by exploited labor practices. We are unjust because we are willing to overlook a law that denies the rights of the people beside us as long as it does not affect me. We are just like this tax collector. We have often sold our voices to a popular opinion because we do not want to take the hard look at ourselves and instead want to cast blame on a marginalized population among us.
I have been the pharisee this very week. I have presented myself as wise, as righteous. I have presented myself with arrogance and self-righteous pride. I have presented myself as a pillar of justice within our community. And I am right in what I have said. But I am wrong because I put my words, my opinions, and my personally held beliefs into religious language. I am wrong, I am filled with pride, but we all are. This does not make it correct. In fact it makes us more wrong than the world we wish to reach.
That is a harsh thing to say, I know. But I want us to consider what the next few verses of Luke say.
“Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.’”
What does it mean to receive the kingdom like a child? I have thought about that on many occasions. For some they say it is blind obedience. But I do not think that is it. Mainly because I have not been around many children that obey. They are cowed to unquestioned obedience out of the frustration of adults. Because by nature children often live in a state of awe and wonder. They are intensely curious with a seemingly never ending question of, “why?”.
How do we treat children? We calmly talk to them, we show them the way to do things. We at times correct them, but shortly after that discipline we assure them of our love and care. We are merciful and gracious to our children. And that is the way Jesus tells us to interact with those around us.
Peter wrote in his letter, that we should always be prepared to provide and answer to the hope that we have. This verse has inspired many to study scripture and theology so that they can answer any question that they may be asked. It is a discipline that we call apologetics. It is an important thing to do, but it is not everything. Often that discipline can lead us to arrogance. We can deceive ourselves into believing that I have all the answers. I want to be very blunt in saying that we do not have all the answers. You cannot logically provide an answer to how God can be all powerful, all loving, all knowing and allow evil to exist in the world. I have yet to read an answer to that question that is not filled with holes.
Does this disprove God? No. It simple means that we do not have full understanding. We remain like the child asking why? And often like the inquisitive child, the more mature individuals around us have left the question unanswered with the exasperated answer, “Because I said so.”
The tax collector is like the child. He knows that he is not righteous enough, just as the child knows that they do not understand. This is humility. It is recognizing the reality of who we are and being honest with the world around us.
I am often correct in my thinking, yet wrong. I have arrogantly provided answers, to questions that were never asked because I could not be bothered to listen. I have thought more highly of myself in my position and have caused more harm than good. I have been the Pharisee. But I have also been the tax collector. I know my weakness. I know when I do not have an answer, and I know that at times the only thing I can say is, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
We are fallen people, living among fallen people. We are hurting people, living beside people with similar wounds. We are exploited and extorted, we have been wronged, and we have cause injury to other. But there is hope. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only unique son, that whoever believes in him should should not parish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Let us be honest with ourselves and with God, and let us cry out, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church June 07, 2026 Click here to join our meeting for worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 4:13–25 (ESV) 13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 31, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 2 Corinthians 13:11–14 (ESV) 11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 24, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Corinthians 12:3–13 (ESV) 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
October 19, 2025
Click Here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Luke 18:1–8 (ESV)
1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
At the retreat we spoke about hospitality. I know not all of us were there, but I mentioned something that Saturday morning that I noticed during my study. Hospitality is everywhere in scripture. It is something I knew but most of the time we are unaware. At least that is the way I am. I did not realize just how jaded I became. I love scripture. I take it serious and I try to look at scripture for direction in my life. But when I began to study hospitality, I realized that many of the commandments, and most of the writings of the prophets were written with hospitality in mind.
This realization has caused me to reconsider my perspectives. I do this at times because I realized that some of what I once believed was not based on dependable science, reason, ideology, or faith. When I think about faith, when I approach scripture in faith, I have come to realize that this is not a book of laws and rules that if followed we can have a pass to get into heaven. It is so much more. Scripture is filled with teaching, it is filled with stories encouraging us to think deeper about how our actions and every aspect of our lives loves God and our neighbors.
I sat this week, looking at today’s passage. And I thought about the various ways I have learned about life. At times I faced harsh realities where I could not escape the consequences, at times I read something in a book. Then there were times I just happened to be sitting next to my grandpa on the tractor or in the pickup. Someone once asked me if I had ever heard God’s voice. I kind of laughed and asked them to clarify. They mentioned that I said I had sensed a call to ministry, and they wanted to know how I was sure. I did not have a ready answer.
I can tell you my story. I can mention how sure I was at the time. But I would be lying if I did not mention I have questioned that almost every single day of my life. Just the other day, a song played on my radio. I have alarms set up on my phone to go off at certain times of the day because I know that I will get so focused on whatever I am doing that I will completely loose track of time. I have the alarm set to play songs from the 90’s, because those are my comfort songs. I love the 90’s grunge rock where the singers cannot be understood because they mumble. And I like it because I cannot hear the lyrics that well anyways so when everyone else is wondering what was being said I do not feel quite so deaf. But there is one song that for some reason starts the playlist, Creep by Radiohead.
If you do not think the internet algorithms can read your mind that playlist is one that will make you a believer. It was basically my anthem in high school and college. It is a song that I completely understood, because it was what I felt most of the time. “I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo, what am I doing here, I don’t belong here.” I question, I doubt, I do not feel as if I have much to offer anyone. Why then do I feel so certain about a call to ministry? I cannot tell you, but I cannot see myself doing anything else.
That did not satisfy the person asking the question. Because when someone really wants to know, it does not matter if they want to know to prove you wrong, or if they are genuinely curious they often want an answer that is definitive. They continued to press. “How can you know if you do not actually hear?” This is where I struggle. I have a lot of teaching from various sources. When I think about things I will often hear the thoughts going through my head as if it is a conversation between me and someone that was important to me. If I am thinking about Theology, even when I read a theological book, I often read it or think about it as if I am sitting in the classroom with my theology professor Dr. Kettler. I think in that way because he was a serious theologian, but he had a superman comic hanging on one of his walls and on another an icon of St Athanasius. He gave me space to be the bible and comic book nerd I was at the time. But when I am praying about life choices, I almost audibly hear a voice. And that voice is the voice of my grandpa. That voice usually comes after a long mental struggle where I have come to the end of myself. I sit in the silence of my own contemplation and it is as if my grandpa slaps his knee and says welp. In an instant I am calm and at peace, and I know what to do.
Was this God? I cannot say for certain. But I can tell you, my grandpa taught me a great deal about life, and how to live with people. I believe that if God was speaking, he used a voice he knew I would listen to.
Welp, this is where I have been this week. Caught somewhere between hospitality and wondering why I am even up here. And while I was in this weird state, I read today’s passage.
“Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”
I do not know how many times I have read this passage. I know I have spoken about it many times, and each time I am just uncomfortable. The point of the parable is to pray and not lose heart. All to often, I looked at this passage and because Luke says, that it is about prayer I just assumed the roles.
This week however, I looked at this from a different perspective, the perspective of hospitality. The writer of James, tells us, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (James 1:27). Throughout scripture there is a similar theme, take care of the widow and orphan, treat the foreigner as if they were a countryman. Scripture focuses on these three categories because in any of the ancient societies these were the the people at risk. They had no property, and no hope.
Jesus tells us in this parable, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.”
I want us to imagine this character for a moment. What does it mean to neither fear God nor respect man? We know people like this, we are around them every day. They are the people who seek wealth and power above all else. They are the people that would lay off workers, to ensure that their profits exceed their expectations. They are the people that would tell a lie to your face, just to get you to agree to terms on a contract, and then change the terms as soon as you have invested too much to speak against it. Jesus speaks often about these types of people, he says to some, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.” (Matthew 23:2-4). He also says, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The people that do not fear God, nor respect men do not care about others. They will make demands, proclamations, and laws for others, but they themselves will live by a different set of rules. We see this locally, we see it nationally, and globally. We see this all over. The rich and the poor. Jesus says that the poor will always be among us. He says this because there will always be people within society that will use their power to exploit those that do not have power. They have power because they have the money and they have the strength to force others to do their bidding. And we let them because we want to be accepted.
The football star can get away with assault because we want the team to win. The CEO can send jobs to another country because the stock holders want the dividends. The judge that neither fears God nor respects man will sacrifice anyone and anything if it will get them what they want. They will overlook the most heinous crimes as long as they profit. “It shall not be so among you.” Jesus says.
Jesus continues his parable by introducing the second character. “And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’”
Remember, James told us that pure religion takes care of the widows and orphans. The righteous should take care of those that are being taken advantage of, they should encourage them, ensure they have access to the things that sustain life.
The widow was coming to the the judge to demand justice. She was coming before the one person that was supposed to ensure the law was to be followed. She plead before this judge not for vengeance, but justice. She wanted only what was due to her. We do not know exactly what the offense was against her. Maybe she was selling goods in the market and the adversary took possession of the product without making payment. Maybe the adversary lead to to believe that he would marry her, took a dowery, and then broke off the engagement. We do not know what was done to her, all we know is that the judge did not care.
The unrighteous judge may believe that the widow was wronged, but he could not be bothered to act. If he acted what might happen? Maybe this adversary was a wealthy member of society, offering jobs to many and if he were to make a ruling, what would happen to those that were employed by this individual? What if this particular adversary was in the position to serve within the government? If this man made a ruling it might hinder their opportunity. But this omission of justice continues to cause harm. It continues to perpetuate harm. They overlook this offense, then another, and another until the foundation of society is no longer based on justice and mutual profit, but instead this widow and everyone in that city is left to the whims of a judge that rules based on their own benefit.
The kingdoms of this world are all like this. The game monopoly teaches us this. Everyone is going around the board buying property, building houses and hotels hoping that one of the other players will land on their space so that they can charge them higher rent. And nearly every game of monopoly ends the same way, everyone is upset at each other, the game board is turned over and everyone is trying to find the scattered pieces, and one person has all the money.
Every kingdom of this world has the leaders that neither fear God nor respect man. The Holy Roman Empire, Great Britain, Iran, Russia, and even our own nation. Every nation has a ruling population and then there are those that have no voice. The ones that have no voice cry out for justice, and often those cries fall on deaf ears.
Jesus tells this parable to encourage us to always pray and not to lose heart.
“For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that sh will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”
The widow does not give up. She is aware of what is right and wrong. She is aware that in her situation she has been taken advantage of and she has had enough. She goes to the city gates every day to make her plea. She stands in a place where the judge cannot will always see her, and as he walks by she voices her cry for justice. Every day without fail if the judge is to sit in court, she is there.
The judge does not care about her situation, but what he does care about is optics. Everyone see him overlooking this woman. They see here there every day and they see that every day this judge is neglecting to hear her case. At first he was fine with his omission of justice, no one could fault him because he is a busy man. But eventually it becomes clear that this is no longer an omission of justice, but active neglect.
In society when the people see that the ruling class is purposefully disregarding their duty to justice, the people will begin to make greater demands. Eventually this miscarriage of justice will grow from one singular widow, to this widow and all of her friends, and their friends. Eventually the entire city is out at the gates demanding the judge to carry out justice for this woman. Eventually, it will get to a point where those that had no voice will amass and the shear number making demands will overwhelm the leaders.
This is not merely spiritual words, but this is historic reality. Some of you were alive during the civil rights movement, you saw what happens when those in authority continually neglect justice. The giants will fall.
Jesus uses this parable to encourage us to always pray and not to lose heart. He is telling us to consider the widow and the orphan, to consider the well being of the people within our community that are at a social disadvantage, and to be mindful of their concerns.
So often when pastors, including myself, read this passage we tell those around us that we should continue to pray. To just become a constant irritant to God about the things we believe we want and need, until God relents. That is not what Jesus is telling us. He is telling us that God will not let injustice stand forever. He is telling us that we should do everything possible to be advocates for justice and change within our community. We should be asking ourselves who is being hurt, and who profits? We should consider what we would do if the tables were turned.
This is not only a call to prayer, it is a call to ministry. God will give justice to them. God will come to the aid of those that call on his name day and night. But where will we be? Are we on the side of the adversary or the one from whom justice is denied?
I often hear the voices of my teachers, in a figurative manner. I hear them, I have conversations within my own mind as I process life. But at times the voices of those teachers are silent, because I do not know what they might say. This is where my grandpa would say, “Welp”. That meaningless word, is filled with meaning. We can sit around talking forever, but we have to start somewhere. What is the first step?
Justice begins when we listen. We help, we cannot even know how to pray, until we know what is going on. Our world is boiling in tension right now, but it is as if no one wants to listen, we think we have all the right answers but we do not even know the questions.
The next step is to pray. Prayer is not us dictating to God what should be done. Prayer is a conversation where God assists us as we wrestle through the problems we face. And as we wrestle with God, we receive the answer we were seeking. It is not always a new bike, or the promotion we wanted, but more often than not God gives us an answer by changing our perspective. And once our perspective has been corrected, we can then move forward.
I come to this passage today, and I realize that the point of it has been different than I had known before. I have grown in faith. I have noticed things that I was once blind to. I have pulled greater understanding as I have listened to the various teachers I have been blessed to have. And as I have looked at this passage, I have seen the reality of our current situation. Jesus ends this parable by saying, “I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Israel was living under oppression during these days. They longed for a king that would throw off the chains that were binding them. But what they failed to see was that many of those chains were self inflicted. In their efforts to be right, they were wrong, because they missed to point of the teaching. Are we loving God with all we are and all we have, and are we loving our neighbors as ourselves? Are we Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others, or are we neglecting justice?
As we enter into this time of open worship, I encourage you to stop and listen to the voices of the person you regard as the opponent, why are we in opposition? It is not a question of who is right and who is wrong. But is their justice? Is there faith on earth?
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (ESV) 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
October 12, 2025
Click Here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Luke 17:11–19 (ESV)
11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
Today’s passage is interesting in many ways. It is interesting because it shows how different the times are than today, but also how similar that ancient culture was.
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. The commentators say that for the next couple of chapters in Luke’s Gospel, he shares several Hebraisms. Luke is showing in the next few chapters that Jesus was being led to his final showdown in Jerusalem. He was walking into the greatest ideological and theological challenge Judah had ever encountered. Jesus was going to that area to challenge their understanding of life, and faith. He not only challenges them but he challenges us too.
Many people have like to say that Jesus was neutral in political positions. This is only partially true, because Jesus spent a great deal of energy challenging the traditional understandings of life with our fellow human beings, as well as our life with God. Jesus was very political, but Jesus made his dwelling among a people group that had little worldly power. He was born among a people living under occupation, where nearly all resources were being exported out of their country to feed the Imperial Capital. How do people without worldly power encourage change within a system like that?
We often feel as if we cannot do anything of value to encourage change within the wider system. I am just one person, and outside of our community no one really knows my name. This is the very type of situation that many within the first century found themselves. There were a few people with wealth. And there were many people from outside their culture, bringing in different languages and ideas. They felt helpless. They felt marginalized even though within their province they were the majority. Jesus was political, but how Jesus approached the powers of the world was different.
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, and he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.
I feel as if we do not fully understand the tension in that statement. How do we describe the generational conflict between two nations, or people groups, that from the outside seem to appear the same. Since we study scripture we are aware that there are differences between these places, when we read about them we can visualize or imagine this boarder as something like the differences between Mexico and our own nation. But there are difference between the United States and Mexico, we mainly speak different languages, we have different histories even though our nations occupy the same continent. And these differences exist because these nations had a different origin. Different nations colonized our lands, and although we have similar geographic locations.
Galilee and Samaria are not like this. They are both descendants of Israel. But at one point their paths divided. The people of Galilee and Judea look at those within Samaria with disdain because they were of mixed ancestry. How did this happen? Judah is not innocent in that. They made alliances with others to defeat their brothers. And they made this alliance because in their mind the ten tribes of Israel that made their capital in Samaria were apostate. They were apostate because they did not worship how they worshiped. They were apostate because they rebelled against the dynasty of David. And they were apostate. They did worship other gods than Yahweh. They did this, but so did Judah.
Samaria was hated because they rebelled. Galilee is a different story. They too were part of the Northern Kingdom, but some how they did not face the same discrimination as their brothers. Because the people of Galilee allied themselves with Judah after the exile, where Samaria opposed Judah. And the people of Galilee were often seen as hot headed because they were constantly trying to prove that they belonged. They became the most zealous, the most nationalistic, the most self-righteous.
How would we describe these people today? There really are no comparisons, but Samaria and Judah were like the North and the South during our civil war. Galilee, well it would be a state that saw that the tide of war was going the other direction so they went to the other side.
Jesus was walking to Jerusalem between Galilee and Samaria and was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance. Scripture often speaks of leprosy yet it remains a topic of great study. The word used for leprosy in Hebrew and in Greek point to a skin disease. This covered a broad range of conditions today, from Psoriasis, skin cancer, and leprosy. When ever there was a skin discoloration, the individual was to go to priest and have the priest examine the skin. They would observe the lesion, and place them in isolation for seven days. Then after seven days the priest would look again, and the individual would be place in isolation for an additional seven days. After two weeks, the priest would again observe the lesion, and if the lesion went away or remained the same the person was considered clean. If the lesion grew during that time, the person was pronounced unclean and was required to move outside of the camp to remain in isolation until the lesion had disappeared. If it did disappear, the individual would be required to go back to the priest, perform cleansing rites, and offer scarifies to be accepted back into the community. This happened with any skin disease, during that time. Imagine going through puberty during that era of history.
There was a spiritual significance to this. The idea was that the impurity of the soul was leaching out to the surface. They believed that those with leprosy were so sinful in secret that God had to step marking that person physically. Those that were declared unclean would live in colonies away from others. They were required to wear torn clothing and their hair must remain uncut, to mark them as unclean and in mourning. When they walked out of the encampment they were required to wear a covering over their upper lip, and cry out “Unclean, unclean,” to alert anyone of their presence. They were basically considered the walking dead. Living testaments of life opposing God.
These of course were the laws of Moses, leprosy occurred in other nations also. With each culture there were similar requirements. There was a practice of quarantine, of isolation because everyone knew that if people remained within the community the disease could spread. It is interesting though that many of these recommendations remain the basic recommendations for containing disease today. We isolate people in a special place, usually a hospital, and we often encourage those that have an illness to cover their nose and mouth to limit the spread of the pathogen. I do not want to get into that debate again, of course it does not eliminate the risk, but it can limit the risk.
These ten lepers, were isolated, they lived yet were regarded as dead. They did not feel the human touch, no one washed their wounds, no one cut or combed their hair. They felt and looked like a monster. This was their life. And they saw Jesus and cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
I want you to imagine that for a moment. Every adolescent feels like an alien trapped within their own body, because they are growing faster than their mind can keep up. We feel awkward and hideous. Our moods go from one extreme to the other, and no one understands us and we do not understand anyone else. Or on the other end of life’s course. You were once able to run, jump, play football or soccer. You were once able to manage laundry, a meal, and clean the house with children running under your feet. You were once able to stay up all night with your friends and wake up in the morning and work your shift. Now you have trouble with stairs. Your back goes out when you sneeze. Or you see all these faces and hear stories and you know that you were there but you cannot remember.
We feel this. We have a basic understanding of what they might feel emotionally. Now multiply that a thousand times. Every person you meet, you have to cry out as loud as you can, “Unclean, Unclean” and you watch them run away. You walk by your family’s house and you cannot go in. You smell the once familiar aromas of your favorite meal and you cannot share it with anyone. You must remain isolated until you skin clears. Day after day. Night after night you cry out to God, and nothing seems to change. All hope is lost. And you heard about Jesus, you see him walking and you run as well as you can so you can cry out to him.
You want to believe, you want to hope, but deep within you you know that in this society you have no rights. You brace yourself for the inevitable stone that will soon fly toward you. You prepare to walk away, but just as a sigh begins, your breath catches. The man looks at you.
Luke tells us that Jesus saw them. Jesus knew them, he recognized and understood what they were experiencing and feeling in that moment. The idea of “He saw them” does not simply mean that he turned his head looking in their general direction. It instead implies that Jesus knew them deeply. He did not stop on the surface, but he saw the humanity beneath the skin, he saw their hearts. And in that moment he told them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”
He did not touch them, he did not pray over them, or spit on the ground to make mud to smear over their bodies. He told them to go show themselves to the priests. He told them that they should simply walk over to the nearest synagogue and have the priest look at their skin.
All ten individuals went. They all began to walk toward the place of worship to do what the law required of them. As they walked they were cleansed. With each step they took the lesions that were once their identity began to disappear until they were renewed completely. They all walked.
Do you know the amount of faith those lepers had? In most stories of Jesus’ healings there is some physical component. Those individuals knew that Jesus could heal them in that manner, but could he do so with mere words? The doubt that could have entered their minds is immense. Yet they walked.
Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.
This is where most pastors place their focus. They will often say that this tenth man had the faith, but that is not true, all of them walked. They all had faith. They had more faith than I have because I do not know if I would have had enough faith to cry out in the first place.
Most pastors will look at this tenth man and say be like him. And I am right there with them. We should respond like he did. But I do not want us to forget about the other nine.
What did they do? They did what is right. They followed the rules. Their faith, their religious observance was such that they knew that they had to go to the priest first, because until they had spoken with they priest they could not be declared clean.
We can be right and still be wrong. We can have all the right answers and completely miss the point.
There was nothing incorrect with the response of the nine former lepers. They did what was required of them. They fulfilled their duty and would be accepted back within the community.
The tenth man however, is different. He turned back. He returned. He repented. And as he repented he no longer cried out “Unclean, Unclean.” Instead he praised God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet giving him thanks.
I want you to picture this in your mind. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and he is walking along the border between Galilee and Samaria. Due to the hostility between those groups, people did not make that journey without a multitude to provide protection in number. As people journeyed to Jerusalem through Samaria, it was not uncommon for bandits to meet them along the road demanding payment or death. There were witnesses to this event. Everyone within the group were taken aback when a group of ten lepers cried out. And they saw how Jesus responded.
They watched as the lepers walked away, an they heard the loud praises of this tenth man as he came running back. And they watched as this man fell at Jesus’ feet praising him.
There is much to this story. One thing I think is important is that Jesus did not tell the man to stop worshiping him. He accepted the praise, and he did this in view of all people. The second thing is that the man that returned was a Samaritan. Everyone within the crowd hated this man simply because he was born in the wrong place. Yet that man had faith that Jesus could bring healing. And he walked with the rest of Israel to go to the priest. He walked to the priest knowing that he would likely be rejected at the door, and yet he walked.
The third thing that is important is that Jesus accepted the foreigner. This goes along with our retreat theme this year on hospitality. Hospitality is found throughout scripture. Hospitality is to welcome, be generous, and gracious to others. Usually within scripture God commands us to show hospitality to the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner. The distinctions are made because within that society those were the most vulnerable of all people. When a woman becomes a widow often she has lost everything because in most ancient societies all property was held by men. I am not saying that is right or wrong. It is just the way things were. And because that is how things were when a husband died, all of the property was given to that man’s heir. Maybe the woman had a son, and that son would care for his mother like his father had done before him. But what happened if the woman did not have a son, then the husband’s property would go to the next closest male relative. This essentially leaves the woman and any of her young children homeless and destitute. Again with orphans they have no property because everything within the household belonged to the father. If the child had not come of age prior to his death even though he may have a right to the property, he was not able to claim that property until he became a man. Society would give the land to the closest male relative to hold in trust for the orphan, but what if the man wanted to keep the land? An orphan has no say in their life, as their advocate has died. They could be sold into slavery, shipped off to some distant place to be forgotten. And no one would challenge it because they did not have rights. Now the foreigner, the foreigner in ancient cultures did not have property, they did not have family, they were there with nothing. They left their home for reasons unknown, and now they are here among us. The teaching of God is that we should treat the foreigner as if they were one of our own.
Jesus sent these ten men of faith to the priests restored to health. And the foreigner was the only one to turn back to praise God. The other nine were all doing the right thing, yet they are not fully correct. They were following the letter of the law, but only the foreigner was able to see the heart of God’s teaching. That man had no place with the priests as he was a foreigner, he had no claim and nowhere to go. He recognized that the priest that could declare him clean was only found in Jesus.
Jesus that day healed ten people. And only one of them saw the fullness of what happened. It is the foreigner that can teach us to see the rich love and mercy God has for us. It is the person outside of ourselves that can show us the grace God has. And when we welcome the foreigner, we are able to participate in the hospitality that God has given to us.
We are living in a time where the tension around us resembles the tension of Samaria and Galilee. And each of us at times feel as if we are strangers living within our own bodies. We look at the world and we do not quite see what we used to see. Things have changed and they are different. We feel as if we are rejected and ridiculed on all sides. Turn back to Christ. Turn back to the one that shows mercy and grace. Place our focus not on what is going on around us because nine were right and still wrong. But it was the one that turned back praising God that was brought back into the community that day. Rise and go your way today, have faith that God will take what is unclean, hopeless, and dead around us and restore it to life.
