A Samaritan: With a loud voice
God’s People on Mission
A Samaritan: With a loud voice
I have to begin this illustration by setting the record straight. Our girls would never have done this, because when they were little, they were perfect angels. But I have witnessed those poor unfortunate parents, normally mothers, who have had to deal with their pre-school child shouting or screaming at the top of their lungs in the shopping centre while everyone watches on. Who’d have thought that someone so little could make so much noise, right?
The poor mum tries to placate their child, or discipline them, or simply find a hole somewhere to crawl into and hide.
When someone employs their loud voice in public, it is rarely a good thing. A warning of danger, a sad domestic situation, or maybe, as in the earlier example, a small child who is completely focused on themselves and what they want, paying no attention as to how uncomfortable they are making their mother feel.
Maybe that is why I was so captivated as I looked at a story that I have probably read hundreds of times. I realised as I was reading that the person at the centre of the encounter, whose name we don’t know, his identity is only that he was a Samaritan – but he employed his ‘loud voice.’ And I’d never noticed that before. Had you?
Then as (Jesus) 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!” (Luke 17:12-13)
Here we read that they lifted their voices, that’s not the loud voice yet, stay with me:
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. (Luke 17:14-16)
Luke makes it clear that the healed Samaritan didn’t just come up and politely say thanks. Nor did he stand off and shout from a distance like he might have been used to doing when he would cry out ‘Unclean, Unclean’ because he had been a leper.
With a loud voice he glorified God, and he fell at Jesus feet and gave Him thanks. He was not afraid of making a scene, and no one else who was in the company seemed to be uncomfortable with his praise – certainly not Jesus.
It makes me wonder, when was the last time – or maybe I should say – when ever, have I used my loud voice to glorify God. Maybe it is a cultural thing, and that’s ok if it is – but I guess what I’m challenged with, and would like us to consider today, is: it is right and necessary for us to publicly lift our voices and glorify God without any thought or concern for who might hear us, and what they might think.
And I guess it is the same when it comes to prayer. Now I know I’m pretty used to praying publicly. But I suspect that more often than I’m comfortable to admit, I’m too concerned with who else is listening to my prayer, rather than simply focusing on the One to whom I’m talking.
I know it is right, and good, for us to consider what we say, that we might pray Biblically – I get that. But I’m challenged, especially when it comes to praise, glorifying God, and giving thanks – that we ought to be less concerned with the watching ‘audience’ and just lift our voices to the One who deserves every ounce of praise and glory and thanksgiving that we can muster.
Maybe the best example I can think of is my Grandma – who, even in the middle of a shopping centre, or a different conversation, or just going about her day – would talk about and to our Heavenly Father, almost as if she was totally oblivious of what anyone else thought – and I suspect that possibly she was. I find that both refreshing and challenging.
What about you – do you think we should use our ‘loud voice’ a little more often?
