SHOW YOURSELF TO THE PRIEST

Luke 17:14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.

Heb. 4:13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Go show yourself to the priests, “He must be kidding” the lepers murmured among themselves. Suddenly, one took off toward the temple and the rest were in hot pursuit. Then it happened, as they were running the power of God came upon them, the leprosy was gone. All ten of the lepers had been healed. That’s when the story gets good, one stopped in his tracks, turned back toward the village, and ran as fast as his legs would carry him back to the feet of Jesus. He got it. Why go to the ceremonial priests when the Great High Priest was right there. Jesus didn’t have the robes and the air of self importance like most preachers have, He was cloaked in humility, yet He was authentic. He was the High Priest that all others just shadowed. He was going to show himself to the heavenly High Priest. Here are some thoughts from Spurgeon on the spiritual insight of the leper who turned back.

“But love soon perceives that the substance is more precious than the shadow and to bow at the feet of the great High Priest must be a greater duty than to go before the lesser priests. So the healed leper went first to Jesus. In Him, the spiritual overrode the ceremonial. He felt that his main duty was in person to adore the divine person Who had delivered him from his fell disease. Let us go first to Jesus. Let us in spirit bow before Him. Ah, yes! Come to our services, join in our regular worship; but if you love the Lord, you will want something besides this; you will pine to get to Jesus Himself, and tell Him how you love Him. You will long to do something for Him by yourself, by which you can show forth the gratitude of your heart to the Christ of God.”

I can’t get those words out of my head, “Go show yourself to the Priest”. Actually, that’s a great way to start the day, go show yourself to the Priest this morning. As you do you too will experience the cleansing and healing power of the Lord.