College and Career: July- September 2021

By R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation

College and Career is a young adult quarterly study guide directed toward students and young adults as they venture into the world of higher education and work. This quarterly is designed for young adults and stresses the issues and concerns of young Christians. The lessons are both challenging and rewarding, and they address current day issues within society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
• Release date: Jun 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781681678320

Book preview

Focal Scripture: Leviticus 13:45–46; Luke 17:11–19 • Background Scripture: Leviticus 13–14; Luke 5:12–16; 17:11–19

LET’S GET STARTED

Communities sometimes isolate people that have conditions that threaten their quality of life. The desire for survival often leads to categorizing people based on their physical condition. However, Jesus gives us an example of God’s love for all people, regardless of their physical or mental condition. Jesus was confronted by ten people with leprosy, a disease that had no known cure and required that those who had it be isolated from the community in a leper’s camp. The disease was destructive not only to a person’s health, but it made them outcast from the larger society. Jesus was not deterred by their condition, but gave them a new hope that they could rejoin the community.

Remember This...

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God.

(Luke 17:15, KJV)

Additional Resource

Boyd’s Commentary for the Sunday School

Get into the Lesson

1. THE UNCLEAN LIVES IN ISOLATION

(LEVITICUS 13:45–46)

Leviticus is an account of how the children of Israel lived together in a community. The book contains laws that addressed every area of life that the community had to deal. Chapters 13 and 14 address the disease called leprosy. Leprosy was a skin disease that affected different parts of the body. In those days, there was no known cure for the disease. Since there was no known cure, the community treated the symptoms.

Our passage tells us about the methods used to diagnose the disease. Those that had symptoms that raised the possibility of the presence of disease were isolated from the majority of society. They lived alone in quarantine until evidence was presented that the symptoms did not come from the disease itself. However, the affected person remained quarantined and isolated with other lepers until the priest inspected the affected person, and declared that person to be clean before they were allowed to rejoin the community. There were strict protocols to be followed to identify the person with leprosy. These included the clothes they wore, shaven heads, and the lip coverings. The leper must avoid contact with other people by crying out their condition as unclean.

There are no places or people off limits to God’s love!

Diseases in which there are no known cures still exist in our world today. We have an advantage today over the people of Israel in biblical times. We have more advanced treatments that help to minimize the effects of the disease. Cancer is a disease that, once upon a time, caused fear in most people. People stricken with it were often ostracized because it was unknown and more often led to death. HIV/AIDS still remains a dreaded disease despite better treatments that help to prolong life. Yet, there are people that avoid prolonged contact with others that have the disease because they fear it is contagious. In contemporary times, to avoid the dreaded infectious disease called COVID-19, people are asked to quarantine, practice social distancing, and wear mask to protect themselves and others. The negative side of community isolation is the belief that the presence of disease in one’s life is always associated with the practice of sin and therefore is the judgment of God upon a person. Job’s friend came to this conclusion and ostracized Job for it. However, they were wrong to jump to this conclusion as affirmed at the end of the book. On the other hand the text bears out that God can and does use all events and occurrences to fulfill His purpose, even dreaded diseases. However, it is not up to humanity to decide when and where God is using such happenings, but to express faith in the goodness and mercy of God to bring us through. The Leviticus text is simply explaining how dreadful a disease leprosy was and the Israelites method of handling it. They used isolation and social distancing to protect the masses from being infected and developing into a nation wide pandemic. Its very presence in the Old Testament points to a better and more complete remedy that would come in the ministry of Jesus Christ, which the next section of study emphasizes. In short when human resolutions fail to achieve redemptive purposes, Jesus offers a better way. The Leviticus text ends with the emphases on the leper on the outside of the camp separated from society, loved ones, family and friends. It ends with the leper carrying the stigma of total rejection–rejection by God (as the believed cause of the disease was some sinful act) and rejection by the community (who protected itself in fear of catching it). Watch what Jesus does!

2. THE SAMARITAN GIVES THANKS AND PRAISE

(LUKE 17:11–19)

Jesus has been ministering in Galilee. He knows that the time is near that He must go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). In Jerusalem, He will be falsely accused by the religious leaders. According to God’s plan, He will be crucified for the sins of the world (9:21–22). John the Baptist has identified Him, saying, Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John. 2:29, NRSV). Jesus is on a mission. He has a destination in mind, but there is work to be done as He makes His way to Jerusalem.

Jesus comes to a region located between Galilee and Samaria. He enters a village, and ten lepers come toward Him. Because of their diseased condition, they know that they are unclean. They know that the Law and society’s rules require them to keep their distance from other people. It is their duty to tell other people to keep their distance by saying, Unclean. At this point, we need to look at two things that are significant to this story. First, Jesus plans to go into the region of Samaria (9:52). Jesus is a Jew, and typically, Jews do not travel through Samaria. The Samaritans are a mixed-race group of people who