Consider The Stranger

Luke 17:12-18

12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

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

16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. (KJV)

I have preached from this passage many times & I have heard many sermons preached by others from this passage. But it has always been about the fact that the other 9 didn’t return. Tonight I want to look more at the one that did.

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We all know the story. There are 10 lepers who upon seeing Jesus, cry out to Him for mercy. Basically, they wanted their lives back. They wanted healing. To most in that day, leprosy meant that there was some sort of sin in their lives. They were literally viewed as being cursed by God. They were ceremonially unclean; unfit for the Kingdom of God. They wanted to be relieved of the curse!

Notice Jesus’ reaction. He doesn’t tell them they’re healed. He doesn’t even tell them, “Go & sin no more & be whole of thy plague.” No! He simply tells them to go & show themselves to the priests.

I) Their Faith

The only way for someone with leprosy to be accepted back into society was for the priests to declare him clean. But wait!!! Did you notice the faith of these 10 lepers?

They had no indication or sign that they were healed, yet upon hearing these words from Jesus, they immediately set off to show the priests. They weren’t healed yet! How do you know? Look at vs. 14 the second half.

Luke 17:14

14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. (KJV)

They got their healing on the way to the priests! They had the faith to believe that before they would get to the priests, the manifestation would take place!

Now let’s look at vs. 15.

Luke 17:15

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

II) With a Loud Voice

I know that there is a time to cry & weep before the Lord & there is a time to be still before Him. However, when God does the miraculous in your life that’s a good time to SHOUT!!!

This man wasn’t quiet about what had happened to him. He didn’t want to keep it to himself!!! He wanted everyone to know what the Lord had done.

I wonder if he might not have been singing, “Look what the Lord has done. He healed my body…”

Most translations say, “… with a loud voice…” but look at these translations.

Luke 17:15

15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, "Praise God!" (NLT)

Luke 17:15

15 One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. (THE MESSAGE)

Somebody said, “Why do you have to be so loud, God’s not deaf?” NO!!! But He’s not nervous either!!!

Has God done something for you? SHOUT HIS PRAISES!!! Did you notice that Jesus didn’t tell him he was too loud? In fact, Jesus just let him continue praising while He addressed His comments to the disciples.

It’s OK to be loud in your praising!!!

One of the Hebrew words for praise is Shabach. It means to shout in praise. Another one is Hallul. It means to boast; to be clamorously foolish.

We have a reason to get loud!

Then we read…

Luke 17:16-18

16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. (KJV)

III) He Was a Samaritan & a Stranger

We gather from this passage that the other 9 may have been Jews, but he was a Samaritan.

Simply put, Samaritans were idolaters.

2 Kings 17:41

41 So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day. (KJV)