THE FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING (LUKE 17:11-19)
An English proverb says, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” It’s a sad fact of life and sad commentary on life that people are likely to take advantage of those they work with, associate with, and live with.
The following are nine suggested reasons why the nine lepers Jesus healed in Luke 17 did not return to thank Him:
One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy.
One said he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, “O, well, Jesus didn’t really do anything.”
One said, “Any rabbi could have done it.”
One said, “I was already much improved.”
(Charles L. Brown, The Newsletter, June, 1990, p. 3.)
When Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, nine Jewish lepers and a lone Samaritan leper stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” Lepers were society’s hidden outcasts. They were dreaded, avoided, and rejected by healthy people. The Samaritans were descendants of transplanted foreigners who married the local Israelites that remained in Samaria after the city fell to the Assyrians in 722-721 B.C. (2 Kings 17:23-24). Jesus healed all ten of them physically, but only one – a foreigner, a Samaritan, and a Jewish outcast - was visibly, emotionally, and instantaneously touched by what Jesus had done for Him and returned to thank Him.
What does God expect from those who have requested and received help from Him? How does a person show appreciation to God for what He has done? What are the three indispensable actions that characterized, communicated, and confirmed a changed life?
Praise God Powerfully
11Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. (Lk 17:11-15)
When Warren Wiersbe first toured England with his wife, they visited St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, one of the great Cathedrals in the world, also known as the site of the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. They were struck with the exquisite, rich, and meticulous design of the church. His wife asked the guide, “Why was this building built?” Without hesitation, the guide answered, “To the glory of God, of course.” (Real Worship 132, Warren Wiersbe)
The famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach often put three letters S D G to his music composition, meaning Soli (alone) Deo (God) Gloria (glory) or “God’s glory alone”
The word glory in Greek doxa is the first syllable for the word doxology. We praise God because from Him all blessings flow. He is the Source, the Fount, the Giver of life, blessings, and prosperity (Ps 133:3, 128:2). God has set His glory above the heavens (Ps 8:1, 113;4), over all the earth (Ps 57:5, 72;19 108:5), and among the nations (Ezek 39:21).
God’s glory cannot be shared, obscured, or denied. That’s why we sing, “All Glory to You,” or “You alone are worthy...” Rom 11:36 says it even more eloquently: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever!” As John Charles Ryle said, “All that we have is a loan from God.”
To glorify God is to give, bring or return honor and praise to Him and His name. Consequently, the NIV substituted the paraphrase “praising”“ for the word “glorifying.” Glorifying God is an immediate, a proper, and a mandatory act.
The Samaritan did not wait, hesitate or fail to glorify God the moment he noticed he was healed. No normal individual in the Bible verbalized, shouted, or brought praise to God in a louder voice than the Samaritan. The adjective “loud” in verse 15 is “mega” in Greek. Other than the Samaritan, Jesus had encountered only four other similar instances of loud voices raised in His presence. The other loud outbursts were always from a group effort, and never a solo and sane effort. Two featured abnormal demon-possessed men (Mark 5:7-9, Luke 8:28) and the other two were group efforts featuring the disciples’ loud hosannas in the streets (Luke 19:37) and the crowd’s cries for Jesus’ head (Luke 23:23).
This Samaritan did what no recorded sane individual or mere mortal had done with his voice before Jesus; he heaped praise to God liberally, continuously, and noisily. He was literally a one-man band, a solo artist doing his one-foot kick show. With lungs rivaling a chorus and with inspiration from extraordinary means, he raised the roof and pumped up the noise to draw attention to Jesus and thrust the spotlight on Him.
Of course, the Samaritan had much practice. Before, he had to continually use his voice to warn others he met of his leprosy. Now that he was healed, he really had no reason to shout but he shouted louder than he ever did before! In fact, his solo act covered perfectly the voice of a ten-man choir that could have been but not meant to be when the other nine disappeared. The Samaritan did not develop memory loss, change his tune, or lower his voice even when he got nearer to Jesus!
Praise God Practically
16He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him-and he was a Samaritan. (Lk 17:16)
The Chinese have a saying that meant, “Remember the source of the water when you drink.”
A friend sent me an email that urges recipients to cultivate an attitude of thankfulness:
“If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend church meetings without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion in the world.
And if your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare.”
Do you know the Samaritan’s thanksgiving is the only recorded thanks from an individual to Jesus in his earthly ministry? The Gospels recorded only eleven instances of the Greek verb “thank.” Nine occurrences were Jesus’ own thanksgiving to God the Father: four before feeding the crowd (Matt 15:35, Mark 8:6, John 6:11, 6:23), four before conducting the Lord’s Supper (Matt 26:27, Mark 14:23, Luke 22:17, 19), and once before raising Lazarus (John 11:41-42). The tenth “thanking” reference was an unacceptable thanksgiving from the mouth of the fictional and hypocritical Pharisee in Jesus’ parable (Luke 18:11). Shocking but true, the only known human to have expressed thanks to Jesus when he was on earth came from a despised Samaritan (Luke 17:16)! That’s why the parable of the Good Samaritan was so controversial. Others had returned or remained to talk to him, speak for him, or even stay with him, but only the Samaritan articulated his gratitude. Many individuals in the Gospels had felt grateful or glorified God but none thanked Jesus personally.
The nine Jewish lepers did not thank him as a group or individuals. All they could think about was the appointment at the temple, the pronouncement of the law, and the certification from the priest. Maybe they were thinking about the things they could do, the people they could see, and the life they could live when they return to their families, community and even jobs. They had other priorities, numerous options, and endless possibilities, therefore bypassing the opportunity to meet, know and befriend their benefactor. The blessing of the up-close and personal and face-to-face encounter and experience with their Healer did not materialize because the nine did not come any closer to Him and had not taken a step more after they were made whole. In fact, they were farther in distance to Jesus geographically or emotionally after they were healed than before they were! To add slight to sight, they did not even have the courtesy to ask the Samaritan to thank Jesus on their behalf or bother enough to ask where the Samaritan was going.
While thanking Jesus does not require fancy words, involve complicated procedures, or affect your wallet, it does require sincere effort, involve real time, and include heartfelt appreciation. The Samaritan leper threw himself facedown at Jesus’ feet (v 16), saying little with his mouth and lips but meaning much in his heart and soul. The Greek text says he “fell on his face at Jesus’ feet.” Other instances of bowing before Jesus, from Jairus (Lk 8:41) and Mary (John 11:32) to the disciples, were either a simple “falling facedown to the ground” or “falling at Jesus’ feet.” The disciples fell facedown to the ground but not at His feet (Matt 17:6-8) and Jairus and Mary fell at Jesus’ feet but never facedown, but the Samaritan did a little more; In fact, he did both: he “fell “on his face at Jesus feet.” He was down on his knees, laid on the floor, and flat on his face. Normal people would not understand this foreign leper’s present feelings or past suffering.
The greatest virtues in life are a humble heart, an upright heart, and a thankful heart.
The Samaritan had much to thank Jesus for. Jesus not only healed him, but advised him how to live and blessed him on his way. The Samaritan did not ask directly for healing – he asked for mercy - but Jesus did more and healed him. Jesus even told him who to see, what to do, and when to go. He cared for the lepers’ certification by the priests more than appreciation for Himself. Further, Jesus presented a more balance and healthy picture of Samaritan society.
Praise God Personally
17Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” (Lk 17:17-19)
A highly-publicized landmark court ruling in Japan at the new millennium mandated the Japanese government to pay $15 million to 127 plaintiffs for the government’s discriminatory Leprosy Prevention Law that was enacted in 1907. New York Times commented on the case: “Despite popular belief, it is not possible to contract leprosy simply by touching someone who has the disease, which is spread by a bacterium. Once contracted, leprosy attacks the nervous system; untreated, it causes severe deformities. Hands and feet uncurl inward, hair disappears, the nose collapses and flattens, the lips droop. The face often resembles that of a lion. Many of the deformities are the result of a loss of feeling from nerve damage. Patients without a sense of pain or pressure do not notice burns, cuts or bruises, or attend to the pressure sores caused by the disease.” (New York Times 7/5/01 “After 90 Years, Small Gestures of Joy for Lepers”)
On the religious side, the Mosaic law requires that the person with an infectious skin disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, `Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone and he must live outside the camp. (Lev 13:45-46).
The Samaritan not only praised God powerfully and practically, he also experienced Jesus closely for Himself. He returned not because he did not require certification from a priest - he did just as the nine did. Though the Samaritans rejected much of the Old Testament, they accepted the five books of Moses as authentic, where the cleansing instructions came from.
The personal pronouncement from the local priest had to wait and defer to the greater personal pronouncement from the Great High Priest (Heb 4:14). Unfortunately, the nine Jewish lepers only saw, heard, and experienced Jesus from a distance. Jesus had also saw, communicated, and knew them from afar. How far? Jesus used the same word in a story about the wisdom of a weaker king who sent a delegation to ask for terms of peace from a stronger king who was still a long way off (Luke 14:31-33). More importantly, they missed the blessed opportunity of meeting Jesus the last time before He embarked to Jerusalem. They only met outwardly, officially, formally, but never closely, directly, and personally. Only the Samaritan had the up close, upfront, updated relationship with Jesus.
The nine Jewish lepers were close, and yet so far. The lepers were alike, and yet so unlike. Jesus was pleased with the foreigner, but saddened with his own. People can be so passionate with words to Him before a healing but yet so cold in deed after a miracle; so dependent one instance, and independent the next; and here without hesitation, gone without thinking. The Jews professed Jesus as their Master (v 13), but they were not willing to stay, learn, or fellowship. Jesus did not regret their departure for no reason. They could have heard his voice, learned his instructions and asked him questions firsthand for themselves.
Sadly, we want the gift, but not the Giver; the healing, and not the Healer; the kingdom, but not the King. We forget the source when we possess the power; we forget to live the victorious life the moment we have eternal life; we forget the key once we opened the door;
Conclusion: Leprosy ravages, disfigures, and punishes the body but amnesia ravages, disfigures, and punishes the heart, mind, and character. Ingratitude is an ugly disease in the Lord’s eyes because we take Him for granted, downplay His work, and mute our response to Him. Do you give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and His wonderful deeds? For his righteousness and his faithfulness to all generations? The Bible reminds to be thankful for God has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities (Ps. 103:10). Is your attitude any different when you request help and receive help? Are you the 90% with severe amnesia or the 10% with total recall? Are you 10%, 90% or 110% thankful?
Victor Yap
Other sermons in the series and other sermon series:
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