ONE IN TEN
Luke 17:11-19
This Thursday is Thanksgiving, a national holiday set aside for the specific purpose of giving thanks to God for all that He has done for us as individuals and as a nation. Most Americans will spend it gathered around a table in a loved one’s or good friend’s home enjoying vast amounts of food. The afternoon will be spent either in front of the television, playing with little ones, or planning Christmas shopping routes in order to get the best deals the following day.
Some people will spend time volunteering in bread lines or at homeless shelters or even out on the streets serving warm meals to those who have no home or family to spend this Thanksgiving holiday with. Others will be on the front lines of our nation’s conflicts, protecting our country’s interests and safety far from home and loved ones. Many will stop for a moment and take some time to remember what they are thankful for, but few will remember Who it is they should be thanking.
I’m all for Thanksgiving, for showing appreciation, counting my blessings. But if you want my opinion, I believe Thanksgiving is a holy day that should be spent in church focusing on the source of our gratitude instead of lounging around in ignorant ungrateful bliss, or planning how to spend God-given resources filling up our God-given homes with more stuff which we won’t remember to thank God for providing us with, and instead will find its way into a dumpster before next Thanksgiving.
We are a nation of plenty that has become careless, prideful, and willfully ignorant of the source of our plenty. We possess critical and complaining spirits. Griping about every inconvenience or hardship that comes are way. We are more than ready to blame God for allowing trials in our lives, but very few are willing to stop and praise Him for all the good things, which far outweigh the bad.
Our Scripture lesson this morning talks about ten men who had the opportunity and privilege to praise and thank Christ face-to-face and yet only one man took advantage of that chance. And ultimately only one out of ten found complete and total healing. Read with me our Scripture passage for today, Luke 17:11-19:
“Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. [12] As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance [13] and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” [14] When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed. [15] One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. [16] He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan. [17] Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? [18] Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ [19] Then he said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’”
I. The Story
Let’s break our passage down and see what treasure God has for us in His Word. Verse 11 says, “Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.”
This was to be Jesus’ last trip from the Galilee area where He grew up to Jerusalem where He was going to be executed. He was leaving His hometown for the last time and would not return before His death.
Now this was a three-day journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. And to get to the capital city the Jews had to pass through Samaria. The Samaritans, however, were not friendly to such travelers. They were in fact often hostile and refused to give them overnight shelter. Because of this, Jews would often cross over to the east side of the Jordan River to avoid traveling through Samaria, but Jesus did not.
Though the Bible does not give us a clear reason as to why Jesus travelled through Samaria, I believe the reason has to do with His message that He had come to save all mankind, not just the Jews. And while traveling along this three-day journey Christ is teaching the entire time. In fact, one of the parables he teaches is the one on the Good Samaritan.
Then verses 12 and 13 tell us, “As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance [13] and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
So as Jesus and his disciples are travelling along they get to the outskirts of a village. We don’t know what village, or exactly where it was, but it was somewhere along the path to Jerusalem. And as they approach ten men with leprosy see them coming.
These men know who Jesus is. They know that at the very least he is a healer and a teacher. Perhaps they even had foreknowledge that Jesus would be coming along that road, because a few chapters earlier in Luke we find that Jesus had sent 72 disciples to the villages and towns before him on this journey to heal the sick and tell them that the Kingdom of God was near (Luke 10:1-11). And when these ten men, these lepers see Jesus and his disciples coming they call out and ask for healing as well.
Now notice that they stay at a distance from everyone. This is due to an ancient Mosaic law that commands lepers to live apart from other people. Leprosy was a skin ailment and it was highly contagious. Therefore, these lepers were commanded to live away from other people so that they did not infect anyone else. This command is found in Leviticus 13:45-46, “The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ [46] As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.” It can also be found in Numbers 5:2-4.
So here are these poor souls, stricken with a painful infectious disease and made to live apart from family and friends and any other human contact so that they don’t infect anyone else. They are desperate and they call out from a distance in warning so that no one will get too close. But they are calling out for help, for healing, for Jesus to have mercy on them.
Then in verse 14 we read, “When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed.”
Now showing yourself to a priest was the normal procedure in the Mosaic law after one was cured from leprosy (Leviticus 13:2-3; 14:2-32). The priest was to examine the skin for certain signs of the disease and if the person met certain requirements he could be declared clean and allowed to return to the community. So when Jesus said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests,” He was in essence saying, “You are healed.”
Another thing we should notice here is the faith of these ten men. The Bible doesn’t say anything about them questioning Jesus’ command. They didn’t pause and wonder that all He did was tell them to go to the priests. They just turned and started to the priests. This shows faith on their part. They had faith that Jesus would heal them, and He did. And soon as they obeyed, they were healed, cleansed from their disease.
But then we get the rest of the story in verses 15-19, “One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. [16] He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan. [17] Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? [18] Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ [19] Then he said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’”
All ten lepers were healed, but only one said, “Thank you.” All ten had faith in Jesus’ healing powers. But only one showed his gratitude. Nine Jews continued on their way to the priests to be deemed fit to return to their families. Their thoughts were on the miracle that had occurred, the next steps they must take to be deemed clean, and what it would be like to live with loved ones and be accepted back into society. Their minds were on themselves and on the world.
But one Samaritan, as far as we know, the only non-Jew or person of mixed race among them, had his mind and heart in the right place. I imagine this Samaritan was just as eager to return to his family and culture. He probably couldn’t wait to be welcomed home with open arms. We have no idea how long any of them had painfully suffered from not only the disease but the loneliness of being cut off from other people.
But this man knew that he wouldn’t have been healed at all if it wasn’t for the mercy and compassion of Jesus Christ. He returned to praise and thank Him for the blessing of being made whole. And notice because of his gratitude, that one foreigner received something the other nine did not.
Jesus told him that his faith made him well. Some people find that confusing, because they know that the other nine lepers were also made well. But in this case Jesus is not referring to their physical health, but this man’s spiritual health. You see all ten had faith in Christ to physically heal them, and they were all healed physically. But one man praised God and thanked Him and Jesus took it a step further. He forgave the man of his sin and healed him spiritually as well. All were healed, but only one in ten was saved.
II. Application
As I thought about this passage I began to wonder what Jesus was saying to us in the modern world. To be thankful for our blessings and gifts from God is obvious. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). That is easy to see – of course we should be thankful.
But I realized that even though nine of the lepers did not thank God, they were still healed. So, that told me that God doesn’t need thanks in order to perform marvelous works and miracles in our lives. We don’t even have to be believers and God might work a miracle in our life.
This story showed me that God didn’t need our thanks. That He didn’t need the recognition that comes from gratitude. The fact that nine of the ten lepers didn’t thank Him for their healing didn’t change God or Christ or Christ’s mission or His love for them at all.
What God is showing us in this passage is that the one who shows gratitude and thankfulness is the one who benefits most.
You see, God didn’t need a thank you. But the man who praised Him and gave Him thanks received salvation – a blessing beyond what he had asked for or could probably had ever imagined. He benefited most by giving thanks to God and praising and worshipping at His feet.
Today, especially in America, a land of plenty, there are many people just like those nine healed lepers. They may not even be saved, but they have received so much from God (health, food, shelter, warmth, healing, education, etc.). They are on the receiving end of so many miracles, they probably couldn’t begin to count them. And on Thursday, they are going to glut themselves on even more of those blessings. They will gorge themselves on copious amounts of food. They will bask in the blessing of family close by. They will stare at a TV set and watch a parade which glorifies the world and the things in it, then football games which glorify the strength and abilities of mankind. They will plan to spend the money God has blessed them with. And not one will remember to praise and worship and thank God for any of it.
There is a consequence for not praising and thanking God. Romans 1:20-23, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. [21] For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. [22] Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools [23] and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.”
Are you grateful for the miracles and blessing in your life? Do you know the One who has given them to you? Have you taken the time to praise Him and thank Him for them? Do you worship Him?
The truth is God doesn’t need your thanks. He delights in it. But He doesn’t need it. You are the one who needs to thank Him. You will benefit from a grateful heart.
I challenge you this week, but especially on Thursday, in the midst of the chaos, joy, bounty, and family to find time to stop and glorify and worship God for all He has done for you, and given to you, and forgiven you of this year.
