LUKE 17: 11-19
WHERE ARE THE NINE?
[2 Kings 5:10-15 / Psalm 103]
Some people are too quickly satisfied with Jesus’ blessings, others are never satisfied with Jesus’ blessings. These extreme types remind me of two stories.
A food editor of the local newspaper received a telephone call from a woman inquiring HOW LONG to cook a 22-pound turkey. “Just a minute,” said the food editor, turning to consult a chart.“Thank you very much,” replied the novice cook, and hung up!
In a region of Mexico HOT AND COLD SPRINGS are found side by side. Because of the convenience of this natural phenomenon the women often bring their laundry, boil their clothes in the hot spring and then rinse them in the cold spring. A tourist watching this procedure commented to his Mexican guide, “They must think mother nature is generous to freely supply such ample clean hot and cold water.” The guide replied, “No, señor, there is much grumbling because she does not supply the soap.” [Hodgin, Michael. 1001 Humorous Illus. Zondervan. p 348.]
A hopeless and depressed group of lepers had huddled together outside one of the many villages on the border of Samaria and Galilee. They were marked men and possibly women, for their inflamed, scaly, splotchy skin condemned them as people to be avoided. Their common misery forced different races of outcast together, in spite of inter-racial hatred, as, in a flood, wolves and sheep will huddle close on a spot of high ground.
It was a despised fellowship drawn together in mutual wretchedness and in permanent separation from others. [They were outcast like many in third world countries who have AIDS are today.] Into this deplorable seemly hopeless scene walks Jesus and lives are given the opportunity to change. Those lives that day sought and received external physical change for that was all they were after. Being satisfied they went on their way. Those that did missed out on the greatest blessing Jesus offers to the one who returns to Him.
May I ask you a personal question? Have you too been satisfied with the external blessings that you have received from Jesus and gone on about your life? Or, in your gratitude, have you returned to Him and received an internal change that is eternal and for which you are continually grateful?
I. THE LEPERS’ CRY, 12-14a.
II. THE HEALING OF THE OBEDIENT, 14b.
III. THE RETURN OF THE THANKFUL, 15-16.
IV. THE LORD'S REACTION, 17-19.
While Jesus was headed toward His crucifixion He passed through Samaria. The Jews had no dealings nor friendship with these mix breeds and considered that even meeting them made one [ceremonially] unclean. But it seems that the diseased and afflicted of all races joined together in leper colonies. Verses 11-13 begin the story of the encounter Jesus had with ten lepers. “And it came about while He was on the way to Jerusalem; that He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered a certain village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Levitical law prescribed the distance that lepers were to be separated from non-infected people (Lev. 13:38-46; Num. 5:2-4). Thus in order to be heard they had to cry aloud. It must have been an effort for one of the effects of leprosy is a hoarse whisper. Desperate need though often gives the body heightened physical power.
Their cry for mercy indicates that they had some knowledge of Jesus. They had heard stories of the Compassionate Healer that ministered health to those with incurable physical debilities. They had heard He was coming or perhaps they recognized Him, but in any case they addressed Him from afar.
They called Him by name, “Jesus, Master have mercy on us.” The word Master in the Greek means “Chief Commander”[ έπιστάτα -epistáta]. They recognized that Jesus was commander and chief even over disease. The question was would Jesus have mercy. Would one such as He help those such as them? Those who have been beaten down by people and difficult circumstances in life don't often find persons capable and compassionate enough to help.
So they cry out for mercy because in Him they experienced a germination of hope and faith touching them in their desperate need. But even their dire situation had not caused them to look at their deeper even more serious need, so they called out for Him to meet their physical need. They want Jesus to be nothing more than a fixer of life, a healer of body and circumstances. As earthy and fleshy as their desires were, they did open themselves up to Jesus so that His mercy could touch them. Jesus’ mercy is ever ready to flow into every situation and life, just as water naturally flows to the lowest levels.
The answer to the ten lepers comes quickly from what we discover in verse 14a. “And when He saw them, He said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priests.”
Jesus seems to have approached the lepers for it was when He saw, not when He heard, that He spoke to them. Jesus was not one to cry aloud in the streets, nor does He simply cure from afar but He draws near to those He heals that they may see His kind face and be touched by His compassion and love.
His command to show themselves to the priests recognized and honored the law (Lev. 14:1-32), as the unclean had to be declared clean to reenter society. But the main purpose of His command was no doubt to test and thereby to strengthen the lepers’ faith. For them to set out to the priests while they saw and felt themselves full of leprosy would seem absurd, unless they believe that Jesus could and would heal them. He gives no promise that He would heal but asks for obedience and in the obedience there was the implication of healing. He utters no outward word of sympathy. His compassion is not released through His words or treatment. He simply speaks a command. [Maclaren, Alexander. Expositions of Holy Scripture. Baker. Grand Rapids. 1974. pp. 128-129.]
You too may be told to be obedient and never experience the compassion that Jesus has for you. Yet never doubt that His direct commands come from a heart of love. We too will sometimes be asked to act on the assumption that Jesus will grant our request even when we see no evidence of it. We too will sometimes need to set out in obedience as we, so to speak, still feel the leprosy or affliction.
II. THE HEALING OF THE OBEDIENT, 14b.
In the second half of verse 14 we learn what occurred on the walk to Jerusalem. “And it came about that as they were going, they were cleansed.”
The ten of them set off at once. They had gotten the word they wanted from the Lord and thought little more about Him. So they turned their backs on Him and headed off. How strange the experience must have been. For as they walked in obedience to His command they begin to feel the gradual creeping sense of soundness returning to their bodies! How much more joyful and confident their steps must have been as health returned and asserted itself in their bodies! The cure is sent forth in silence from Christ. His very thought and their obedience to His word effected the cure. He willed, and as they walked in obedience to His word, it was done.
The lepers responded in faith and Jesus healed them on the way. Many times our spiritual, mental, emotional and yes physical healing comes to us as we respond in faith to Jesus' forth-right commands. Be it to wash in the Jordan [2 Kings 5:1-14] or to minister the Word of life to a neighbor or in far off Africa, we need to heed His word to us. Is your trust in God so strong that you will act on what He says even before you see evidences that it will work? I hope we do not need to be reduced to the desperate need of a leper to be so inclined.
III. THE THANKFUL RETURN, 15-16.
Verse 15 records the one recipient with a responsive, grateful soul. “Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice.”
One man was moved by gratefulness to acknowledge the significance of what had been done for him. When he realized that he was healed, thanksgiving and praise awakened within him. So he turns back to offer praise. Was it disobedient to turn back to give thanks? It is never disobedient to be thankful. A grateful heart knows that its first and highest duty is to give thanks. How like us all this scene is. God does something marvelous and we hurry away clutching our blessings and never cast a thought back to the Giver!
What a miracle had occurred. The awful incurable disease that had rob them of life and isolated them from life was taken away in a simple act of obedience. You might have expected all ten to return rejoicing and praising Jesus and thanking Him for a new start in life, but only one does. This leper's voice had returned to Him and His loud public praises were very different from the strained croak of his plea for healing. He knew that he had two to thank, God and Jesus. He did not yet realize that these two were one.
Verse 16 continues to tell of the exuberant thankfulness of the responsive soul. “And he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.”
Because of His healing he can come much nearer to Jesus now. So he runs to Jesus and falls at His beautiful feet. At the feet of Jesus in a posture of worship he pours out the love in his heart with thanksgiving. Thankfulness brings us close to Jesus and knits our heart to Him.
Jesus healed all ten lepers, but only one returned to thank Him. It is possible to receive God's great gifts with an ungrateful spirit--nine of the ten men did so. Only the thankful man, however, learned that his faith had played a role in his healing; and only grateful Christians grow in understanding God's grace. God does not demand that we thank Him, but He is pleased when we do so. He then uses our responsiveness to teach us more about Himself.
Jesus notices those who come back to say, “Thank you.” In fact, according to Malachi 3:16, what we say concerning the things the Lord has done for us, His blessings to us, His faithfulness to us are written in a Book of Remembrance. Some parents keep a book in which to record their children’s first words, first steps, and growth. So, too, the Lord keeps a books recording the words, walk, and growth of His children. The question is, how big is yours? I suggest the Lord needs many volumes to contain the thanksgiving of some of His kids. For others, a single pamphlet will do.
When a prostitute began to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears and dry them with her hair, Jesus said to his host, “When I came into your home, you didn’t greet Me with a kiss or wash My feet”—which means that Jesus not only notices what people do, but what they fail to do for Him (Luke 7:44–46). How many blessings has the Lord given me today without my even pausing to say “Thank You”? [Courson, Jon: Jon Courson's Application Commentary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003, S. 386.]
Again Luke points out that the grace of God is for everybody. This new man was a Samaritan. A race despised by the Jews as pagan idolatrous half-breeds. The heathen and the rejected who have no reason to expect mercy often are deeply touched by kindness when others who always think they deserve more are never grateful for what they do receive.
At one time there was a radio program called "Job Center of the Air." The host said that of the 2,500 PEOPLE HE HELPED find employment, only 10 sent a thank you note. He was surprised and somewhat hurt.
A retired school teacher in her eighties was overjoyed to get a letter from a former student thanking her for her role in his life. She responded immediately: "I can't tell you how much your letter meant to me. You will be interested to know that I taught school for 50 years, and yours is the first note of appreciation I have ever received. It filled me with cheer."
The story of the 10 lepers highlights the fact that we are prone to accept blessings without saying, "Thank you." We are too often like the nine lepers who never returned to give thanks to the Lord Jesus.
My wife and I have mentioned to each other how wonderful we feel when one of our children hugs us and says thanks for something we've done.
God too finds delight in hearing His children say, "Thank You." He inspired the psalmist to write, "It is good to give thanks to the Lord" (92:1). How fitting it is, therefore, that we express our gratitude to God and to others. Since saying thank you pleases God and encourages those around us, let's do it often. You too will find that your thankful acknowledgment will be use by God to teach you even more about Himself.
IV. THE LORD'S REACTION, 17-19.
Now note Christ's sad wonder at man's ingratitude and joyful recognition of this stranger's thankfulness. In verse 17 Jesus response to the lone worshiper with telling questions. “And Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine--where are they?’”
A note of disbelief and sadness can be detected in the double question. “Were there not ten” who stood here just a couple of minutes earlier that also were cleansed? But where are the nine others? Jesus infers that all ten should be there praising God for His mercy and grace. The others though have gone off with their gift, void of the spark of thankfulness or praise in their selfish hearts.
How grateful the men should have been for the providence of God that had brought Jesus down that road. How grateful they should have been for the love that caused Him to pay attention to them and to their need, and for the grace and power of God that brought about their healing. They should have formed an impromptu choir and sung Psalm 103 together!
Jesus’ third question in verse 18 reveals His difficultly accepting the thankless of the people of God. “Was no one found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”
The number of thankless far surpass those who are thankful. The fewness of the latter hurts and saddens Jesus further. Even a dog returns to lick the hand that feeds it, but not God's people. We increase the sweetness of our gifts by being thankful for them. We savor the taste when we lift up our voice in gratefulness. The goodness lives on in our hearts after the newness wears off if we have been thankful. We impoverish ourselves as well as dishonor God by our prideful fault of ingratitude. Some can see no blue in the sky if a small cloud is there and they impoverish their life. In regard to both our earthy and spiritual blessings we are all sinners by our unthankfulness and have lost much of the contemplative goodness of life. [Maclaren, p. 130.]
[The ten who acted in faith were healed, but just one came back and praised God and was grateful. Jesus asks him, “Where are the nine?” (v. 17). We could assume that He felt hurt because nobody thanked Him. But I think He was disappointed for another reason. He tells the leper who came back, “Your faith has made you well” (v. 19). Ten were healed, but only one was made well, and that’s far more important than being healed. The point made here, I think, is that unless gratitude is a part of our nature, we can’t be whole people. The other nine were merely healed. If ingratitude is more deadly than leprosy, they were in worse shape than before. Only one came back and was made whole.
You may have heard the story of the man who was betrayed by a friend. He went to him and asked, “How could you do this to me? Who picked you up out of the gutter? Who gave you your first job? Who lent you money and bailed you out of jail?” The reply was, “You did, that’s true. But what have you done for me lately?” [Larson, Bruce. The Preacher's Commentary Series, Vol 26 : Luke. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1983, S. 250.]
In response to the outsiders responsive faith revealed in his return, thanksgiving, and praise Jesus declares in verse 19 his salvation. “And He said to him, "Rise, and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
The Samaritan who had built his altar of praise at the feet of Jesus finds an even greater gift than he had received when the leprosy was cleared from his rotting flesh. Christ raised him up to send him again on his journey, but with a life changing difference. He now walks with eternity in his heart. Jesus says the faith has made you well, or literally as you read in your margin, “saved you.”
Surely we may take that word in its deepest meaning and believe that a more fatal leprosy melted out of this man's eternal soul. That faith which had begun in a hope that Jesus could heal, and had been increased by obedience to the command which tested it, and had been more awed and enlightened by an experience of bodily healing, and had been deepened by finding words to express itself in thanksgiving, rose at last to such a bonding with Jesus that he found a healing in his spirit that would last far longer than when his once leprous body is left behind to crumble into dust.
God’s grace even though extended does not mean that all receive its greatest blessing. God blesses all humanity in a general way, but only the responsive who return to Him in appreciation for what He has done in Christ receive His full blessing and acceptance. Among the ten lepers, only the Samaritan heard the word “Your faith has saved you.” His responsive gratitude develops wings and unfolds into saving faith.
CONCLUSION
While it is wonderful to experience the miracle of physical healing, it is even more wonderful to experience the miracle of eternal salvation. May the Giver of every good and perfect gift be praised forever and ever!
So every child of God should cultivate the grace of gratitude. It not only opens the heart to further blessings but thanksgiving glorifies and pleases the Father. [It leads us to God and provides healing and restoration for the soul. An unthankful heart is fertile soil for all kinds of sins (Rom. 1:21ff).]
Is your ungrateful attitude toward life, toward the blessings of God, keeping you from returning to God? Is your unresponsiveness to the goodness of God and your unwillingness to fall on you face before Him keeping you from receiving His salvation? The altar is open for you to remedy that condition right here, right now, today. Return in thanksgiving to Jesus without any further delay for the blessings He has sent your way and receive the greatest blessing of life -salvation. You come, as the Spirit leads.
