Background: This isn’t the first time Jesus healed a leper but it was probably the last. When this event took place, Jesus is heading towards Jerusalem, passing through Samaria and Galilee. The events in this passage happened just days before He was crucified and had risen from the dead. Chronologically this event happened before He had healed Bartimaeus, as Jesus hadn’t yet come to Jericho. Also this is the last time we read that Jesus went through Samaria. Contrast this encounter with other times when Jesus and the disciples went through Samaria, such as John 4!
The text is from Luke 17:11-19:
[Luke 17:11-19 KJV] 11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 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. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Leprosy was a dreaded disease in Bible times. In the Law of Moses, God gave very detailed instructions how to deal with people and/or things that had contracted that disease. Anyone who had become a leper was basically dead while alive: he or she had to remain out of contact with others, and should anyone who wasn’t a leper came near, the leper had to exclaim, “Unclean! Unclean! (Lev. 13:45)”.
Jesus had healed at least one leper before this event took place. In fact, one of the first miracles He ever performed was just after He had preached the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). In Matthew 8 we read that a leper approached Jesus and stated, perhaps boldly, that Jesus could heal him if Jesus were willing. Happily, Jesus agreed and healed that man. Also, we read in many places where Jesus healed people but we’re not given any details. Regardless, I don’t read of anyone who had come to Jesus for healing but went away in the same condition. Our Lord was very much in the business of healing in those days.
It’s also interesting that one of the last miracles our Lord performed was also healing a leper, ten of them in this case. Even more so, He’s heading through Samaria, and at least one of the lepers was a Samaritan (v 16). Leprosy was an equal opportunity destroyer, but Jesus was and is an equal opportunity restorer. Even though the Jews “ . . . had no dealings with Samaritans (John 4:9)”, Jesus didn’t let man-made cultural barriers stop Him from responding to those who asked for His assistance.
Their request
These lepers were following the code or protocol of that day. Even though we aren’t told what, if anything, they were wearing, they did stand “afar off”, away from any possible contact with non-lepers. Note that they didn’t ask for anything “over the top”, such as health or new clothes or a bag of money or anything like that. They only asked Jesus to “have mercy on [them] (v 13).
Sometimes, I think believers try to demand things from the Lord, if not outright trying to gouge Him into giving all they demand. This has been a danger from the early days of the Church. James even “told it like it is” when he wrote that A, we don’t have because we don’t ask, and B, we don’t receive because we ask with wrong motives. If that was the case in those early days, how much worse it is in these days!
And we can make a contrast between the group’s request with that of another leper. In Matthew 8, the man who met Jesus after He came down from the mountain was a leper—even Matthew the tax-collector could see that—but he came close to Jesus and asked, “If You are willing, You can make me whole”. In that case, Jesus did indeed touch the man after saying, “I am willing, be cleansed (paraphrased)”. Here these 10 lepers didn’t even do that. They simply stayed away, within sight and within the range of sound, but far enough away to keep from infecting (for lack of a better term) anyone else with their disease. Then, one man approached, even coming within touching distance; now, they stayed away. Then, he asked for healing or cleansing, specifically; now, 10 men asked for mercy, generally. Then, Jesus spoke and touched the man; now, Jesus only—what would and did Jesus do?
The reply
Luke tells us in verse 14, Jesus saw them and simply told them to go and show themselves to the priests. While this may sound strange to us, that was the way any leper would receive proof that he or she had been healed or cleansed. There was an inspection the priest had to perform and a sacrifice or offering from the now-cleansed leper. All this was recorded in the Law of Moses and was binding on the Jewish people of that time.
Looking at this, I’ve sometimes wondered, didn’t Jesus say anything else? Was this the only message they heard? Why was Jesus so terse, humanly speaking? Part of this may be that He only responded or replied to their request! Remember, they didn’t ask for healing, just for mercy, but even then Jesus saw their hearts, He knew exactly what they meant. He knew exactly what they needed. And He told them exactly what they needed to hear, and exactly what they needed to do. There are times when a brief answer from the Lord is all the answer we need, too.
The result
I love this verse, “as they went back, they were cleansed (v14)”! These lepers didn’t cleanse themselves: rather, they received cleansing from an outside source. In fact, that was about the ontly way a leper could be considered “cleansed”. The Bible doesn’t tell us of any herb, liquid, ointment, or anything else to “cure” a leper aside from being cleansed. These men, plus a few others, received it but few if any other lepers did. Miriam, the sister of Moses, spoke against him and God punished her with leprosy, but healed her immediately (see Numbers 12). Even foreigners could become lepers: Naaman, a general in the Syrian army, somehow became a leper but God healed him after, more or less grudgingly, he agreed to do what Elisha said to do, namely, dip in the Jordan River seven times. Other people, however, were never healed, according to Scripture, and remained lepers all their days.
But these 10 lepers were healed. I believe all of them were healed, as we don’t read of any of them coming back and saying, “Ah, Lord, I don’t appear to be healed yet” or “pardon me, but I still have some spots on my skin” or anything like that. No, all of them received cleansing, healing, from their leprosy and apparently were on their way to the priests to be verified “clean”.
Oddly enough, one, and only one, of the lepers stopped to give thanks to Jesus for healing him! Luke says he “ . . . with a loud voice glorified God . . .”—and who wouldn’t!—and adds “ . . .and he was a Samaritan”. Now, Samaritans and Jews had a mutual hostility and hatred, it seems: the woman at the well was amazed that a Jewish male would speak to her in a public place (John 4). There was another time when the Samaritans of a certain village refused to receive Him because He was headed for Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-56). Yet, several chapters later, one of the Samaritans, afflicted with leprosy, asked for mercy and received much more. He was healed! And he expressed his thanks, his gratitude, by giving thanks with a loud voice. I’m sure our Lord was well pleased.
Then Jesus adds another word for this man, “Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole”. We’re not sure what all of this means but one thing for sure, if he listened to Jesus the first time, I do believe he listened this last time as well. Did Jesus mean “go thy way” to the priests? Perhaps so, but then, He may have meant “go thy way” as you follow God.
I also believe we’ll meet this man in Heaven, but he won’t be a leper. He won’t be a Samaritan or anything else, for that matter. No, he’ll be our brother in the Lord, because he had received healing from the Lord. I doubt a person who had received healing from leprosy was remain unsaved —it’s possible, admittedly—but I don’t think an unsaved person would praise God with a loud voice like this man did.
Conclusion
Like leprosy, there are some things only God can cure. The ten lepers in this story asked for mercy and all received healing. Only one of these stopped to give thanks to God for his healing, and Jesus told him to “go thy way” because “his faith had made [him] whole”. When any kind of healing comes, I hope we’re never afraid to thank God for what He did.
But let’s not forget the spiritual condition. All of us were born into this world as sinners and we would all die as sinners if it wasn’t for Jesus Christ and His gift of salvation. Just as there was no human remedy for leprosy, there is nothing you or I can do to merit or earn salvation. It’s all by grace, through faith in Christ Jesus, alone. The leper received the gift of healing, and I do believe he became a believer in Jesus Christ also, when he accepted God’s free gift of salvation.
Won’t you accept that gift of salvation today?
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
