Luke 17:11-19
11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
This narrative of the healing of the 10 lepers takes place within the last three months of Jesus’ life. He is making his way back to Jerusalem from Capernaum through the town of Samaria. There was a long-standing hatred between the Jews and Samaritans because the Jews despised the Samaritans for their unorthodox form of worship. But Jesus always had a reason for what He did and was always doing the unexpected, usually to the consternation of many.
Jesus also knew that a brutal death awaited him in Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans and the religious elite. He was fully aware of what He would be facing and yet he was fully engaged with the people around him.
The context of this story begins two chapters earlier in Luke 15 where Jesus was talking about the joy people have when they find something precious that was lost, for example, the woman who found her lost coin, the shepherd who found his lost sheep and the father whose lost son returned. Luke chapters 15 to 19 records encounter after encounter Jesus had with people who were lost and depicts His compassion for these people.
In Luke 19:10 we see Jesus hanging out with Zaccheus and his tax collector friends, basically people who got rich off of other people through exhortation. He then dramatically transforms the life of Zaccheus and people were very upset because He was showing friendship to this “sinner.” But Jesus said of Himself, “The son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
In this passage we read today, Jesus is making His way through the territory of Samaria and Judea and meets the 10 lepers. Leprosy in the Bible could include a variety of infectious skin diseases and lepers were considered “unclean” - polluted or defiled and had to live outside of the cities. Since leprosy in all its forms was contagious, whoever had leprosy had to be quarantined for life from family, friends, and the general population. They were the untouchables.
According to OT laws, lepers had to wear clothes as if they were mourning a death, had to rip their clothes, and leave the hair of their head in disorder (Lev 10:6). They actually had to cry out, "Unclean, unclean" when they passed through populated places to warn people about possible contamination (Lam 4:15).
Leprosy, or what is known as Hansen's disease today, destroys a person’s nerve endings that carry pain signals to the brain. When someone with leprosy injures any of their limbs or extremities, they can’t feel it and so their injury only worsens. Leprosy affects the vocal cords, disfigures the skin, bones and limbs, causing the curling of the fingers to form the characteristic claw hand. It also can create a stench that results from decaying skin.
Because full blown leprosy is contagious these lepers stood at a distance from Jesus and cried out with their feeble voices, “Jesus have mercy on us!” Normally, no one would have anything to do with them because not only were they contagious, disfigured, dressed for death, and smelling pretty bad, people thought they were leperous because of their sin.
You can probably imagine if people judged you as sinful and dirty that after a while you would believe this about yourself. “I must have done something deserving of God's judgment. I am unwanted and unworthy, so there’s no way I could get near to God.” Then you would have to reinforce that judgment by declaring yourself “unclean” wherever you went.
But they had heard about Jesus - about His compassion and power over sickness and diseases and His power to heal. Jesus saw them and had mercy. “Saw” means he took time to see their actual condition. Mercy means he was moved to pity and compassion by their tragic circumstance with the view of doing something about it.
Jesus stepped into their pain. This is one way we can show gratitude to Jesus for what He has done in our lives - to take time to step into other people’s pain or difficulty and show compassion and care. It may not lessen their pain but our very presence over time can be part of their healing.
In verse 14, He said: “Go and show yourself to the priests.”
Why did he ask them to show themselves to the priests instead of healing them right there and then? He wanted to challenge their trust in Him and wanted to make a statement to the religious elite about who God really is.
Arnold Fruchtenbaum, an OT theologian wrote that the priests kept close records of those who were declared lepers in Jewish society. Because no leper had ever been healed since the time of Moses, “The Scribes taught that only the Messiah could heal a leper." The healing of these lepers would be a testimony to the priests that no one is untouchable to Jesus, no one is beyond salvation.
As these men were on their way to the temple, they were cleansed (passive tense) - God had healed them. There was no big fanfare, no hype, it just happened as they went. Can you imagine as they were walking their twisted limbs returned to normal, their skin and all the deformities and sores were healed. “Look I’m clean!” It was a miracle and they couldn’t wait to see the priest, who would examine them and declare them clean. Now they could see their families, hold their children, go to the temple again, and rejoin society.
But one of them in v. 15, “when he saw that he had been healed” turned around. The word “saw” means that he saw or realized something the others missed. I could imagine him saying to the other nine, “Wait, do you realize what just happened?” and them saying, “Yes.” “Do you realize who healed us?” “Sure.”
“Do you realize what this healing means?” “Yes, we got our lives back.” “No, I mean do you realize who this Person is? Shouldn’t we go back and find Him, thank Him and give glory to God for our healing?” Obviously, they were thankful but not thankful enough to take the time to go out of their way to thank the Messiah. They got what they wanted from Jesus and they were happy. It's one thing to be thankful, it's another thing to express thankfulness by how you live. Do we honor the One who gave us our life back?
We are in a particular age and culture that has a sense of entitlement - places unrealistic expectations on others, believes we shouldn’t have to wait in long lines, shouldn’t be stuck in traffic, and should always get the best seats at a venue. An entitled person thinks they deserve more than what they have in life and prioritizes their own needs over the needs of others. I believe we, at times, have an unrealistic view of ourselves - like society owes me, my parents owe me, my workplace owes me, and even that God owes me. Entitled people are not grateful for what they have in life - this mindset is the polar opposite of thankfulness.
The Apostle Paul talked about this attitude of entitlement, over 2,000 years ago in the book of Romans. He wrote that God has revealed Himself to everyone on this earth through the majesty of His creation but even though they knew God, people didn’t honor Him as God or give thanks. What were the results of ingratitude? They became worthless in their thinking and their hearts became darkened. Life becomes a downward spiral into slander, gossip, insolence, arrogance, disrespect toward others and dishonoring God.
The opposite of this mindset is thankfulness which awakens our faith and where we enter into abundant life. After the Samaritan leper was healed, he glorified, praised, and honored God with a loud voice, fell on his face and thanked Jesus over and over again. He honored Jesus as God. What did Jesus ask? Where are the other nine? Weren’t they all healed? Not one of the except this foreigner returned to give glory to God? (foreigner -feet of Jesus)
Spurgeon said:
Often those who are thought to be the worst of people turn out the best. Many of the most precious pearls have been found in the deepest sea; and some of the most grateful hearts have been discovered among those who were most immersed in sin and error.
In the last verse of this passage, Jesus told this man, “Stand up and go, your faith has made you well.” All 10 lepers were made well, but this man was not only healed but His faith in the Messiah saved him. He got his life back but he got much more because of his decision to give thanks and glory where it was due - to God Himself. His thankfulness was an expression of true wellness, complete wholeness, he was not just living life, he was living a full life. We only enter into the full life if our faith gives thanks.
