The Tenth Leper
Scripture Reading: Luke 17:11-19
Text: Luke 17:17
A man stood writing at the post office counter one day when an older man shuffled up to him with a postcard in his hand.
“Sir,” the older man said, “would you please address this postcard for me?”
The first man gladly consented, and wrote what the older man dictated to him, and even signed the man’s name to the postcard. When he finished, he extended the postcard and asked, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
The old fellow looked at the card, thought for a moment, and then answered, “Yes. At the end, could you just put ‘P.S. Please excuse the sloppy handwriting!”
I suppose all of us have, at one time or another, performed a thankless task. . .
a gesture or act of kindness
that goes unnoticed or unappreciated--
or worse, which earns us only criticism or reproof.
If that is indeed the case,
well, then, we’re not alone,
for the same thing happened
to the very Son of God
and it’s that event we’re going to learn from this morning in our study of God’s Word.
But before we do that, would you please pray with me:
Father,
I pray this morning that you will give us
ears to hear,
eyes to perceive,
minds to comprehend,
hearts to believe,
and the will to apply
your life-giving Word to our lives
from this day forward, Amen.
I would like for you to turn in your Bibles, please,
to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 17. . . .
Luke, the seventeenth chapter . . .
And our text in God’s Word this morning will begin at the 11th verse of that chapter. . . .
So, beginning at Luke 17:11, we’re going to consider an extraordinary passage of Scripture
that has much to teach us at anytime,
but perhaps seldom more appropriately than
at this time of year.
So, if you’ll look with me at Luke 17, verse 11,
we read--and, by the way, I’ll be reading from the New International Version--
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.
Jesus was making a lengthy and dusty journey, on foot, from Galilee to Jerusalem, on a route that lay between Samaria and the region sometimes called “Galilee beyond the Jordan” or Perea.
Finally, his tired, sandalled feet approached a village, where he might be able to rest or eat.
But as he approached the town, his attention was diverted by a group of lepers, ten of them, who- because they were lepers--
had to stay outside the village,
in isolation from everyone except other lepers,
lest they infect others with their dreadful disease.
BUT WHEN THEY SAW JESUS--
maybe they recognized him or one of his disciples,
or maybe the news of his approach had already reached the village--
but in any case, when they saw him,
this HEALER they had heard about,
this MAN who could work MIRACLES,
they lifted themselves onto their decaying feet and
began as best they could to wave their rotting hands,
and shouted as loudly
as their failing strength allowed,
crying out for his attention
to their great and horrible need.
And so, if you’ll look with me to the first few verses of our text for today, you’ll find together
an example of . . .
I CHRIST’S RESPONSE TO MAN’S CRY
Look at verse 12:
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."
I’ll stop there for the moment, and point out to you that as these lepers stood afar off, as they were required by law to do, they cried out,
"Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"
And Jesus, as he had done many times already on this trip to Jerusalem, stopped along the road,
arrested by their cries.
You see, Jesus, when he stopped and looked at these ten men who were huddled together outside the city, saw ten wretched,
forsaken,
miserable men.
Leprosy in that day was a grim disease, as hopeless as death. In fact, it was death, except that you died in pieces, a part of you every day. Maybe today a finger would die. Tomorrow, a toe, or even a foot might be gone. Soon after that a nose, an ear. . .
It was a gruesome and progressive disease, and there was no way to treat it . . . Except to cast the leper totally out of society,
away from his home,
away from his family,
away from his friends,
so that his curse would remain his alone.
And so, Jesus knew that theirs was a desperate, fervent cry for help and healing.
And yet, as we see in verse 14, when Jesus saw them, he did not go to them--though he often did to lepers, even touching them--he did not even move from the road he traveled. He simply spoke to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests."
Now, in doing that, he was telling them to go into the city, into the temple, and there present themselves, according to the Law, so that the priests could certify them as having been truly healed.
Jesus heard their cry . . .
And not only heard their cry,
he gave attention to it.
And not only gave attention to it,
he then responded to it.
And he will do no less for you--or me--today.
This little story,
tucked away in the third Gospel,
taking up only 9 short verses, teaches you that
no matter how wretched your condition,
no matter how unclean you may feel,
no matter how unworthy you think you are,
no matter how hopeless your situation may seem,
if you will cry out to Jesus--
cry to him for mercy,
pray to him for grace,
plead with him for healing,
forgiveness,
strength,
support--
he will not only hear your cry,
and give careful attention to your prayer,
but he will respond to it,
he will act on it,
he will answer it.
So, we’ve seen Christ’s response to man’s cry.
Now, please look at the last part of verse 14 with me, just a dozen words, but in that brief statement we will see . . .
II CHRIST’S REWARD FOR MAN’S FAITH
Verse 14, just the last sentence, says:
And as they went, they were cleansed.
You see, Jesus had said to these ten lepers, "Go, show yourselves to the priests."
I can imagine that these men, upon hearing Jesus’ instructions, might have looked at each other with puzzled expressions;
They might have examined their hands, noticing that the flesh was still pasty and decayed.
They had experienced no change.
They had felt nothing.
But God often chooses to answer our prayers
as a result of our own obedience.
And so, it might have happened that,
instead of turning away disappointed,
one of the lepers decided within himself,
“Well, I haven’t felt anything,
I don’t seem to be healed,
but I will do what the Healer said.”
And so, as he started walking toward the city,
the others, who were still standing around
with confused looks on their disfigured faces,
shrugged their shoulders and followed him to go to the city and present themselves to the priests.
And AS THEY DID SO, a strange thing happened.
Verse 14 in our Scripture text says,
as they went, they were cleansed.
Even as these lepers took their first steps of
obedience to Christ,
even as they were putting their money where their
mouths were,
even as they were putting feet to their faith,
the Bible says,
they were cleansed.
They looked at their hands,
and the skin was restored.
They stroked their faces,
and the sores had been healed.
They peeked under the bandages,
and the signs of decay had disappeared!
“. . . they were cleansed.”
Men and women, that is one of the ways
God loves to answer prayer.
Are you praying for reconciliation in a relationship?
He’ll often answer that prayer on the drive over to your friend or family member’s house.
Are you praying for deliverance from debt?
He’ll often answer that prayer as you take your first obedient steps toward sacrifice and stewardship.
Are you praying for God to move a mountain?
He may be saying to you, “Go get a shovel!”
About this time last year, my wife Robin and I were praying about the high school Sunday school program. We have a son and daughter in high school, and to be honest, we were concerned about the level of Bible instruction they were getting in that class.
Now, we’re busy people. We both work. We’re involved in this board and that committee. We travel fairly often on business. And you would think that God would understand that. But no.
The more we prayed, the more we heard God say, “Are you willing to be the answer to your own prayer?”
Not exactly what we wanted to hear.
Not even approximately what we wanted to hear.
But, to make a long story short, God answered our prayer about what our children were learning and, in so doing, ‘learned’ us a thing or two as well!
Now, God may not always answer prayer that way,
but he OFTEN does;
he often requires faith
and obedience,
and action of us,
just as he did of the ten lepers in our text for today.
And if it seems he’s not responding to your cry,
it may be because he’s waiting to reward your faith.
So. . . we’ve seen Christ’s response to man’s cry,
we’ve seen Christ’s reward for man’s faith,
and now, if you’ll read with me beginning at verse 15, we’ll see . . .
III CHRIST’S REBUKE FOR MAN’S INGRATITUDE
Verse fifteen reads:
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."
Canon Mozley once said,
“The moment when a man gets what he wants is a testing one, it carries a trial and probation with it.”
As the lepers, on their way,
looked at their hands and arms and feet,
and realized that they’d been healed,
only one stopped in his tracks,
turned around,
and ran frantically back to the place
where Jesus had heard his cry,
all the time shouting out hysterical praises to God,
until finally,
having caught up to Jesus and his party of disciples, he sprawled in the dust at Jesus’ feet,
mingling his tears with the dust of the road,
and poured out his gratitude
for what Jesus had done for him.
What a contrast that is to the reaction of the other nine lepers!
Oh, I’m sure they were happy enough about their healing,
but their reactions might have ranged from “They all thought leprosy would KILL me, but it didn’t! I whipped it! It just goes to show you that you can’t keep a good man down!”
to,
“The first thing I’m gonna do after the priest says I’m clean is go back home and find my buddies and paarrrtaaaay!”
And you know what? Things haven’t changed much in 2,000 years.
Too many of us blame God for our misfortune
and credit ourselves for our success,
when it really ought to be the other way around.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, commented on this passage of Scripture:
Here note--there are more who receive benefits than ever give praise for them. Nine persons healed, one person glorifying God; nine persons healed of leprosy, mark you, and only one person kneeling down at Jesus’ feet, and thanking him for it.
But there is something more remarkable than this--the number of those who pray is greater than the number of those who praise. For these ten men that were lepers all prayed. But when they came to the Te Deum, magnifying and praising God, only one of them took up the note.
So many people,
having received blessing after blessing,
benefit after benefit,
bounty on top of bounty,
instead of returning to give glory to God,
choose instead to boast of their ability,
or celebrate with their friends,
ignoring the God
who has loaded them down with benefits.
Vance Havner goes so far as to say,
Our biggest problem in the church today is this vast majority of Sunday morning Christians who claim to have known the master’s cure and who return not [at other times] to thank him by presence, prayer, testimony and support of his church. In fact, the whole Christian life is one big “Thank You,” the living expression of our gratitude to God for his goodness.
Men and women, that is how we ought to live--
one big “Thank You,”
to live and worship and serve in such a way that
our lives become a Te Deum of gratitude to God!
Is that what you desire?
Does the tenth leper have any kindred spirits in this
room?
Or have we been like the nine,
forgetting God’s benefits,
his benevolence,
his blessings?
Pastor Jack Hinton was on a short-term mission trip at a leper colony on the island of Tobago. As he was leading worship one day, a woman who had been facing away from the pulpit turned around.
“It was the most hideous face I had ever seen,” Hinton said later. “The woman’s nose and ears were entirely gone. She lifted a fingerless hand in the air and asked, ‘Can we sing Count Your Many Blessings?’”
Overcome with emotion, Hinton had to leave the service. And a team member who followed him out said, “I guess you’ll never be able to sing that song again.”
“I will,” Hinton answered, “but never the same way.”
Lord,
that’s my prayer this morning,
that this hour of worship will so change our hearts, our lives,
our worship,
our service,
that we will never be the same,
that we will count our blessings
and voice our gratitude
until we ourselves become
hymns of praise and thanksgiving to you,
our God,
our strength,
our redeemer,
our comforter,
our friend,
in Jesus’ name, Amen.
In the closing moments of this service,
I encourage you to give voice to your gratitude--
in song, in prayer, in meditation, in responding to his call to you, whatever he is saying.
One way of doing that would be to come forward to the place on this platform where you see two vases.
As we often do here at Oxford Bible Fellowship,
I invite anyone who in this service OR this week has trusted Christ for salvation
to come and signify that decision by moving a flower from the vase on your left, which represents the world and your former life, to the other vase, which represents your new life in Christ and your new citizenship in the Kingdom of God.
Or, if you have had the awesome privilege of leading someone to that life-changing decision, you may come to signify your friend’s passage from darkness into light.
And, as the worship team leads us in a final time of worship, this area at the front is open should anyone want to respond visibly to God’s working in your heart and mind . . . .
Perhaps he’s convicting you, prompting repentance;
or touching you, bringing deliverance;
or calling you to salvation or to a new level of
sacrifice or service,
or maybe he’s saying something else entirely.
In any case, you’re more than welcome to come forward to the front here, and stand or kneel in prayer, should the Spirit of God so move you,
as we all join in emulating the tenth leper, who returned to give praise to God.
