Only the stranger gives praise
Luke 17:11-19
Leprosy has always been and still is a dreaded disease. We here at Covenant Presbyterian Church, located not far from the Weija Leprosarium, have been informed of some of the problems lepers face. These problems, apart from their isolation and deformities, include lack of adequate accommodation, water, food, clothing and electricity. In spite of these problems cured lepers remain at the Leprosarium because of rejection by their families. In the face of such suffering our Church decided to help. We then got to know that the Weija Leprosarium was far better off than those located in the deprived areas of the north. This prompted the Church to make their contributions to a Leprosarium in the north instead and the need is such that our contributions should be an ongoing one. Leprosy is a disease that presents us with a picture of sin and its consequences. Sin defiles us and separates us from God. It forces us to live a wretched and miserable life of poverty. It leads to an exchange of our God given garments of righteousness for torn and worn out rags. Like the sinner the leper was a poor and wretched person, dreaded and avoided, and forced to live a miserable life as an outcast without access to work or pay or food. He or she was shabbily dressed with old worn out and torn clothes and depended on charity to meet his or her needs. But God is a good God and He could not see the highlight of His creation in such a condition and do nothing about it. He therefore went to great lengths to save us from sin and its effects. This is the reason why Jesus Christ had to leave His heavenly glory and come into this sinful world. He came to reveal God’s holiness and thereby our sinfulness and our need for cleansing. The story about the ten lepers is a story about us. It is a story about sin and its consequences and our cleansing by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is also a story of the goodness and mercy of God and our response to His gift of healing and salvation. Are we thankful for what the Lord has done for us? In the case of the ten lepers who were healed only one returned to thank Christ. All of them had reason to be thankful but it was only the stranger who gave praise.
God deserves praise and we all have reason to praise Him. If we cannot remember any reason at all the psalmist reminds us in Psalm 100 with the words “Be thankful and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting and His truth endures to all generations”. God is good and hears the cry of the sinner. Our condition before salvation was similar to that of the ten lepers before their healing. Just as they realised that their only hope was in Christ and called out to Him saying, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us,” so we also need to realise that our only hope as sinners was in Christ. We need to cry out to Him to forgive and save us. As Christ responded to the lepers cry for help so He responds to our cry for forgiveness. The ten lepers did not doubt Christ’s words of healing in any way and by faith obeyed His command without question. They believed they were healed even though their bodies did not yet show the evidence of their healing. In the same way when Christ saves us our response should be that of faith, believing what Christ has said even before we have the evidence.
Leprosy was the most dreaded disease in Israel and the rest of the ancient world. This terrible condition slowly consumed the flesh of its victims. Eventually the fingers, toes and other extremities would die, rot, and fall off. Compounding the agony of the disfiguring disease were the social stigmas attached to it. The most terrible thing about it was the isolation it brought with its psychological consequences. To prevent others from coming too close, the leper was required to cry ‘Unclean, unclean’ wherever he went. He was banished from the society and exiled from his home and denied access to the place of worship. Leprosy as a picture or type of sin portrays the consuming, horrible effect of sin on a person’s life. Leprosy, like sin, will steal our life, destroy us and eventually kill us. Like the leper we can also come to Christ for cleansing from sin. Like the nine healed lepers many of us also do not see the need to be grateful or the need to say thank you. The lepers literally were given back their lives so why then could they not express their gratitude? The only one who returned to say thank you was the Samaritan. Could it be that the Jewish lepers felt they deserved to be healed because of something they had done or because they were children of Abraham? Have we said thank you to Christ for our salvation or do we take it for granted believing that we deserve it and thereby behave like the nine rather than the Samaritan. Let us all give thanks “For by grace we have been saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” Eph. 2:8-9. Christ meets our need no matter how wretched our condition, no matter how unclean or unworthy we are, and no matter how hopeless our situation may seem. The least we can do is to say thank you. Have you thanked Him for forgiving and saving you? Have you thanked him for His goodness and mercy?
Praise increases faith because the more we praise the Lord the more we will believe what He has done for us and the more He will trust Him and grow in faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God and we cannot receive God’s gifts without faith. When the ten lepers heard Jesus’ instructions they immediately obeyed. They did not first examine themselves to see whether they were healed or not, they believed. They responded in faith and were healed on the way to the priests. They acted on what Christ said even before they saw the evidence. God answers our prayers as we act. When we are praying for reconciliation in a relationship He will often answer that prayer on the way to the person involved. If we are praying for deliverance from debt He will often answer that prayer as we take our first obedient steps of sacrifice and good stewardship. If we are you praying for God to move a mountain He may be telling us to go and get a shovel. Faith believes and acts.
The cleansing of the leper is a picture of our cleansing from sin by the blood of Christ. In the OT the leper who had been healed had to be cleansed before returning to the camp. This is found in Leviticus 13. The priest went outside the camp into an open field near a running stream. He brought along two live birds that were clean according to the Law. He also brought a piece of cedar wood, a small scarlet cloth, a hyssop branch and a clay pot. One of the birds was killed and its blood collected in the pot. Then the live bird, the piece of cedar wood, the scarlet cloth, and the hyssop branch were all dipped in the blood of the dead bird. After this the priest used the hyssop branch to sprinkle the blood on the leper seven times. The man was then pronounced clean. Finally, the living bird was released to fly away with its wings still wet and dripping with the blood of the dead bird. This is a prophetic picture foretelling Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. The blood was sprinkled on the leper seven times. On the Day of Atonement the blood was sprinkled seven times on the Mercy Seat according to Leviticus 16:14 and in the gospels Jesus sprinkled His blood seven times. The bird that was killed symbolised the crucified Christ and the live one the resurrected Christ. The live bird was only released after it was covered and dripping with the blood of the slain bird. Jesus Christ shed His blood to pay the penalty for our sin and we should be thankful. Without a thankful attitude we cannot understand God’s grace or understand His revelations. Thankfulness keeps our focus on Christ. It kept the Samaritan focused on Christ whereas the rest were more concerned about their personal interests. They were more concerned about the certification of their healing from the priest and about their return to their homes and families.
Praise is always rewarding because it invites the presence of God. The Psalmist declares that “He is enthroned in the praises of His people”. The focus of praise is always God and this prevents us from blaming God for our misfortunes and crediting ourselves with our successes. Praise gives us a right perception of God that releases His blessings. The ten lepers professed Jesus as their Master but only one was grateful for his healing. He turned back to thank Christ and glorify God. By his action Jesus declared that he was made whole. Nine were cleansed of leprosy but only one was made whole i.e. completely healed both physically and spiritually.
The number of those who pray is always greater than the number of those who praise or give thanks. The ten lepers all prayed but only one of them gave thanks. Nine of them were only interested in the gift and not the Giver. Today the situation has not changed. Many people are more interested in the healing than the Healer, more interested in the provision than the provider and more interested in redemption than the Redeemer. After encountering the goodness and mercy of God we should be filled with such gratitude that our desire would be to serve Him. A glimpse of the glory and holiness of God should be enough to make us desire to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. Are we filled with gratitude to the Lord for what He has done for us? Or are we like the nine lepers who did not even return to say thank you. I am reminded of a story about an old man who had difficulty writing because he could not keep his hands still. One day he approached a young man to write a postcard for him. The man gladly agreed and wrote what the old man dictated to him. When he finished he asked the old man, “Is there anything else I can do for you?” The old man looked at the card, thought for a moment, and then answered, “Yes. At the end, could you just add Please excuse the bad handwriting?” Many of us today have cried out to God and received His salvation but only a few of us show our gratitude or say thank you. We can say thank you to Christ by joining and taking part in the activities of His Church and by supporting His church. In fact, the whole Christian life should be one big thank you to God.
Leprosy ravages, disfigures, and punishes the body but it also ravages, disfigures, and punishes the heart, mind, and character. The leper had to bear the mental anguish and heart break of being totally cut off from the people he loved, being banished from the society and Church and shunned by everyone. Leprosy has long been an illustration of sin’s wasting effects in a person’s life. It begins with little specks on the eyelids and on the palms of the hand. Then it spreads over the body. Penetrating the skin it destroys the nerve cells and the body losses sensitivity and becomes numb to both pleasure and pain. A toe can break and it will register no pain. And sensing no pain, the leper will continue walking, only to worsen the condition and hasten the infection. Like leprosy, sins of the flesh often start as small, unnoticeable specks. They slowly spread consuming more and more of our minds. Eventually it has a numbing effect on our conscience and we no longer feel any pain when we do wrong. Jesus Christ came to deliver us from sin and give us back our lives. But, like the lepers, we need to cry out to Him and believe what He tells us. Today if we cry out to Christ He will forgive us and cleanse us all from sin. Let us come to Him for cleansing and show our gratitude by saying thank you. Amen!
