Wednesday: Ten Lepers
Read Luke 17:11-19. What lessons are here for us, regardless of our nationality or origins?
Notice first that the unfortunate men all knew Jesus. They called Him by both name and title, pleading for intervention. What’s fascinating, too, is that they were not cleansed right then and there.
Image © Kim Justinen from GoodSalt.com
They were told simply to go and present themselves to the priests, as specified in Leviticus 14:2. The fact that they just turned around and went showed that they believed in Him and His power to heal them.
Only the Samaritan, though, expressed appreciation for what Jesus had done. The nine did not forget to go to the priests, but they neglected to give thanks to their Healer. The Samaritan, as the text reads, turned around even before he got to the priests. Though the text doesn’t say that the other nine were Jews, the location makes it very likely; besides, the fact that Luke specifically mentioned that he was a Samaritan, and that Jesus called him this stranger
(Luke 17:18), makes it likely that the other nine were, indeed, Jews. Although Jews normally had no dealings with the Samaritans, their malady transcended those barriers. Common misfortune and tragedy, what Albert Schweitzer termed the fellowship of suffering,
had broken down an ethnic divide. Their common need for cleansing, healing, and saving had brought them, collectively, to Jesus.
Nevertheless, Samaritans and other foreigners were not the immediate goal for Jesus’ ministry—
(Matt. 15:24 NIV). He planned first to establish a strong mission base among the Jews. Throughout His ministry, however, He gave His followers evidence that the gospel should go to the whole world. Although this point became clear only after His resurrection, even before then Jesus did things that were to open the minds of the disciples to the idea that world mission would become their main task.I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel
Though all these men showed faith, only one turned around and thanked the Lord for what he had received. What does this tell us about why praise and thanksgiving are so important for faith? What are the things you have to be thankful for? Think about how much happier you’d be if you constantly kept them before you, and what better way than by thanking God for all that you have to be thankful for?
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Like the ten Lepers all have been called by God but few follow him. We are not better than the ten Lepers for we have been called but we don't follow him. We must say thanks to God for the gift of life he given to us.
The story of the lepers in Luke 17 is a very inspiring one. It says in verse 19, And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”. Why did Jesus say this to the Samaritan alone? Weren\'t all of them healed? Didn\'t they all follow his command to present themselves to the priest with faith? Our God desires and is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask of Him and think. The lepers sought for physical healing yet Jesus had so much more healing (spiritual cleansing) in stock for them. Interestingly, it was only the Samaritan who by faith and with a thankful heart received exceeding and abundant healing above what he asked for or thought.
Gratitude goes way beyond the words thank you. What matters more is your attitude towards that person even after he/she has helped you. 1.The lepers were supposed to come and literally thank Christ for the healing they had received. 2.They were supposed to acknowledge and have the conviction that He was indeed the Messiah. 3.They supposed to go around proclaiming His goodness and referring all the sick to Him
We came into the church about 33 in 1991 and to be precise only about 3 of us remains in the church as of today. Majority have turned back to their old religion and community, some have gone to independent ministry opposing the church at large. I have thought long about it and I have to link it to the story of the ten lepers. I suppose that being an outsider and an animist high priest and later on in life a secret society High Priest in Fiji and when saved by Jesus Christ from hell and death I guess has an impact and hold of me to the Lord Jesus Christ. I will ever be indebted to Him always and I would still be surprised to still be heaven bound though I have believed for sure that I am already a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20) for judgment is for the saints and not against the saints since he is my Lawyer (1 John 2:1,2) and my Judge (John 5:22-27). This has made me be ever thankful of Him for what He had done on Earth, Death, Resurrection and doing now as a Priest and simultaneously as a High Priest. I don't deserve His Mercy and Grace and that is still a mystery to me for a worm such as I and a chief of all sinners in all of Fiji I confess. But praise God I am being considered to be saved and be counted, Praise Jesus, Holy Ghost, Abba Father for your grace and mercy to a worthless sinner such as I.
Aca as I read about the number that remain in your church, the parable of the sower in Mark 4:1-8 came to mind. As troubling as it is to you, disappointments are not unusual or unexpected given the circumstances.
If your relationship with the Savior is growing, then you have the important assurance that you look forward to.
We shud always b thankful 4 the gift of life for so many die each day but God finds us worthy to make it through another day.
We praise God for the health message that gives council to us on a daily basis, that we should enjoy a healthy life. Firstly, giving praise unto God brings joyfulness to our heart and establishes faith in our hearts. Secondly it is a sermon on it's own, it encourage others to do the same. Thirdly, Heaven rejoices when a sinner saved by grace brings adoration to God the creator. We praise His name.
It is through the inestimable gift of Christ that all our blessings come. Life, health, friends, reason, happiness, are ours through the merit of Christ. O that the young and the old might realize that all comes to them through the virtue of Christ’s life and death, and acknowledge the ownership of God. – {SD 238.2}
Were it not for the love freely given us of Christ, we should now be in hopeless despair, in spiritual midnight. Thank God every day that He gave us Jesus. [38] – {SD 238.4}
Emphasis must be placed on Jesus' statement "your faith have made you well". Cleansing of body and heart. This is the Adventist message to its members and to the world.
We should be thankful for everything. We are thankful for food day by day, that God has not dealt with us according to our sins, that we have family and friends, our reasonable portion of health, the trials/good and bad times, life another day and most of all Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Two songs come to mind thank you lord for all you have done for me and bless the lord at all times.
Was the Samaritan leper also required to "show himself" to the Jewish priests? Were there Samaritan priests?
Were the other 9 not actually obeying Jesus' literal instruction? Maybe they thought that if they stopped before showing themselves to the priests that the healing would be reversed?
Were the other 9 un-healed because they didn't demonstrate faith?
These are great questions. The Samaritan going to the Jewish Priest or a Samaritan Priest, I don't know.
But indeed the 9 were following Jesus's instruction. Didn't didn't bid them to come and thank Him, so they were doing just as Jesus said.
Their faith was expresses not in the thanksgiving but in going to the priest at the command of Jesus (when they were not yet cleansed). Therefore, Jesus commendation of the one - "your faith has made you well" as talking about the act of obedience - which all 10 expressed - therefore, I would doubt that their cleansing reversed.
Moreover, the heart of thanksgiving, comes from one's acknowledgement of their unworthiness to receive the grace/gift of God, which is what the Samaritan showed. Jesus commended him on both his thanksgiving (him only coming back to give thanks) and his faith (obeying the command of Jesus, even before the cleansing).
Christ expects both from us - a heart of obedience in faith and a heart of thanksgiving, resulting from our unworthiness to receive God's grace!
I hope this helps.
On thinking about the questions the events of the 9 + 1 lepers raised in mind, I discovered the answer in Jesus' statement to in His disciples in John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments"
Jesus loved them and wanted them to love Him, that always is His main goal.
Because He loved them He healed them and gave them instructions to get certified by the priests so they would no longer be outcasts. Because He loved them He gave but did not require them to love Him.
What the 9 missed out on was the really big blessing of being in a loving relationship with the Creator of the Universe and eternal life.
Luke 17:14 would indicate that all 10 were healed. It doesn't say that they actually went to the priest. It says "as they went" which could be interpreted, on their way, before arriving. They were very possibly in Samaria verse 11. There would be no Jewish priests in Samaria. The fact that The Samaritan came back to where Jesus was to thank Him, would indicate a comparatively short distance. Although if in Samaria He would not be a foreigner. The distinction could be in relation to the Jews in general however. Is that called reading between the lines?
Jesus repeated a truism that He said to many that He healed. Thy faith has made you whole or well. There were great multitudes that brought sick, maimed, blind and more. Matt 15:30. There is little, or no record of thankfulness given by any of the great number of those that were healed. It was Jesus' compassion that led to all that He did for the needy. Luke 17:19.
This lesson is inspiring where they recognized the power and title of our Lord. They were sick and needed help. They asked and forgot to thank God. Today, we pray asking healing and the like, but we forget or neglect to thank and praise the Lord Jesus. Again, I am inspired where they just obeyed all Jesus instructions, we need to listen, obey,and follow Jesus words,and then praise and thank Jesus of what He does into our lives.
More often we receive blessings and get uplifted from our low grounds by the most high. We get out of him who did, does and holds us still because we assume no need for thanksgiving. The ten lepers is our true testimony that we seek him when we are sunk and run away when we get what we want. We are soo mean, and lets remember to be a blessing to the unfortunate because as remnants the Lord's name will be glorified and uplifted for we hold the truth. This mission has to go on anyway because it was given by Jesus Christ our savior. Much blessings and lets support the missionary.
The lepers exerted great effort when struggling to raise their voices to be heard by Jesus at a distance. Yet they asked Jesus for a healing fully expecting to be healed & were fully obedient to His command. Only the returning Samaritan, who offered thanks, received both a physical healing & salvation. Jesus used this man's responsiveness to teach him more about himself.
The other 9 lepers who failed to return to thank Jesus is evidence that you can receive great gifts from God with an ungrateful heart. These 9 Jews just wanted something for nothing. They did not want to return for fear of having to make a commitment to serve Jesus. Also, they could have been excommunicated from the synagogue because it was deemed illegal for Jews to be healed by Jesus. It was easier to blame the healing on a spontaneous remission alone because that was the safest course of action. The 9 Jews missed out on the greatest gift of knowing Jesus & eventually died, & will be shut out of the kingdom of God for all eternity.
Giving thanks helps me to realize God's continuous provision in my life. I am reminded of how great He is. He is worthy of all glory, honor & praise. It is truly the least that I can do to give my life completely to Him & to serve Him.
It's interesting. I have read this story so many times but today when I was reading in my worship time with my seven year old son, there are things that caught my notice that hadn't before. God had opened my eyes to see these things. All ten men went to Jesus in faith, believing that He could heal them. The fact that they followed His instruction to go their way and show themselves to the priest, demonstrated this faith. So, all had faith and were on their way to the priest. On the way, they must all have noticed that they were healed but only one of them turned around and went back.
Luke made point of telling us that it was the Samaritan who turned around. For him, going back and thanking Jesus was more pressing than going to the priest. That could wait. He was anxious to go back and show his appreciation. After being separated from family, friends, society, not being able to work because of this dreadful disease, this man was so grateful for his healing that he simply had to give thanks. And that he did and was remembered for it.
In this story, the problem was not about faith. All ten had that. Their faith took them to where Jesus was. The problem was lack of appreciation. Only one of the ten showed it.
God likes to be appreciated too. I taught my son that we ought to be like the Samaritan. Whenever we go to God in faith and ask Him to help us and He does, we should glorify and thank Him. We should never take Him for granted. This foreigner was grateful to the God of Israel who showed him mercy. It must have saddened Jesus that His own people didn't think it important to return and thank Him. All ten went to Him in faith so it would have been nice if all ten had returned to give thanks. It would have been the decent thing to do.
God the Father had a plan for foundation of the world that when sin enter into the world that the world would be saved. Christ is the center of the gospel message, though he came to the lost sheep of Israel first they rejected the saving grace as they did in Israel of old, connect to their idols and sins as the world is today. We who are sent into this world have a task that we can not do alone we are in need of the Holy Spirit which will enable us to preach saving grace to the lost and when and only when we have help those who are lost in sins see that God sent his son into the world that the world though him might key world might be saved. This is a conditional promises. We must explain to those who are lost that except a man be born of the Spirit how can he see God. We are to compel them to come to the supper table that has been prepare by the Savior and show them that Jesus is truly coming with all power and glory.
This earth is in Labor, as it prepare for the arrive of Christ and his Holy Angels, he that shall come will come and he will not delay.
Even so come Lord Jesus.
As I read the comment above, it brought to mind the 10 virgins who all had oil in their lamp, 5 were wises and 5 were foolish. We are to be prepare to meet the groom when he come back for his bride. When we are healed we must tell others how the Jesus saved us from sin and shame. I who was truly lost in sin and unable to see because of the darkness came to Christ and he saved me cleaned me up and I am forever grateful to his loving kindness. For the oil (Holy Spirit) which now dwell within me and for the gift of eternal life that I can overcome those sins that so easily beset me. I am forever GRATEFUL
I also wonder if the 9 others lost their chance of healing or they still got clean; because Jesus told the man that came back to say thanks that his faith made him well.
Diana, no I don't believe they lost their healing. Jesus gives his blessings because He loves us even if we don't love Him back, in fact He tells us to love our enemies and to do good to those who hate us.
So why did Jesus say "your faith has made you well"?
The Samaritan gave God the glory for his healing and Jesus confirmed for his understanding and for those around him that he was healed by faith and not by anything else, no ritual, no pilgrimage, not even by their obedience of turning to go to the priests.
I just like the cartoon and the expression in it as illustrated in the text above. Seems by being thankful, even our savior is impressed and happy. What a better way to do things, just to make sure our savior is happy with our thanks giving and gratitude
Wow what a great story truly It is portraying the reality of the present jews(adventists) and the other christians. The other other christians much as on the other points of truth they miss,they earnestly express praise through their so called praise and worship song but we adventist we rarely offer praise and worship to our God for the salvation he rendered us on calvary