Luke
17:11-19
While He was on His way to Jerusalem, He was passing
between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood
at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, Jesus, Master,
have mercy on us! When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to
the priests.” And as they were going,
they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed,
turned back, glorifying God with a
loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he
was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, was there not ten cleansed? But
the nine – where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God,
except this foreigner? And he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has
made you well.”
Observations:
The lepers most likely knew about Jesus. Jesus was nearing
the end of His ministry and on His way to Jerusalem where He will freely give
His life, by dying on the cross, being crucified for the forgiveness of sins
and defeating both the power of sin and the power of death.. The lepers were
probably told about the miracles and healings that Jesus had performed and He
may have been coming back from raising Lazarus from the dead. Many family
members were likely telling the lepers that Jesus was nearby and that Jesus
would most likely come through the town. That’s why the lepers were on the side
of the hill as Jesus entered the town. They probably wanted to make the best
out of this opportunity so they were the first to greet Him as He entered.”
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us, they shouted”. Hoping Jesus would do to them
what He already done throughout the region, healing those that asked Him. Jesus
did not come to Judge the world but to save the world from its captivity in
sin.
Leprosy was not a curable disease during Jesus’ time and
there were specific laws that needed to be followed in the event a leper was
healed and cleansed, one of which, was that the leper had to show himself to
the priest. Leprosy is also a disease of the flesh. I believe this parable is a
comparison between the flesh and the Spirit where Jesus heals all the Lepers
fleshly disease but only one inherits a new Spirit filled life. Although all
the lepers were healed all will also eventually die, but the leper that
returned to Jesus will live eternally. That’s
not to say the other nine lepers didn’t at some point receive Jesus as their
savior but as indicated in this parable it appears they were more interested in
the physical healing.
Now, as mentioned, one of the lepers recognized that he was
healed and turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. The man never went and showed the priest as
Jesus had commanded and Jesus never followed up to tell Him to go and show the
priest. However Jesus is the High Priest on the order of Melchizedek. There
actually cannot be a higher priest. Notice that this leper Glorifies God and falls on his face
at Jesus’ feet in complete surrender
and submission .This leper’s total focus was to be on Jesus. Disregarding his
flesh, his pride, and before his peers and disciples he prostrated himself in
complete gratitude. This is true worship
and Jesus doesn’t reject it but rather He accepts it. Jesus was accepting His
Lordship and the man was recognizing Him as Lord.
Jesus asks the obvious, “Were there not 10 cleansed? But the
nine where are they”? “Was no one found
who returned to give glory to God,
except this foreigner?” Notice how Jesus does not forget those who receive blessings
from Him but neglect to give Him the credit or recognition. Is man any
different today? The sun shines on the good and the evil, does it not? God is
always reaching out to the unsaved. He doesn’t mock them He just takes notice
of their rejection of Him. They were so excited about the gift, they forgot the
gift giver. Also notice that Jesus accepts His Deity when He says “Was no one
found who returned to give Glory to God”.
To the returning leper He say, “Stand up and go; your faith
has made you well.” See the difference in what Jesus says to this leper versus
what He said to all ten lepers. When speaking to all ten lepers Jesus just says
“go and show yourselves to the priests”. I think Jesus was just being merciful
in healing all ten of the lepers from the fleshly disease but when speaking to
the returning leper He identifies with this lepers faith and belief in Him as
Lord. All over the world God blesses the
world and some people give credit to God and some just go on living as if the
blessings are expected. This man worshiped the Lord at His feet and surrendered
his life to the Master. The other men were probably telling a great story about
the man called Jesus. At the end of the day, being healed from your physical
ailments is nothing compared to being healed to live the rest of your life in
the Spirit.
A Reminder from
Romans 8:9-11
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if
indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit
of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though your body is
dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if
the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised
Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through
His Spirit who dwells in you
Thought for Thanksgiving
If Jesus were to visit us, and walk through the front door, during
our celebration of Thanksgiving, which of us would fall down at His feet in
worship and praise. I pray it would be a crowed floor.
May the Lord Bless you all!
