“So Jesus answered and said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? And He said to him, “Arise and go your way. Your faith has made you whole.” Luke 17:17-19 (NKJV)

The Lord is on His way to Jerusalem, teaching, preaching, and performing miracles as He goes. The miracle highlighted in our devotional text takes place during what would ultimately be Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem. It had already been prophesied and proclaimed that Jesus must go to the Holy City. It was there that His mission and mandate from the Father would culminate with His death, burial, and resurrection. “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” Luke 9:51 (NKJV) Along the border between Samaria and Galilee Jesus encounters 10 lepers. This would be the second time in the gospel of Luke that lepers were healed. The first time that Jesus encountered lepers and healed them was in Luke 5:12-16.

Jesus Christ is our Jehovah-Rophe (the Lord God our healer) made flesh. It is His express desire to help us and heal us. Whenever He chooses to do so, as an act of His sovereign will, it is a result of His mercy towards us. That is what the 10 lepers asked for. “And as they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, have mercy on us!” Luke 17:13 (NKJV) The word mercy in this context means in general, “to be freed from deserved punishment or to be spared.” In other words mercy is missing what we rightfully deserve. While the ten may or may not have deserved the problem or pain of the condition of leprosy, they realized that they had done absolutely nothing that would merit them being healed from it. It would have to be a direct result of the mercy of God. They obviously knew this because if they didn’t, they would have never asked for it.

Most importantly is not what happens at the beginning of the lepers encounter with Jesus but what happens at the end. Jesus heals them upon their request for mercy and He does so at a distance. Mind you, His power to heal is never confined to time, space, distance, or location. “Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Luke 7:7 (NKJV) Here in this text as well as our episode, Jesus had and still has the power to heal from afar if He deems it necessary. His only request was that the 10 lepers go and show themselves to the priest which was in adherence to the Law of Moses so that they could be declared ceremonially clean. Yet, on the way to do so, they were cleansed from their disease and made clean. (See Leviticus 14) There was now no need for a priest to confirm what Jesus had done. Not only is He the Living Word, but He is the last word concerning any and everything that may confront us.

So now the overriding issues were that of gratefulness and gratitude. Of the 10 lepers who were healed only 1, a Samaritan who by culture had no dealings with the Jews; who was considered a foreigner; who represented 10% of the miracle returned to give glory to God. Not only that, but he fell down at Jesus’ feet and gave Him thanks. The final outcome of the other 9 is not revealed to us in the text, but we do know that they did not have the decency to say thank you. Never let your ingratitude evolve into your ineptitude in realizing that whatever it is that God has done or that you may be waiting on Him to do, He still deserves the glory, the honor, and our thanks. “Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:20 (NKJV)