Luke 17:11-19 Taking Stock and Saying Thank You
Good morning! I’m pleased to be back with you! I’d like to thank Joel again for bringing the Word for the last two Sundays while we were away. I’m so blessed to witness your growth as a disciple and as a man.
Well we are going back to the Gospel of Luke this morning, in chapter seventeen and verses 11-19. That’s on page 876 in the pew Bibles.
This is a peculiar passage that we are going to examine this morning. It is not a parable and it is unique to the Gospel of Luke. This account takes place, the scholars believe, right after the events of John chapter 11 where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. What’s peculiar about it is that the lesson is so close to the surface the temptation is to fish for something deeper.
Before we read it let’s pray and ask the Lord to interpret His Word to us by His Spirit.
Let’s pray.
11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
So Jesus and His disciples were walking on the border of Samaria and Galilee on the way to Jerusalem and outside of a village they found this little cluster of lepers.
The Ceremonial Law that Joel talked about last week had a lot to say about leprosy. Leprosy was a term used for a variety of wasting skin diseases and the Ceremonial Law required those with leprosy to leave their homes and their families and be separate from the camp. Leprosy also made a person ceremonially unclean. Lepers were not allowed to offer sacrifices or worship at the Temple or go to the synagogue. In fact, they were required to announce their uncleanness from a distance so that no one would come near them and be contaminated by their illness or uncleanness. You can read more about it in Leviticus 13 and 14.
This was a miserable existence. A long, slow death, marked by isolation and rejection. It’s no wonder that these particular lepers would gather together where they could outside of this village even forgoing the separation of Jews and Samaritans.
At this point in Jesus ministry He was very well known and word of His coming reached even this desperate cluster outside this unnamed village.
11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
Before they cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us,” they first would have shouted, “unclean!”
It’s hard to not make this symbolic of a person coming to faith. First, they must admit their uncleanness before God, their sinfulness, and then cry out to Jesus for mercy which is His forgiveness.
Now because the Ceremonial Law was still in place as Jesus had not yet fulfilled it by His death and resurrection, Jesus commanded these men to go and show themselves to the priests.
32 verses in Leviticus 14 are given to the process that a person healed from leprosy had to go through including sacrificing a bird, three lambs, grain and flour and oil, shaving off all their hair, bathing and washing their clothes, putting blood from the sacrifices on an earlobe and a thumb and a big toe, sprinkling oil and putting some on an earlobe and a thumb and a big toe and finally on his head. All of this took a week to do outside the camp or village before he could go home.
The whole process started with showing themselves to the priests, which is what Jesus told them to do.
Now it’s easy to skip ahead to the end of the story and conclude that only one of the ten lepers had faith but that’s not exactly true. All ten of these men trusted Jesus enough to obey Him and go to the priests.
14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.
This reminds me of Jesus’ parable of the soils where seed was sown on the path and on the rocky soil and finally on good soil. What happened to the seed sown on the rocky soil? It sprang up immediately but was scorched by the sun because it had no roots and withered away.
Jesus explained that meaning in Mark 4:16-17, “And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.”
The faith of the nine was like rocky soil, they certainly would have received their cleansing with joy but when they showed themselves to the priests and told them that it was Jesus who healed them I’m sure that they received no little persecution from the religious leaders.
Another thought that I find interesting is that these nine Jewish men only got their lives back after being declared clean by the priests, after seven days of ritual cleansing and sacrifices, only then would they be allowed to resume their lives.
The tenth guy, a Samaritan, recognized that he already got his life back, that his healing was an act of grace, and that his life was not his own as a result but that it belonged to the Savior, and he went back to thank Him.
15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
JJ VanOosterzee wrote, “The Samaritan does not content himself with having received the benefit, he will also praise the benefactor.”
After all, what good was the cleansing of the other nine if it did not result in their salvation? It was of no advantage at all. Salvation from circumstances is no salvation at all if we remain faithless and ungrateful. All ten were healed physically but only one was healed spiritually.
The two ideas at issue here are certainly gratitude for one, it’s right there on the surface, but the second is saving faith in Jesus Christ.
The nine got what they wanted out of Jesus and that was their problem, they got what they wanted but were unaware of what they needed. Once they got what they wanted from Jesus they were done with Him.
We are all in constant danger of doing the exact same thing, and that, my friends is not saving faith.
John Calvin wrote, “Above all, it is too common a disease that, when we are urged by strong necessity, and when the Lord Himself prompts us by a secret movement of the Spirit, we seek God, but, when we have obtained our wishes, ungrateful forgetfulness swallows up that feeling of worship.”
Our lives must be a continuous prayer of thanksgiving, in relation to our necessities as well as acts of divine grace. We need to recognize God’s divine help, receive it with thanksgiving, and through that divine help grow in holiness.
Psalm 107
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things. Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron. Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction; they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy! Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants. He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. And there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in; they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield. By his blessing they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish. When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow, he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes; but he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks. The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth. Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
Matthew Henry wrote, “Those that have received mercy from God should publish it to others, that they may praise God too, and may be encouraged by their experiences to trust in Him.”
Amen.
