25/09/2024
I thought I would share with you this morning a blog post I was asked to write for another Christian women's Facebook group, Cariad, on "Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy - Luke 17:11 – 19."
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
If you have grown up in church like me, you will have heard this story many times. The issue with this that the story can lose it’s significance because in our minds it becomes just a story. However, we mustn’t allow ourselves to miss out on the important lessons that we can take from these stories.
Two vital words that jump out at me when I think of the themes this story has are “gratitude” and “mercy”.
Here we have ten men who come and find Jesus because they have heard that He can heal them from leprosy. Leprosy is a condition whereby bacteria causes a chronic infection that affects the skin, nerves, eyes, and respiratory tract. We can only imagine the pain these men were in whilst suffering from this awful disease.
These men knew Jesus could heal them because we read in v. 13, They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” Standing at a distance and using this word, ‘pity’ shows that they were looking for Jesus to have compassion on them.
V.14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. Jesus didn’t ask any questions. He didn’t treat them in an unworthy manner, because they were diseased, but He healed them that’s who He is. Jesus shows God’s love to everyone.
V. 15 – 19 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” Once they were healed, nine of them ran off. One of them came back to Jesus, praising God for this miracle. Although, Jesus does not punish the Samaritan who came back, he is basically asking him, “Where are the others?!”
This story reminds us of some great life lessons. The first one is always be grateful to God for what He does in our lives and what He has given us. Sometimes, we can do fixed on what we need/want that we miss out on the miracles God has performed, and continues to perform in our lives today.
When someone hurts us or does not show gratitude for something we have done for them, this does not give us permission to hurt them back or not show kindness to them again. We forget that we shouldn’t be serving others, for what we will get in return, but we should we do it out of the goodness in our hearts. The verse that summarises how we should follow Jesus’ example and show His love to others is Micah 6:8,
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
So, let me ask you two important questions: how can show more mercy to others? And also, how can you be consistent with showing to God for everything He has given you and all He is doing in your life! 💗
