Were There Not Ten?

Luke 17:11-19 tells a fascinating story about ten lepers. "Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off" (vv. 11-12). We last saw Jesus in Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee where His ministry was headquartered out of the home of Peter. It was there that He healed a man who had leprosy.

Because of the common belief of that day that leprosy was extremely contagious, all who suffered from the disease were housed in separate villages of their own. Not only did they live apart from society, but if they went anywhere and came across people, they covered their face with their cloak, crying out, "Unclean, unclean." But that is not what happened here.

Instead, the scripture says, "And they lifted up their voices and said, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!'" (v. 13). They likely covered their faces with their cloaks, but they did not holler out, "Unclean, unclean." They knew who Jesus was, or at least, they knew He had the power of God to heal. So their approach was to call out to Him, "Jesus, Master, have mercy in us!" (v. 13).

"When He saw them," Jesus responded, "Go, show yourselves to the priests" (v. 14a). An interesting response indeed! He saw their faith, their strong belief that Jesus could heal, and He told them simply to fulfill the Law of Moses by going to the priests. Leviticus 14:1-32 gives the requirements of the law to be fulfilled by anyone healed of leprosy, but the interesting thing is that they are required first of all to have been healed already. These men left Jesus and headed to see the priests before being healed. However, "as they went" in faith, "they were cleansed" (Luke 17:14b).

"And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks" (vv. 15-16a). And it is noted that "he was a Samaritan" (v. 16b). When Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, they took some of the Jews to other conquered lands and brought other conquered peoples to northern Israel and settled them there. That resulted in intermarriage between these Jews and the foreign peoples, creating a mixed race known as the Samaritans. Because they are not full-blooded, the Jews despised them.

Note how this man not only returned to thank Jesus for his healing, but he came giving God the glory "with a loud voice" (v. 15b). He wasn't ashamed of his faith. He wanted all to know what Jesus had done for him. And he laid prostrate before Jesus, both giving thanks for his healing and worshiping Him. That is how we all should respond when our prayers are answered.

Note here that Jesus paid close attention to what had just happened. He was grateful for the one who returned to thank Him, but He noted, "Were there not ten?" (v. 17a). "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?" (vv. 17-18). Ninety percent of those who were cleansed went their own way and did not follow the Lord Jesus. Ninety percent!

Only one in ten truly reinforced his faith in Jesus by returning to Him and following Him. And to that one, Jesus said, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well" (v. 19). Oh, to live for Jesus! That is the way we all should go. Amen.