Background Scripture: Leviticus 13–14; Luke 5:12–16
Devotional Reading: Isaiah 56: 1 – 8
Lesson 5 July 3, 2021
Key Verse:
Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, Luke 17: 15
INTRODUCTION
“Thank you’ is arguably one of the most often heard and read phrase in our society and maybe in any society. It appears sooner of later in just about every exchange between people and no wonder. An expression of gratitude or appreciation is universally recognized as a virtue. Children are taught to say ‘thank you’ as one of their earliest lessons and it does seem entirely natural to express gratitude for favors rendered or courtesy experienced. Not surprising then, giving of thanks finds a prominent place in the spiritual realm.
The religious heritage of ancient Israel linked gladness with thanksgiving. Joy, praise and gratitude are interconnected (Psalms 35:18; 69:30; 95:2; 100:4). Key elements of worship included both rejoicing and giving thanks. An oft-repeated worship refrain centers on thankfulness: “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever” (Psalm 118:1; Jeremiah 33:11). There is a ‘fuzzy’ distinction at best between praising God and thanking God, both being at the very heart of worship.
We are therefore now looking at the nature of worship for the faith of a man who had leprosy led him to understood the nature of true worship and that worship should be directed to the Lord Jesus Christ This led Jesus to declare that the now healed man would be made “whole”, something more than the physical healing he had received.
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In this exchange we see the use of four verbs which teach about the nature of true worship and to whom true worship should be directed.
But the fact of the matter is we are now dealing with an incident which points to the first Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for He declares that He is there and is in the process of fulfilling all that the Scriptures spoke that Messiah would do.
The subject matter of this Study therefore is of extreme importance for it takes us deeply into whom Jesus Christ was, and into the many pictures of the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament. Many Scriptures tell us that the Old Testament is a kind of picture book in which the ministry of the Messiah is revealed. Hebrews 8 :5, chapter 9:9 as well as chapter 10 stresses this. Colossians 2 does the same thing.
New Testament writers therefore stress that in the Old Testament we see shadows and images showing the ministry of the Lord Jesus.
The first part of our Text therefore in the rather long chapter of Leviticus 13 gives us “The Law of the Leper’s Cleansing” and the instructions of Moses in chapter 14 expands the teaching that this matter of leprosy illustrates the incredibly deep, inclusive and destructive nature of sin in the spiritual sphere more than probably any other Text in Scripture.
So if you want to learn about sin and understand what it is and what it does you should start from meditating on, and examining carefully these two chapters 13 and 14 in the Book of Leviticus. We will make some limited attempt in this Study to look at this issue, the four ways in which leprosy illustrates sin, and how it relates to the promised coming of the Messiah and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ who came to remove sin from believers in Him.
Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem (9:51) for the Feast of Passover for the very last time and His route was circuitous as He traversed the land with the message of sin, judgement, repentance and the salvation to be found in Himself.
It is to be noted that Jesus is now in a borderland which is unsafe territory for this encounter with lepers takes place in the region between Samaria and Galilee. This was a violent area for the relationship between Samaritans and Jews was one of extreme hostility and sometimes violence.
We recall that the 10 tribes of Israel had lived in the area of Samaria while the tribes of Judah and Benjamin lived in the South. The Assyrians had conquered these 10 tribes of Israelites taking them into exile in eighth century B.C. and many Gentiles or pagans came to live in Samaria and mix with the poor of the ten tribes left in the land. The problem for the Israelites after the Babylonian exile was that many of the returning exiles inter- married with these Gentiles and as a result the faithful Jews hated the Samaritans for they considered them to be religiously compromised and half breeds. We read a great deal about this hostility in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra.
This area was quite dark spiritually and in the second century before Christ most of the people in Galilee had converted to Judaism recognizing the Jerusalem Temple as the proper place to worship. But there were still tensions between the descendant of the exiles who had returned with the people that were in the land These tensions related to beliefs about Scripture, worship, and what it meant to be holy among other things. We see this when Jesus made the Samaritan woman at the well for these Samaritans believed in the five books of Moses alone and believe that worship should be done in their Temple rather than at Jerusalem.
This made the region of Samaria set between two sets of people who accepted Judaism to some extent a violent one. In 128 B.C.E. things became extremely violent and Jews attacked and substantially destroyed the Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerizim.
So there was intense hostility between Samaritans and Jews and in the days of Jesus Galilean Pilgrims often bypassed Samaria en route to Jerusalem even though it added a great deal of time to their trip to Jerusalem. Quite interestingly a passage in Luke 9:51-56 tells us that James and John suggested to Jesus that they command fire to come down from heaven and consume a Samaritan village when the villagers refused to cater to and service Jesus’ needs on one of His journeys to Jerusalem. Luke 9:51-56 tells us that Jesus firmly rejected that violent request.
There were still lessons for His disciples to learn and following this critical and conclusive statement in Scripture recorded in Verse 10:
“So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do”;
The Evangelist records the next teachable occasion.
Luke records several instances of Jesus dealing with ‘outcasts. In every case and in this case despite the potential danger and without questioning a group of lepers about their loyalties, heritage, or intentions Jesus worked to heal all of them. So we see here Jesus extending His mission outside the boundaries of Israel and again offer mercy to foreigners and outsiders.
The Study Text is an account of His encounter with a group that were the ultimate outcast in Palestine for they were lepers.
Accordingly our Study as a minimum certainly invites us to look us God’s criteria for showing mercy for God’s criteria certainly is considerably more generous than our norms then and now. We therefore should look at our standards of showing mercy and grace. The standards we have directly affect our spiritual life so we had better be very careful in how we behave.
Leprosy as described in the Old Testament likely included a wide range of skin maladies, not just Hansen’s disease (HD) as we know it today. At its worse, leprosy is a disfiguring and debilitating disease that eventually ends in death, some say ‘death by inches’. Laws concerning lepers are found especially in Leviticus 13:1-46; 14:1-32. To be a leper was to be “unclean,” often permanently. Those so afflicted had to warn others with cries of “unclean, unclean” (13:45) and were required to live in some degree of isolation (13:46).
Exclusion from the community was ceremonial for the leper was considered to be unclean. He was barred from worship.
His clothes were rent to show that there was mourning over the death that had come to him.
He had to live outside the camp and so there was no fellowship with anyone, family, friend or even enemy.
Leprosy was a picture of sin, the best picture of sin that one could imagine. This loathsome disease is one that one can feel and one can smell, because it has a foul odor. It affects every part of the individual and is so malignant that it leads to death. This then is a perfect representation and illustration of sin and what it does to an individual.
This is alluded to in our Text by the fact that the lepers are cleansed (17:14, 17) not just healed!
One writer described four ways in which leprosy illustrates sin:
“It is an inward disease primarily, and sin is a disease that affects the spirit of a man. It is a loathsome disease.
One could feel leprosy and one could smell it and one could hear it. It was so bad, incidentally, that when the rabbis saw a man who was a leper coming down the street, they wouldn’t go down the same street with him. They would not even eat an egg that was for sale in a street down which a leper had come. It is a very loathsome disease and sin in the sight of God is a loathsome disease.
It was a separating disease.
It was a disease that separated the individual from the fellowship of the people of God and Scriptures makes it very plain that the person outside of Jesus Christ is dead in trespasses and sins. He is separated from Fellowship with God and from the people of God.
It was also an incurable disease. There is some evidence by the way that it was a diffusive disease. While it was not contagious, probably, there is evidence that it was communicated from parents to children and if that is true it would then also beautifully illustrate original sin. The corruption that is transmitted to the human race from parents to children meaning which according to Scripture is evidence of the fact that we have sinned in Adam in the Garden of Eden”.
It was a separating disease. It rendered a man ceremonially defiled, so that if he was healed, he still had to go to the priest and carry out an extensive ritual of cleansing before he could be accepted back into the community and participate in communal worship (Lev. 14).
The two passages in the Text were written more than a thousand years apart. Strangely enough there was no record of anyone in Israel ever healed of leprosy for 1500 years up to the time of the Lord Jesus Christ. So therefore the priests in Jesus’ day would be stirred up to clearly understand when they saw a leper coming to them for “a declaration” that the person was healed of leprosy that Messiah was here because the Scriptures had said that one sign of the Messiah was that Messiah would heal lepers.
The portion of the Study Text from Leviticus gives important context for the account found in Luke. Leviticus 13 is devoted to the identification and regulation of skin diseases as part of the legal code for Israel.
We might be surprised to see such rules, as we assume that the Law of Moses covered only religious regulations, prohibitions against crimes such as murder and thievery, etc. However, there is much more to the Law of Moses than that for that Law pointed to the coming of Messiah, the prophet that the people should obey. The accepted commandment was that Messiah would set all things right. Even the Samaritans believe that. So what we would consider a medical problem was a religious and community issue for God’s people. They saw physical afflictions as more than health issues; they understood them as punishment for sin (John 9:1–2). Messiah therefore would have to deal with the issue of sin. Isaiah 53 made that quite clear.
Lepers suffered not only from the illness itself but also from being ostracized socially. Confirmed lepers had to live outside the camp of Israel, as the disease was considered contagious. It was even in some instances seen as a curse from God, (2 Chron.26:19) bringing further contempt on lepers. That was the condition of ten men in our Study Text.
The Study Text is a pointed illustration of God’s mercy and the proper response to that mercy. Gratitude is an attitude that should characterize believers. Even so, the Bible depicts many ungrateful people. The history of the Exodus could have been that of a celebration and quick victory march into the Promised Land, but grumbling, griping and murmur made it otherwise (Deuteronomy 1:27). The dissatisfied heart always wants more and greed nullifies gratitude.
Jesus had to a great extent banished sickness and disease in Israel (Matt. 4:23-24, 9:35). In our Text, He showed great compassion on a group of ten desperate men, ostracised from their society, with their only hope for a cure being the Messiah. However, only one of the Ten returned to say thanks after being cured by Jesus. The healing of these lepers was a sure sign of His Messiah-ship, something nine of the ten failed to recognize. In a wider and symbolic sense, it was a picture of what Jesus would accomplish on behalf of sinners on His eventual arrival in Jerusalem.
Interestingly, at least one of the lepers in today’s Lesson was a Samaritan and the historic tension between Jews and Samaritans is an undercurrent in the incident we study. Jews and Samaritans were religious and ethnic cousins, sharing a common ancestry and both loyal to the Law of Moses
(John 4:5–26). Samaritans lived in central Palestine and there was great animosity between the two groups in Jesus’ day (Luke 9:51-53; John 4:9; 8:48); a type of bitter tribalism fuelled by centuries of negative incidents (2 Kings 17, Ezra 4, Nehemiah 4).
Generally, Samaritans accepted the Books of Moses and followed the regulations on lepers found in Leviticus 13-14. This included exclusion from regular village life. The ten diseased, outcasts of this week’s Lesson seem to have consisted of both Jews and Samaritans. Their location may well have been akin to a homeless camp made up of folks from divergent backgrounds thrown together by desperate circumstances.
As we consider this account, let us search our own hearts to see if we are grateful to God for His mercies; surely this was another lesson for the disciples on an important attitude that should characterize us all!
Hearing the word of God, believing it to be true and trusting in / acting-on the word is what we call biblical “faith”. Then obedience must follow as well as the other elements of the disciples’ life which Jesus will now teach.
THE TEXT
(Leviticus 13:45–46)
In the chapter from which our Study verses are to be found Moses gives instructions about the tests that are to be used to determine if leprosy exists in individuals and even in houses. Then in chapter 14 we have an extremely interesting discourse on “the law of the lepers cleansing” which actually contains what some scholars consider to be an important area in typology which points to Jesus Christ.
Typology is that area of study where we for example look at the life of Joseph, Abraham, and the mysterious Melchizedek and others as an illustration of the life of Christ.
We should however point out so that we understand what Jesus the Messiah was dealing with as He dealt with the effects of sin and spiritual ignorance. One writer comments on what leprosy does to the human body as he ties it to the effect of sin and show conclusively Jesus’ power over sin and the importance of what He did on the Cross:
“It is doubtful that there is any disease which completely reduces the human body to a wreck as the disease of leprosy. It might begin with little nodules which go on to ulcerate. The ulcers develop a foul discharge, the eyebrows fall out, the eyes become staring, the vocal cords become ulcerated, and the voice becomes hoarse and the breath wheezes, the hand and the feet always ulcerate. Slowly, the sufferer becomes a mass of ulcerate growths. The average course of that kind of leprosy is about nine years and it ends in mental decay, in a coma and, ultimately death. Leprosy might begin with the loss of all sensation in some parts of the body in which case the nerve trunks are affected… then comes the progressive loss of fingers and toes until in the end a whole hand or whole foot may just drop off”.
This is of course a classic description of what we call Hansen’s disease. But its progressive nature certainly warns us of the path that sin follows. Sin leads to death. It leads to total separation from God.
With this in mind we can understand what the next two verses are talking about.
Verse 45. And the leper in whom the plague is, … it is hard to overestimate the fear the people of Israel had of leprosy or the sorrow of a family member or friend being diagnosed as a leper. Describing this disease as the plague suggests that it was considered a divine affliction (Exodus 11:1, where the same Hebrew word is used). Being dressed in torn clothes, a partial face covering and uncovered head was associated with mourning (Genesis 37:34; Ezekiel 24:17). Incurable skin diseases led to a state of perpetual mourning for one’s lost life. The letter was a illustration of someone under judgment ceremonially.
Adding to this trauma, the Law of Moses required afflicted persons to announce their presence by shouting unclean. This was a warning to steer clear (Luke 17:13, below). This uncleanness prevented persons with leprosy from participating in any of the communal religious activities or feasts .
Verse 46. … he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be… the defiled person had to be quarantined. In Moses’ day, the Israelites walked through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land (Numbers 14:33–34). So at the time the Law was given, those with leprosy had to live outside the camp. As the Israelites settled into the Promised Land, the places of quarantine were outside the villages (Luke 17:12).
Those afflicted with leprosy suffered not only from the illness itself but also from being ostracized socially. This meant no participation in weddings, funerals, synagogue meetings, and certainly not temple activities. The afflicted persons depended on the kindness and provisions of family members or friends for survival. While medical conditions presenting as skin diseases were not immediately fatal, their resulting exclusions likely caused lives to be shortened by misery.
We should understand clearly that the priests had the responsibility of examining someone
who had been declared to have had leprosy and the priests then, if there were no signs of the disease, would declare that that person was now clean.
But the priest was not the one that heals. He had nothing to do it. As a matter of fact in Jesus’ day the priests never had any occasion to declare someone with leprosy clean for it was absolutely new to them. Nothing like this had happened in 1,500 years and so any priest faced with the case of the healing of a leper would have had to go and get out of the book of Leviticus and see what had to be done.
Healing would be a supernatural act as was illustrated in the case of Elisha the prophet And Naaman the Syrian. The healing would take place with a word from the healer.
The picture therefore is a of man outside of Christ, dead, separated from fellowship from God. He would be in a situation similar to which David found himself for when he had to confess his great sin in Psalm 51 David used the language of the cleansing of the leper, “Purify me with hyssop”, for hyssop was used in the cleansing of the leper. The connection therefore with leprosy as a type of sin seems clear. Chapter 14’s discourse on how exactly the priest would go through the process of cleansing strengthens this connection.
LUKE 17:11-19
Verse 11. … as he went to Jerusalem …. we are in that section of Luke structured as Jesus’ journey from Galilee to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-19:28).
… the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Jesus is on His final journey to Jerusalem for ‘Passover’ and unlike many Jews, He does not bypass Samaria (John 4:4). He is in the border area and there are no distinct geographical features that separate the two areas. One writer notes:
“The distinction is determined by the makeup of the villages, with the Jewish villages of Galilee lying to the north of the Samaritan region. The Samaritans, for their part, are centered in the Shechem valley near Mount Gerizim and the surrounding area, roughly twenty-five miles due north of Jerusalem”.
The location of the village accounts for the mixture of Jewish and Samaritan lepers in one group (vs.16). Note Jesus is moving generally south from Galilee.
Verse 12. …a certain village… Jesus was likely on the outskirts of a village. The Text does not say if this certain village was Galilean (Jewish) or Samaritan; both Jews and Samaritans isolated lepers, so it could have been either!
… which stood afar off… the lepers stood at a distance from others as they were supposed to; they were ‘unclean’ and possibly because their disease was contagious. Biblical leprosy was contagious in some stages but not in others (Lev.13-14:46; Numbers 5:2). They stayed near the village, where some of them may have had family members who provided food and clothing. They dared not venture too close to the village. Lepers who ignored the expectation of maintaining proper distance might be driven away by having rocks thrown at them because of fear and loathing.
It certainly appears that the lepers’ group was made up of Jews and Samaritans. In this extreme kind of sickness they became strange bedfellows. No longer was their racial divide important.
It is the same today. We often turn aside from others who are suffering and only recognize them when we or our close ones begin to similarly suffer. When we see the rich funding cancer centers or centres to treat grave illnesses, we suspect that they have personally suffered, and so want to perform that act of generosity. But nevertheless, we remain grateful for their valued contribution which will benefit others.
As Ambassadors of Christ, we must be generous and helpful, not neglecting those who suffer in hospitals, nursing homes, or those in prison.
Verse 13. The lepers did not presume to approach Jesus, choosing instead to shout at Him from a distance. They addressed Jesus as Master rather than “rabbi” or “lord.” The underlying Greek word translated in this address is found only in Luke’s Gospel in the New Testament (Luke 5:5; 8:24, 45; 9:33, 49). The word Master used epistata in Greek means a person of authority .they very likely would have heard of the miracles Jesus did and so they were requesting healing from Him.
… they lifted up their voices … the physical separation between Jesus and the lepers, maybe a hundred yards or so made it necessary for the men to raise their voices to be heard and maybe in unison, due to the effect of leprosy on their vocal chords.
Jesus, Master … The gracious Lord Jesus will never turn a deaf ear to such a cry as this! These men knew Jesus by name, but they also called Him Master, acknowledging His authority. With this necessary cry, the lepers took their proper place under the Lord Jesus’ sovereign authority.
It was a term of respect and deference, primarily used by Jesus’ disciples. Its use by the men with leprosy implies some existing knowledge of Jesus. The author gives the impression that they shouted in unison, indicating a plan formulated before Jesus’ visit. It is difficult to know exactly what they thought about Jesus but they certainly had heard enough about Him to have hope that He could and would help them.
We must put Him in His proper place as Lord and Master when we come to Him.
One writer opines: “These ten men seem to have access to the community grapevine despite their isolation. Friends or relatives who provide for them likely shared stories they heard about Jesus as a healer. The preparedness of this band of desperate men indicates that Jesus’ arrival at this particular village is expected and eagerly anticipated”.
… have mercy on us … it was obvious what they wanted Jesus to do for them, namely, cure their leprosy. Behind this request is the awareness that Jesus is a compassionate Master. The lepers saw Jesus as a conduit of God’s grace and mercy. They apparently heard of Jesus’ ministry of healing the sick including cases of leprosy (Luke 5:12–14; 7:22). In a Luke 5 encounter, a leper noted to Jesus that the Master could heal Him if He so desired. Jesus responded on that occasion by actually touching the afflicted man and he was healed!
Requests for God’s mercy occur frequently in the Psalms (Psalms 30:10; 51:1; 57:1). The plea “have mercy” also occurs in Luke 16:24; 18:38-39.
More than likely, mercy was not a common experience for these lepers. They were excluded from their homes and likely were targets of jests and taunts by the young boys of the village (2 Kings 2:23). It could be as well they believed that God was punishing them in a merciless fashion (John 9:2). The rabbis taught that leprosy was a divine illness sent by God on sinners.
(2 Kings 5 and 2 Chronicles 26:16-23).
Verse 14. … he saw them… more that just a physical awareness, Jesus sees our needs!
Go shew yourselves … Jesus’ immediate response was not to heal the men but to command an act that required faith (2 Kings 5:10). The response was at least surprising if not puzzling. Rather than touching them, or pronouncing them clean, He gave them a command. The command was for the purpose of verifying that the men no longer had any signs of leprosy.
The priests were the local health agents and were entrusted with the responsibility under the Law of Moses (Leviticus 14:2, 3; Luke 5:14). The nearest priests might have been living in the village since priests, who were from the tribe of Levi, had no fixed territory in Israel or Samaria (Numbers 18:20–24).
A leper would have had to believe he was cured before approaching the priests for confirmation,
(5:14; Lev. 13:49; 14:2-3). These men were outright lepers when Jesus spoke! The implication behind the command was that by the time they reached the priests they would have experienced healing.
By His command Jesus tested their faith and obedience. If they really regarded Him as their ‘Master’, they should obey Him. They decided to obey and as they walked, they experienced healing (5:12-16) and from a distance, (2 Kings 5:10-14). Great mercy was thus showed to these outcasts!
The Text indicates that the ten men with leprosy were not healed until they began to make their way to the priests as Jesus commanded (Luke 5:12–13). The men were thus rendered clean and free of disease when they obeyed in faith.
We assume that the fact they were cleansed means that all visible and invisible manifestations of their affliction disappeared. Hair that had become unnaturally white (Leviticus 13:2–3) returned to its natural color, etc. The men thus realized that their trip to the priests was not a fool’s errand, but rather the first step in reclaiming their lives. They would be able to resume their roles in family and village life.
There was a lesson here for everyone on the importance of trusting and obeying Jesus’ word
(16:15-31), because of belief in Him. (See 6:10; Matt. 12:13; Mark 3:5). There was also another lesson in the offing.
One simple Lesson here is that faith that results in obedience leads to healing (2 Kings 5). For the Ten men of our Text, this was physical healing. For us, it may be spiritual healing, a cleansing of our “unclean” hearts when we obediently follow Jesus (Acts 2:38–41).
Verse 15. … one of them … one of the healed men postponed his important, ‘confirmed cured’ trip to the priests. He needed the ‘all-clear’ certificate from the priests to re-enter the village and resume normal life but when he saw that all signs and symptoms of his leprosy were gone, he made a one hundred and eighty degree turn back to Jesus.
He did not come quietly either! His previous raspy cry of “unclean, unclean” (Leviticus 13:45) was now replaced with loud, effusive praise of God. Others may have been embarrassed by his exuberance, but he did not care! Jesus healed him and he was going to make it known! This leper’s glad praise should be that of every person whose heart has been healed by Jesus’ mighty power.
… glorify God… twice it is mentioned that the man glorified God (15, 18). To glorify God is to extol His attributes and His actions. It is to exalt Him, to let others know how great He is. As the Puritans rightly stated, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever on account of His blessings of salvation toward us who deserved His judgment.
Perhaps the man was glorifying God for the first time in many years. He recognized the miracle of healing and knew its source.
But note what he did. First, he turned back. So should you from your sin.
One writer notes: “… the cleansing of these lepers pictures what God does to the souls of those who call out to Him for salvation. He instantly cleanses us from all of our sins. He clothes us with the perfect righteousness of Jesus. He restores and heals our souls.
The only condition to receive God’s healing for our leprous souls is that we take Him at His word, that whosoever believes in His son Jesus will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Just as these lepers did not first try to clean up and make themselves presentable, so we are to come to Jesus just as we are. Just as these lepers did not just believe intellectually, but had a faith that obeyed Jesus’ word, so we must exercise personal obedient faith in Him with regard to His promise to save us from our sins”.
Verse16. And fell down on his face … His prostrate posture and his thanksgiving expressed his great gratitude to Jesus (5:12; 8:41; 18:11; 22:17, 19; Acts 5:10; 28:15). The man’s position on his face at Jesus’ feet also shows the proper attitude of humility that should characterize those who have been healed by His mercy. He may not have understood everything that had just happened, but one thing he knew: Jesus was God’s agent in his healing. The man was shown mercy!
… at his feet …it is unclear if the leper understood the deity of Jesus, but nonetheless, he took the proper place of worship at Jesus’ feet. Jesus said, “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23).
We cannot properly glorify God if we do not fall in adoration at Jesus’ feet. He is the eternal God who willingly left the glory of heaven to come to this sinful earth and suffer and die for us. We must spend much time at His feet.
Who knows what had gone on in his tortured mind previously; regardless, he knew that God is worthy of worship, praise, and thanksgiving.
… he was a Samaritan… Luke sees this as significant! Here are a couple of surprise twists to the story. Jews and Samaritans are part of a common group. Apparently the severity of their affliction and alienation from their respective communities broke down the barriers between them. As well, how can it be that a Samaritan is the only one who understood that God should be glorified and Jesus thanked for the healing?
The irony of this is similar to that of Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-35), where a Samaritan is the only one who understood what it was to truly love one’s neighbor.
Verses 17 – 18. Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
Jesus’ rhetorical questions highlight the necessity of thanksgiving, praise and worship to God from those who have experienced His mercy.
They also make another point: the Jews had more knowledge about Messiah and His coming than foreigners. They should have recognized who Jesus was and expressed their gratitude as well. Their lack of responsiveness was typical of many Jews in Jesus’ day (15:3-10).
Note that miracles of healing as prophesied in the Old Testament were designed to identify the Messiah, (Isaiah 29, 39, 61). Later Jesus reminded a group from John the Baptist that He was faithfully doing what was required to identify Himself as Messiah.
As noted, Jesus’ questions were rhetorical—not expected to be answered literally, but rather meant to grab the attention of those within earshot. The response Jesus sought was one of self-reflection, not one of determining the location of the absent nine who were also healed.
The questions should serve the same function today as it rings in our ears. Why did only one of ten pause to first praise God and thank Jesus?
When we are blessed, are we more like the one or the other nine? Jesus’ healing miracles always function to serve a larger purpose than merely “being nice” to someone; miracles serve as teaching opportunities (John 9).
As well, the questions highlighted the ingratitude of “the nine” other lepers who were Jews (v. 18).
It must be said that we understand that the nine were extremely anxious to be declared clean by the priests so that they would be restored to their community which they had so long missed. So clearly they were excited and quite appreciated being healed. Bur they missed something important. When we are dealing with grace and mercy we have to be careful and do what this single leper did.
He “turned back” (hypostrepho).
He praised (or give glory;doxazo).
He prostrated (literally fall on his face), and
He gave thanks (eucharisto).
We then see Jesus highlighting the first two verbs by repetition, “Was none of them found to return (hypostrepho) and give praise (doxa) to God except this foreigner?”
Return and praise have significant roles. Do not forget that when you have received grace and mercy.
Clearly, Jesus was pleased with the healed Samaritan’s expression of thanks and grieved at the ingratitude of the nine other lepers who were Jews.
“Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:15-16).
Every day we should be filled with gratitude for all that the Savior did for us when we were spiritual lepers before Him.
… this stranger… this was a rebuke to Jews who, of all people, should have accepted Jesus and His mission (Matthew 10:5; 15:24; Luke 7:4–9; John 1:11; 4:22; etc.).
In the end, relationship with God is demonstrated by one’s faith, not by ancestral connections (Luke 3:8).
The fact that this man was a Samaritan shows that the way of salvation is open to all who will call upon the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus called him a “foreigner” a word that was on the signs prohibiting foreigners from passing the inner barrier of the Temple. Paul tells us that Christ broke down that barrier of the dividing wall, so that we who formerly were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel now
“… have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Eph. 2:11-14).
The incident teaches that people whom Jesus delivers and who believe on Him have a moral obligation to express their gratitude to Him for what He has done for them.
Verse 19. …thy faith hath made thee whole… In one sense all Ten lepers illustrated faith, in that they took Jesus at His word and acted upon it personally; however, in another sense the Nine fell short of saving faith. The Nine got what they wanted from God in terms of healed bodies, but they went no farther. They never returned to Jesus to receive salvation of their souls.
They received the temporal benefit of healed bodies, but it is only to the one thankful leper who returned that our Lord proclaimed, “Your faith has saved you” (literal).
In the same way, it is possible to receive special blessings from God in answer to prayer, such as a healing from a serious illness and yet to fall short of the best blessing of all. Thus, when we realize that God has blessed us with some temporal blessing we should respond with thanksgiving.
In closing, Jesus clarified that it was the man’s faith in Him that led to his obedience and was responsible for his restoration, not just his obedience. He made a distinction between the Samaritan and the other Nine. Their faith only extended to temporal blessings. One writer examines this statement of Jesus as follows and this might have relevance to our attitude to the One who has all power and authority, and who dispenses grace and mercy:
“Is Jesus pronouncing a special blessing upon this one man, which is above and beyond that received by the other nine? All ten men were healed, so in what sense id this one leper “saved”?
In the New Testament, the term “saved” is used to refer to eternal salvation and to physical healing. Which way does Luke (and the Holy Spirit) intend for us to understand it here?
Luke appears to use the term “save” in three primary ways.
First, the term can describe a physical healing and even an exorcism (8:36, 48,50)
Second, the term can refer to the saving of one’s physical life, as when Jesus was challenged to come down from the cross and save himself (23:35, 37, 39, 9:24)
Third, the term is used, perhaps most often, of eternal salvation (7:48, 50; 8:12; 18:25-26; 19:10).
In some cases, it would appear that there is a blending of the first and third uses, so that physical healing and spiritual salvation are both depicted by the term “saved” (e.g 8: 36, 48)
How then, does Luke use the term “save” here? It is in my opinion that Luke uses it with the added sense of spiritual salvation. In the sense of being healed all the ten lepers were “saved”. But in the sense of recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, and in giving thanks to Him as such, only this one leper did so. I believe that his “salvation” goes beyond the cleansing of his leprosy to the cleansing of his sin”.
CONCLUSION
Life doesn’t get much worse than the fate of a person with leprosy in Jesus’ day: excluded from the community, required to be self-degrading in word and appearance, and destined to live with a slowly fatal and painful disease. It was a living death.
Yet a heart of thankfulness survived in the Samaritan leper. He remains a worthy example of the biblical way to worship. He overcame the urgencies of his life to stop, turn around and look at Jesus without being distracted. He let praise for God well up from his heart and be expressed in his words. He overcame tunnel vision of “what’s next” to adopt a worshipful posture. He gave thanks to the One who healed him, claiming no credit for himself.
God does not need our thanks. But He created us as beings who need to give thanks (1 Thess. 5:18). The unthankful life can become bitter and cold. The thankful heart will find peace and purpose in all circumstances.
May we learn from the man who returned that even in the humblest of circumstances, there is nothing to prevent us from giving praise and thanks to God—nothing except our own selfish and stubborn hearts. May we recognize our spiritual poverty, ask for God’s mercy, and give praise and thanks when it arrives.
Whether you are a believer in Jesus Christ or a person who does not even believe in God, the fact is, God has blessed you far more than you realize and far more than you deserve. It is important to understand how to respond properly to God’s abundant blessings. To be oblivious to the fact that God is blessing you or, even worse, to take credit for His blessings as if you earned them by your own efforts, would be to slight God. The only proper response is to glorify Him from a thankful heart.
These two responses, the proper and improper, are illustrated for us in this story of Jesus cleansing the ten lepers. Only one of the Ten responded properly. He teaches us that: we should respond to God’s blessings by glorifying Him at Jesus’ feet from thankful hearts. We live understanding that Jesus is the source, He is God’s salvation.
The incident teaches that people whom Jesus delivers and who believe on Him have a moral obligation to express their gratitude to Him for what He has done for them.
Thanksgiving is to be as natural to believers as our prayers.
Gratitude, forgiveness, thanks, thanksgiving, worship, adoration, praise, being at Jesus’ feet always for those things reflect real faith.
Note therefore that the Study ends with a command to the Samaritan:
“Get up (anistemi; rise) and go (poreuomai) on your way, your faith has made you well”.
So this is a great promise to the Samaritan. For us it is a promise that through Jesus we can understand that there is another image of what matters to Jesus and therefore what should matter to us.
There are people that live on the margins of society and our communities and who are treated as invisible. They are treated as unlovely people. But Jesus sees them, notices them, loves them and cares for them. We therefore should realize that He is right there among them, and if we want to be where Jesus is we have to find a way of pouring out ourselves to work with Him. So let us cross the boundaries, and as one writer states:
“Share mercy with outsiders, pay attention to things worthy of praise and move forward into God’s future with assurance that there is more to God’s story than meets the eye. For that may we always give thanks”.