Scripture Reading:

Luke 17:11-19

Opening Prayer:

Thank you, Lord, for the blessings you have given to us. As we count our blessings, may we remember who it is that has blessed us so abundantly. May we give you the praise and honor you are due, not just during this season of thanks, but at all times. Use our thankful hearts for your glory. Amen.

Introduction:

Human beings are not rational creatures. I believe that if we were rational, then we would never stop finding reasons to be thankful. Not only is the world full of wonderful things that we take for granted every day, but we live in what is arguably the most affluent and decadent era in human history. We are blessed, and yet studies show that we are, as a whole, miserable. How is this possible? The answer is that we so rarely stop and recognize our gifts.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of studies that have been done that show the benefits of a grateful mindset. People who express gratitude and thankfulness are scientifically proven to feel more positive emotions and to enjoy good experiences more often. People who make a habit of giving thanks have better overall health, they deal better with adversity, and they tend to have stronger relationships with friends and family.

In spite of this, gratitude is a rare virtue. Adam and Eve lived in paradise, but Satan tricked them into wanting more. Their lack of faith in God’s goodness and their lack of gratitude for God’s blessings resulted in the first sin. It seems that human beings have been falling for the same trick ever since. Even those of us who are Christians, who believe that Jesus Christ took the punishment we deserved on the cross and gave us a salvation we could never earn, still find ourselves drifting away from gratefulness and thanks.

Ten Healed

The account of the ten lepers we read in Luke 17 almost reads like a parable, but it really happened. In some unnamed village between Samaria and Galilee, Jesus was passing through on his way to Jerusalem. In the village were ten men who had been afflicted with leprosy, an awful skin disease that was thought to be incurable. People with leprosy would develop discolored patches on their skin and growths would start to appear on their body. Parts of their skin would be thick and stiff while other parts would grow ulcers and swellings. They often lost eyesight and begin to grow numb in certain places. Many would lose the use of their hands and feet after a while due to paralysis. Some would lose fingers and toes due to something called “reabsorbtion.”

It was a truly horrible disease, but it was not a fatal disease. People could live years with this condition, which sadly meant years or decades of isolation from anyone without this condition. Leprosy was a contagious disease. You weren’t likely to get it from a single exposure, but if you shared a home with someone who had leprosy there is a good chance that you would also get the disease. Because of this a person diagnosed with leprosy was forced to leave their families and to join a leper colony. People with leprosy were required to by Jewish law to identify themselves by shouting “unclean!” when people approached them, so that no one would be unknowingly made unclean by contact with a leper.

When the lepers we read about saw Jesus, they shouted from a safe distance “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (v. 13). Jesus could have simply told the men “be clean!” as he did with another leper in Luke 5, but this time he tells the lepers “Go and show yourselves to the priests” (v. 14). We might read this and wonder why Jesus would send these men to a synagogue priest? It was not because Jesus needed help healing these men. The reason Jesus sent them to the priest was because the Law of God required anyone who was healed from leprosy to go and be inspected by a priest. If the priest inspected them and found that they were healed, they would no longer be considered unclean. There was an eight-day ceremony and celebration of their healing, and then the former leper could be reunited with their families.

We are told “as they went they were cleansed” (v. 14). We are not told what this looked like, but I imagine ten men slowly lumbering towards the town synagogue. Their paralyzed and ulcerous feet slowed their pace at first, and they had to periodically shout “unclean!” to people walking by. Then after a while their steps got a little stronger, their stride a little wider. Maybe they realized their aches and pains were not as strong as when they began their walk. By the time they reached the synagogue the ten formerly ill and disfigured men were made whole and new.

One Thankful Heart

I have no doubt that all ten men were overjoyed, but we are that only one returned to express gratitude. We are told that one of the ten lepers was a Samaritan, a group of people who Jews normally did not associate with. While the other men were probably celebrating their new life and the new freedoms, the Samaritan alone rushed back to catch Jesus before he left town.

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.

Luke 17:15-16, ESV

I can imagine this man running down the same streets he had hobbled through minutes ago. Instead of shouting “unclean!” he was shouting praises to God! Here is a fun fact, the Greek words that we translate into “loud voice” are actually the same two words that we combine to create the word “megaphone.” Once he found Jesus “he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks” (v 16). Being a Samaritan, this man would have known of the Messianic scriptures. Like the rest of the former lepers, he had cried out to Jesus for healing. But unlike the rest of his former lepers, he alone returned to Jesus with a thankful heart!

This is a great reminder of what giving thanks truly looks like. God had answered this man’s prayers and he wanted everyone to know what God had done. He recognized that Jesus was the reason his life had changed and he bowed at Jesus’ feet in humble adoration.

What separated this man from the rest of the former lepers? All of them had been afflicted with the same condition, all of them had cried out, all of them had been healed, and all of them were full of great joy. What separated this man from the rest is that, when all was said and done, he acknowledged that his healing and new life were gifts from God. He wanted to give Jesus the credit and God the glory!

Where are the Nine?

When Jesus sees this man’s thankfulness he asks a series of questions.

“Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

Luke 17:17-18, ESV

The other nine lepers were so caught up in their new wholeness that it did not occur to them to return to Jesus. The nine who did not return were no doubt happy. They were celebrating their good fortune and were probably busy making plans to return to their family and resume a normal life. They did not, however, think to give thanks to the one who had healed them.

I think it is worth pointing out that all ten men were blessed, even though only one returned to show thanks. God loves to give good gifts, and like a good father he does not withhold his goodness just because we are guilty of being ungrateful. In Jesus’ sermon on the mount recorded in Matthew 5, Jesus pointed to God’s goodness towards all people to argue that Christians should likewise show love to all people, including our enemies:

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 

Matthew 5:44-45, ESV

God’s common grace and goodness are for all peoples. All good things are from God, and He gives them to the evil and the good, to the just and the unjust, and to the thankful and the ungrateful. However, God’s goodness is not meant to merely be good for goodness sake. God’s heart is that all people would be reconciled to Him, and so His goodness is meant not only to demonstrate His Love for us, but also to draw us near to Him.

The problem with the nine who did not return was that their happiness was not God centered. These men were acting as if they had just had a stroke of amazing good luck. The nine who did not return with thanks were worldly focused. Their blessings were still blessings, but they missed out on what the blessings were really for. They missed out on a greater relationship with Jesus.

Your Faith Has Saved You

This account concludes in verse 19 with Jesus telling the grateful Samaritan:

“Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Luke 17:19, ESV

Now, I usually love my English Standard Version of the Bible. I like the accuracy of the translation and the way it works to retain the original structure and flow of the sentences. However, I think this is one of the few times I would say they could have done a better translation.

The Greek word that my translation converts to “has made you well” most literally translates to “has saved you.” It can mean to save someone from a disease or to restore someone to health, which is how my translation interprets it. But more often than not it is used to mean “to be kept safe from danger, to be rescued from destruction.” It is the same word used in passages that talk about how Christians are saved from the Messiah’s judgment through faith in Christ.

I do not think Jesus is saying to this man, your faith has made you healed from you disease. The man had already been healed. I think he was talking about a deeper salvation that can only come from faith in Christ. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t pulling this out of nowhere, but I checked and there are scholars from a variety of Christian faith traditions ranging from Anglicans and Catholics to Methodists and Baptist that have drawn the same conclusion. I personally like the way one New Testament scholar commented on this passage:

“But as much of a foreigner as he might be, this man is now sent off by Jesus as a person who has experienced the salvation that Jesus came to bring. None of the others, despite their new-found freedom from leprosy, receives this special blessing.”

John Nolland, Trinity College Bristol

Ten men received a blessing that day, but I believe only one found salvation. Ten men had their health restored, but one man received forgiveness, reconciliation, and eternal life. Ten were saved from a sickness of the flesh, but one was saved from a sickness of the soul. His gratitude and praise were signs of saving faith that goes deeper than any flesh wound.

This man was not saved because he was thankful. We are not saved by giving thanks. But at the same time a thankful heart is the result of true faith. Believing hearts are hearts that praise and glorify God. So as we celebrate this season of Thanksgiving, let our gratitude ring out to God through Jesus Christ. May we be lights of gratefulness and hope in an often dark, depressed, thankless culture. And when we count our blessings, let us not forget from where all blessings come. Let’s show our gratitude and thankfulness by declaring His good works and by making His name known to all who will hear.

Happy Thanksgiving.