INGRATITUDE The Healing of the Ten Lepers Luke 17: God has two dwellings one in heaven and the other in a thankful heart.

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1 1 INGRATITUDE The Healing of the Ten Lepers Luke 17:11-19 God has two dwellings one in heaven and the other in a thankful heart. --Isaak Walton When you drink from the stream remember the spring. --Chinese Proverb It is likely that our Lord set out from Capernaum, journeyed through the remaining villages of Galilee as far as Samaria, and then passed through the small country of Samaria, preaching and teaching every where, and curing the diseased, as He usually did. Now on His way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee (17:11). Luke mentions three times in this section that Jesus went to Jerusalem. Three different times Jesus interrupted the journey to go into the religious capital of Israel on specific missions, each time returning to take up the final campaign as before. Just before this Jesus had gone to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead, after which He withdrew for a while to Ephraim in the hills north of Jerusalem, later going through Samaria and Galilee to resume that journey to Jerusalem. THE LEPERS ASK FOR PITY (17:12-13) 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!" (vv ) The dreadful malady of leprosy was a terrible scourge of Mid-East cities in the times of Christ; and, for that matter, still is. The disease itself was considered a type of sin, not necessarily related to specific sins of the victims. They kept a distance because they were forbidden by law and custom to come near those who were healthy for fear of infecting them (Lev 13:45-46; Nu 5:2; 2 Ki 15:5). Sin reduced these men to a common level before God:. 1. It made them unclean 2. It isolated them 3. It made them hopeless

2 2 They called out in a loud voice means they cried with one accord because they were all equally needy. As companions in suffering they became companions in prayer. Strong, earnest prayer is understandable when suffering from such an incapacitating and deadly disease. Yet sin is the worst of all leprosies since it separates the sinner from God. THE LEPERS ARE HEALED (17:14) When Jesus saw these lepers in their pathetic condition His heart went out to them and He healed them: When He saw them, He said, Go, show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed (v. 14). The actual healing is not described but assumed as a fact. Jesus did not touch them and command their disease to depart. He prescribed no medicine, no washing, no use of outward material means. Yet healing power accompanied the words which He spoke. Relief met the afflicted company as soon as they obeyed His command. A diversity of methods was used by Jesus in healing people. Whereas some were healed in one circumstance, some in others; whereas most were healed instantaneously; one or two were healed in stages; whereas some were touched by Jesus, others were not; whereas some were commanded to tell about it, others forbidden to tell it; whereas some were healed upon the basis of their own faith, others upon the faith of friends; and whereas some were healed in His presence, others were healed in His absence. Notice that they were commanded to go and show themselves to the priests. It was a necessary requirement of the Law that before people could be pronounced cured and reenter society that their professed healing was authenticated (Lev 13:2-3; 14:2-32). Furthermore, they were healed en route! It was as they exercised their faith that they were healed. This is another account which shows us the wisdom of simple, childlike obedience to every word which comes from the mouth of Christ. We are not to stand still, and reason, and doubt when our Jesus commands are plain and unmistakable. If the lepers had acted in this way, they would never have been healed. It is in the path of unhesitating obedience that Christ will meet and bless us. "If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine" (Jn 7:17).

3 3 In the spirit of implicit faith; they were cleansed. God highly honors this kind of faith, and makes it the instrument in His hand of working many miracles. He who will not believe till he receives what he calls a reason for it, is never likely to receive what he needs, whether healing or salvation. The highest the most sovereign reason that can be given for believing is that God has commanded it. A LEPER PRAISING GOD (17:15) Only one out of the ten lepers came back to praise God: One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice (v. 15). One of the symptoms of leprosy is the loss of one s voice. This is why this leper s praising God with a loud voice is so significant. It is a powerful testimony to the fact that this leper was truly healed. It seems that he did not wait to go first to the priest, but turned immediately back, and gave public praise to the kind hand from which he had received his cure. Normally Jews did not associate with Samaritans (Jn 4:9), but leprosy broke down social barriers while erecting others. As we have already seen, it was a Samaritan, one who professed a corrupt religion; and from whom much less was to be expected than from the other nine, who probably were Jews, who did the right thing by praising God. A GRATEFUL LEPER (17:6) Not only did the despised Samaritan praise God, but he also humbly thanked Jesus by throwing himself on the ground: He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked Him and he was a Samaritan (v. 16). This gratitude of the Samaritan provides a powerful contrast to the ungrateful Jews! UNGRATEFUL LEPERS (17:17-18) Jesus seems to express His disappointment because those who were healed did not show any appreciation to God for their healing: Jesus asked, Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? " (vv ).

4 4 Sadness seems to have been the dominant emotion as Jesus contemplated the ingratitude of the nine. How could men be so thoughtless and unappreciative of God's favors? Why did the nine not return? Could it be because they wanted to wait to see if the cure was real or whether it would last? Maybe some thought they would have gotten well anyway. How often do we fail to respond to the mercy and grace that saved us? These lepers had come to Jesus with the most loathsome and pitiful disease. They pleaded with Him to help, He healed them; but nine of them never even said, "Thanks." Ingratitude is not only seen in the case of ingratitude to God, but also ingratitude of children to their parents and of people toward their fellow human beings. One of the sins charged against the false profession of the last days is ingratitude: For men shall be covetous... blasphemers... ungrateful... fierce... traitors. (2 Ti 3:2-4) Ingratitude is listed with covetousness and blasphemy! God puts ingratitude along with wickedness: For He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked (6:35). Ingratitude is a fault always attended with other vices. Trust the ungrateful person with money, he will steal it; with honor, he will betray it; with virtue, he will violate it; with love, he will transmute it into lust; with your good name and he will defame it. Ingratitude is an affront to God! Gratitude is an inner disposition towards life as a whole. Two people gather grapes; one is happy because he has found them and the other is unhappy because the grapes have seeds in them. Two people pick roses; one is overjoyed with their fragrance and the other is unhappy because it has thorns. We see what we are trained to see in life. We see what we look for. Instead of complaining because we don t get what we want, we ought to be thankful we don t get what we deserve. The word foreigner (allogenes) is found on the limestone block from the temple of Israel in Jerusalem. It was placed in the court of the Gentiles next to the Court of the Women. "Let no foreigner enter," it stated. A foreigner might not be permitted to enter the Jewish part of the temple (upon penalty of death); but one foreigner or stranger found favor with the Lord of the temple!

5 5 Twice in this episode, the worship of the healed Samaritan, was called "giving God the glory" (vv. 15,18) and as it was Jesus whom he worshiped, we must understand that Jesus is God in human form; worshiping Jesus is worshiping God. Often God receives more praise and affectionate obedience from those who had long lived without His knowledge and fear, than from those who were bred up among his people, and who profess to be called by his name. The simple reason is... her many sins have been forgiven for she loved much (7:47). A LEPER WHO WAS HEALED BY HIS FAITH (17:19) Jesus attributes the healing to the man s faith: Then He said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well (v. 19). Ingratitude was punished and gratitude was rewarded. Jesus commended only the faith which said, `Thank you'!" Our faith has been the means of receiving the cleansing. In chapter 7 of this same book Jesus also used the same phrase when He was anointed by a sinful woman. He assured her, Your faith has saved you; go in peace (7:50). Her sins were forgiven and she could experience God s peace. In chapter 8 of Luke Jesus used the same phrase when He healed a sinful woman: Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace (8:48). The Greek word for healed actually means saved. In the parallel passage in Mark (5:21-43) both physical healing ( be freed from your suffering Mk 5:34) and spiritual salvation ( go in peace Mk 5:34) are meant. The two are often seen together in Mark s and Luke s Gospel (Mk 2:1-12; 3:1-6). In that same chapter Jesus said to Jairus concerning his dead daughter: Don t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed (8:50). Although technically it is God the Healer who heals, it is faith that takes hold of God s promises and are thus honored by God.

6 6 THANKFULNESS IS RARE Let us notice last of all what a rare thing thankfulness is. We are told that of all the ten lepers whom Christ healed, there was only one who turned back and gave Him thanks. The words that fell from our Lord's lips upon this occasion are very solemn "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?" Even the most faithful among us are far too like the nine lepers. We are more ready to pray than to praise, and more disposed to ask God for what we do not have, than to thank Him for what we do have. Murmurings and complaints are common all around us, even in Christian circles. The wide-spread thanklessness of Christians is the disgrace of our day. It is a plain proof of our little humility. We can always find reason for gratitude before God. Matthew Henry, the famous Bible commentator, was robbed of his wallet once. He wrote in his diary that night all the things he was thankful about: First, that he had never been robbed before. Second, that though they took his wallet, they did not take his life. Third, because even though they took it all, it wasn't very much. Finally, because he was the one who was robbed and not the one who was robbing APPLICATION Let us pray for a thankful spirit. It is the spirit which God loves and delights to honor. Gratitude is the spirit which has marked all the great saints in every age of the church. After all, gratitude is the spirit which is the very atmosphere of heaven where angels and righteous people are always blessing God. It is also the spirit which is the source of happiness on earth. If we are not to be anxious about anything, we must make our requests known to God not only with prayer and petition, but with thanksgiving (Php 4:6). Above all, let us pray for a deeper sense of our own sinfulness. This, after all, is the true secret of a thankful spirit. It is the person who daily feels his debt to grace and daily remembers that he deserves nothing but hell who will be daily thanking and praising God.