Attitude of Gratitude – By Suresh Joel
Luke 17: 11-19: “Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
During those days, leprosy was considered a curse from God and was associated with sin. According to the Law of Moses, the person affected with skin disease has to show himself to the priest who in turn would examine him and pronounce him as either clean (from disease) or unclean (affected by leprosy). And the unclean person should live outside his house and in isolation. The spiritual stigma was more as there were only two instances recorded in the bible where God heals the lepers – Naman and Miriam.
Jesus was walking at the borders of Samaria though the Samaritans were considered out-casts and the Jews had no dealings with them. The ten lepers would have heard of Jesus and His ministry and decided to go out to Him. Though in the Old Testament, there were only two instances of lepers being healed, they tried Jesus!
They would have expected some handy miracle, but, they obeyed Jesus when He asked them to go and show themselves to the Priest. And in their midst of their faith-walk, they were healed. Faith and obedience are the pre-requisite of any miracle. Though all were cleansed of the disease there was just one man, a Samaritan, whose immediate need was to seek the source of all blessing and acknowledge God for His mercy. The majority of the healed were busy making their way to show themselves to the Priest, who would declare them clean and fit to enter the society, this one “out-cast” chose to be “set-apart”, a live illustration of Ephesians 2:19 “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”.
The Greek word that is translated as “cleansed” in verse 17 is “katharizo” which means “to make clean; heal a person of disease”. The phrase “made you well” in verse 19 is Greek “sozo” which is commonly translated as “to save” (Noun: Salvation). Though God is interested in healing those who seek Him, salvation is His ultimate plan. We can see a pattern in the above passage – Faith, obedience and Faith in action followed by Praise and thanksgiving. According to James 2:17 “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead”. When the nine lepers were “keeping the law”, one was saved because his spiritual eyes were open to the truth of salvation – the Giver of all good things!
The greatest gift is the gift of salvation! Is our heart filled with gratitude for this gift and for all our answered prayers or are we busy making lists of next plea? Are our eyes open to seek His beautiful face or are we satisfied with His bountiful hands?
Reflection by Reena Thomas