Jesus Meets the Ten Lepers

I. Story
A. One day Jesus and His disciples were on their way to Jerusalem when they came to a village. In the village there was a group of 10 men who had leprosy. (Leprosy is a painful and ugly skin infection which often deformed people’s faces, hands or feet. Sometimes lepers are deformed by the disease; sometimes fingers and toes fall off. Look at pictures on the internet to get an idea of what it’s like.)
B. The lepers didn’t come close to Jesus and His disciples, they stayed at a distance and yelled to Jesus: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Lepers weren’t allowed to mingle with normal people in Judea. They had to keep separate. They couldn’t live with their family or friends. So, all they had was each other. This is why they often kept in groups.
C. When Jesus heard them, He looked up and said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”
a. This was a promise of healing. When a person was cured of leprosy they needed to go through a cleansing process at the hands of a priest for them to be ceremonially cleaned. (Lev.14:2-32)
D. And then as they walked toward the priests, they were suddenly cleansed from their leprosy.
E. One of the men, when he realized he had been healed, turned to go back to Jesus. Now it’s pretty obvious from what happens next that this fellow wasn’t the shy type. Obviously he didn’t just slip away from his friends unnoticed. He must have told them what he was doing and where he was going. Surely he tried to persuade them to join him, and they must have refused.
F. But the man returned to Jesus, praising God with a loud voice; and fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.
G. And then we’re told that the one man who returned to Jesus was not a Jew but a Samaritan.
1. Why does Luke make this point that it was the Samaritan that returned to give thanks?
2. You know, it’s strange that this group was ever together in the first place. Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along with each other at all (John 4:9) . And yet this group of ten lepers was composed of nine Jews and one Samaritan. Since when do Jews hang around with a Samaritan? These men were born enemies. What drew them together? What was it that was strong enough to bridge this wide gap between Jew and Samaritan? What was it that drew such people together who would never otherwise associate with one another?
a. It must have been their leprosy that drew them together. They were all rejected by the rest of society as a result of their disease (see Lev 13:46; Num 5:2–3, again). All they had was each other.
H. Then in v.17-18 Jesus answered the man, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
1. Jesus has given these ten men something no one else could give them, something that made an enormous difference in their lives, something that took away what they thought was their #1 problem in life. And yet, they don’t even bother to come back and say “Thank You.”
2. And so Jesus asks why men who have been given such an amazing gift would be so unappreciative. Why is it that human beings are so ungrateful?
3. And then He turns to the man...
I. 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” (I don’t think that it was so much that this man's faith healed him from leprosy whereas the others were healed some other way, but that this man's faith brought him an additional healing: from a greater leprosy, a healing that the others never got.)
II. Thankfulness
A. This is a story about God’s mercy and mankind’s thankfulness — and lack of thankfulness.
B. This story is a microcosm of Christ's ministry.
1. These ten are a picture of mankind. Something is very wrong. Things are not right. Mankind is infected with an ugly and deadly leprosy called sin.
2. And then Christ comes healing, though no one deserved it, no one did anything for it. Nonetheless, many are blessed by Jesus. God sends rain and sunshine, He gives health, He protects, He sends daily food. He gives His life to cleanse the sin of mankind.
3. But very few actually come to Jesus and thank Him. Oh, they’ll go to church or temple or synagogue, but they won’t go to Jesus.
4. Many people who are religious don’t really care about God, they only care about what God can do for them? They may say, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” when they’re in need, but they don’t come to Him when they’re not feeling their need. For them, God is not someone to worship or to know; He is a means of getting the things they want, the things they think are really important, the things they think they really need.
5. E.g. this week’s news was dominated by the Boston marathon bombers: lots of prayer, even gatherings of leaders in religious services, prayer for the victims and for the capture of the bombers. But when the things prayed for are given, where are the praise services? There has been lots of chest-pounding, lots of glorying in being Boston Strong, lots of celebrating. But once the trouble has passed, the prayer is abandoned.
6. The nine lepers are like most men — focused on the blessing instead of the Blesser.
C. The Samaritan leper is a good example for us of how we should relate to God.
1. You can tell by the language that he was not just going through the motions of saying thanks:"when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him" v.15.
2. And he did this even though it separated him from his friends.
a. You know, you would think that this experience would have drawn them together in joy. They certainly must have been joyful when they got healed.
b. All ten of them ought to have come back together. They should have been united in their gratitude just as they’d been united in their leprosy. The fact that one was a Samaritan and the rest were Jews shouldn’t have made any difference. They should all have fallen on their faces at the feet of Jesus to praise God and thank Jesus. Sadly they didn’t.
c. But at least one man came! One didn’t think it was enough to be joyful about healing, he wanted to thank the One who healed him. One realized that what had happened to them wasn’t just physical, it was relational.
3. We ought to fall at Jesus’ feet every day to thank Him for His many mercies, especially Christ’s salvation. And if it separates us from our friends, then so be it.
III. Conclusion
A. This leper was just where God wants all of us to be: at Jesus feet thanking Him for His mercy.
1. How about all those other people, those that God never struck with leprosy? How many of them were falling down at the feet of Jesus thanking Him for their good health?
2. You see, in order to make worshipers, God must first make sufferers.
3. God doesn’t want happy, healthy people who don’t know or worship Him, because people who don’t know or worship God aren’t really happy or healthy, are they?
4. He allows us to suffer so we’ll realize how much we need Him, so when He heals us we’ll overflow with praise.
B. On the last day, when all is healed, all of Christ’s people will fall at Jesus feet and thank Him. But what are we going to do now? Are we going to merely enjoy God’s blessings and healings? Or are we going go to Jesus to worship and thank Him for His blessings and healings?