“Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” Luke 17:17 ESV.
Reflection: what makes some people grateful and others ungrateful for the same thing?
We looked yesterday at human pride, one of the biggest obstacles for entering into the kingdom, into a relationship with God. Pride is centered in self, where there is little to no room for anyone else; especially for God. There are many faith communities that take advantage of our human pride, focusing on self, how we can become like God. The danger here is that the focus shifts from “only through Jesus”, to self. They preach something like while Jesus showed us the way, we don’t really need to repent, not really a Savior, we can manage this ourselves, by becoming better, more Christ-like. It is a grand deception by our enemy.
This problem is not new. Luke is the only one who describes the story of the ten lepers who were cleansed, but only one gave God the glory, and returned to thank Jesus. “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. Now he was a Samaritan.”Luke 17:15-16 ESV. In a way, it seems to puzzle Jesus, as we see in today’s focus verse. Everyone received the same healing, were cleansed. He goes on saying “Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”” Luke 17:18 ESV. What are the other nine doing?
Then Jesus says something to this one Samaritan who gave God the glory, who had returned to Jesus to thank and worship him, “And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”” Luke 17:19 ESV What did Jesus mean by that? He was already cleansed from leprosy, right? The word used here for “made you well” in Greek means to be saved, made whole. In fact, the first time it is used in the New Testament is at the announcement of Jesus to Joseph, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.””Matthew 1:21 ESV.
What Jesus really was saying to the Samaritan was that his faith in Jesus, (conviction of truth), giving only the glory to God, saved him. Made him whole. He recognized what really had happened to him, that it was more than a physical manifestation of the cleansing from leprosy. He understood that in meeting Jesus, he had been in the presence of God. While Luke doesn’t directly write that the man recognized his own sin, his own unworthiness, we do see the man humble himself and worship Jesus.
So what did happen to the other nine? Jesus instructed all of them the same “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.”” Luke 17:14b ESV. We don’t know what happened. It doesn’t say. We don’t even know if they went to the priests, but most likely they did because it meant that they could once more enter society. They might even have become very successful citizens given the trial they went through in life with leprosy. Telling their stories. But, through their trial, and the healing they experienced, they missed the most important thing.
To give God all the glory.
They were ungrateful, possibly coming from a prideful attitude. It is so amazing to think about how only one of ten returned to give God the glory. But what about us? Jesus has cleansed us by his atoning sacrifice on the cross. Are we like the nine, or like the one who returned to thank Jesus, to worship him our Savior, and give ALL the glory to God? There is nothing we can do for our salvation. Only through faith in Christ. Let’s humble ourselves, and worship our King.