11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, the were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, 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 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 there are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 and he said unto him, Arise, go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.
As Jesus was passing through the borders of Samaria and Galilee, Jesus stopped by a Village, where he met ten men who had the dreadful, contagious disease known as Leprosy. Because this disease was so contagious, the Leper had the communal responsibility to stay clear of other people, and to warn other people to stay clear of them. The Leper was doomed to being a social outcast, by only interacting with others that had the same dreadful disease. At times the leprosy would go into remission, and so the lepers was required to go to the Priest who would in turn declare whether the Leper was clean.
However, in seeing and recognizing Jesus from a distance, they cried, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! It's interesting how Jesus responded from a distance with His words of healing grace, "Go shew yourselves unto the priests!" Even as they made their way to see the Priest, they were already healed!
However, only one of the ten returned with loud and joyful glee to express his gratitude. The one that returned was a half breed, a Samaritan, a Gentile. One would have expected for the Jews that were healed to be first to express their gratitude in light of all that God had done for them, and in light of all that God has been to them. Yet, a stranger was the only one of the ten to have the appreciation to return to say thank you.
The other nine surely missed out on something by reason of their ingratitude. They missed out on hearing and learning about the Grace that God only could supply. They did not hear Jesus say what He said to the one that did express gratitude: "thou faith hath made thee whole!"
Don't you have something that you can go to God to express gratitude for? Don't be ungrateful as the nine healed Lepers were! Don't miss out on learning more of His Grace by reason of your ingratitude. God has done so much for you! God is doing so much for you! God has so much in store for you! All may not be as you desire for it to be, but surely you can say thank you God for all things being as well as they are! If you don't have the gratitude, I do! Thank you God! I thank you for your Grace, mercy and salvation! I thank you God for being my Lord and accepting me as your Child! Thank you Lord! Thank you Lord! I thank you Lord!
With the love of Christ Jesus,
Dr. A.L. Purham, Sr., Pastor
The Freedom Church of Duncan, SC
