Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?

 

 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.  Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.  And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"  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.  And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks.  And he was a Samaritan.  So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed?  But where are the nine?  Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"  And He said to him, "Arise, go your way.  Your faith has made you well."

 

- Luke 17:11-19 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus said to the disciples, "It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!  It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.  Take heed to yourselves.  If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.  And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him."  And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."  So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.  And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'?  But will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink'?  Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him?  I think not.  So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants.  We have done what was our duty to do.'"

 

 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.  Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.  Leprosy was one of the most dreaded diseases of the time of Christ.  My study Bible explains that it brought both great physical suffering in addition to total banishment and isolation from society. It is also a symbol of our sin.  That these lepers stood afar off from Christ tells us about their isolation.

 

And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"  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.  Priests were in charge of issuing certificates for lepers to be allowed to rejoin the society.  In Luke 5:12-16, we read of another occasion upon which a leper was healed and sent to show himself to the priest in accordance with the Mosaic Law regarding leprosy.  Once again, this will have the effect of showing to the priests the power of Christ to heal (compare to the story of Miriam's leprosy and Moses' intercession in Numbers 12:10-15).  

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks.  And he was a Samaritan.  So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed?  But where are the nine?  Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"  And He said to him, "Arise, go your way.  Your faith has made you well."  Of Christ's question, "Where are the nine?" my study Bible comments that Christ came to heal all of fallen humanity, yet only a small portion receive Him in faith and thanksgiving to give glory to God.  Hence, "many are called, but few chosen" (Matthew 20:16).  The lesson for faithful Christians, it says, is that worship is the number one priority. 

There are a couple of things to note that come to mind with this story.  First of all, if we look at the earlier case in Luke's chapter 5, Jesus tells the healed leper to "go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."  Jesus asks, "Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"  To "give glory to God" was, in fact, a form of an oath statement indicating true testimony (see John 9:24).  So, we know that intercession and an offering for cleansing were always a part of the understanding of the healing and treatment of leprosy, particularly after healing.  When the nine show no gratitude to Christ, it is in a kind of parallel with a failure to make an offering to God as commanded by Moses.  There is no acknowledgement on the part of the nine as to where their healing came from, that God has indeed healed them.  They additionally fail to acknowledge the divinity in Christ through whom they were healed.  We have to ask why they were blind to this fact -- and also why they show no gratitude to Christ at all.  So not only have they failed to recognize the divinity in Christ, but they have failed in terms of the law of Moses to give the glory to God in the spiritual fullness of the story.  It tells us something about our own blindness to that which sustains us and heals us, our own lack of gratitude when we consider our blessings and how we are sustained by God.  For if there is pride involved here on all of their parts -- except for this Samaritan who was healed, a foreigner -- then it speaks to us about how pride blinds us to the reality of spiritual truth in our own lives.  These nine perhaps entrust their healing only to their religious heritage and not to the reality of God working and present in Jesus.  It teaches us that pride may blind us to the presence of the Spirit of God when the Spirit is at work in our lives, and also about the importance of wakefulness, spiritual alertness.  What just happened?  How did they become healed?  Only the Samaritan, the foreigner, seems to truly understand what has happened in his life and how he was healed; why did the rest of them fail?  This gives us a picture of a fine line between pride in even a beautiful and good heritage and the humility that remains always a deep requirement for spiritual truth and understanding.  It teaches us that humility remains a key for truly being able to see reality, and in order to truly see God's presence in our lives, to grasp the living communion that is present to us.  Let us consider, also, the implications in this story for ourselves and our own lives even on a smaller scale.  Do we look around and recognize those to whom we should be grateful?  Do we acknowledge their efforts on our behalf?  So often it seems simply to be human nature to attribute all good things that happen in our lives to our own good qualities or something about ourselves, but we overlook so much that comes, in fact, from others.  A lack of gratitude seems to be a sort of psychological plague in a society beset by anxiety and depression.  These go hand in hand, and the practice of gratitude is often recommended as part of a healing practice for these ailments.  Let us consider that those who act out of faith and love of Christ -- even as they extend any generosity, kindness, or charity to another -- are also those worthy of a blessing by God (see Mark 9:41, Matthew 10:41-43).  Let us be alert to our spiritual reality and to our benefactors that come in many forms and may be acting in the name of God.  Ultimately, every good and perfect gift comes from above (James 1:17).  Let us remember the power and meaning of gratitude, and what its absence can mean for us.

 

Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?

Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.  Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.  And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"  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.  And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks.  And he was a Samaritan.  So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed?  But where are the nine?  Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"  And He said to him, "Arise, go your way.  Your faith has made you well."

- Luke 17:11-19

Yesterday we read that Jesus taught His disciples:  "It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!  It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.  Take heed to yourselves.  If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.  And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him."  And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."  So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.  And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'?  But will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink'?  Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him?  I think not.  So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants.  We have done what was our duty to do.'"

 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.  Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.  And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"  Jesus is leaving His home territory of Galilee for Jerusalem, and He must pass through Samaria on the way (see map).  It's not clear where exactly this village is, but clearly it is of mixed population.  The ten lepers stand afar off because leprosy, as one of the most dreaded diseases of Jesus' time, not only brought great physical suffering.  It was also associated with total banishment and isolation from the society, and regulated by strict rabbinical law.  For the Scriptures, it is also spiritually symbolic of our sin, something that disfigures, causes pain, and diminishes our souls.

And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"  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.  Jesus' command, Go, show yourself to the priests, is one that is necessary so that a cleansed leper may get a certificate that they are able again to join the community.  In chapter 5, Jesus gives a similar command (5:12-14), and thus giving the priests a tangible miracle showing his power to be greater than that of Moses, who prayed for mercy when his sister Miriam was struck with leprosy.  She was healed only after seven days, but Jesus acts by immediate command and divine authority.  (See Numbers 12:10-15).

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks.  And he was a Samaritan.  So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed?  But where are the nine?  Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"  And He said to him, "Arise, go your way.  Your faith has made you well."  My study bible responds to Christ's question, Where are the nine?  It notes that Christ came to heal all of fallen humanity, but only a small portion receive Him in faith and thanksgiving to give glory to God.  Therefore, it remains true that "many are called, but few chosen" (Matthew 20:16).  For those who have made such a commitment to follow Christ, the lesson here is that worship is the number one priority.

To give glory to God is to give thanks.   Indeed one of the main purposes of worship is giving thanks.  This theme has been present throughout most of our recent readings, as Jesus has been addressing Pharisees, and also their criticism of the tax collectors and other sinners who come to hear Him speak.  The theme of gratitude is particularly strong in His teaching to the Pharisees on the conflict between serving God and serving mammon, even in the ways in which we think of whatever it is that constitutes our wealth in life.  To remember that everything that we have comes from God to begin with is to support this understanding of proper gratitude and, indeed, even our place in life, in all of creation.  In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the rich man is heedless of what he has, and pointedly understands ownership with the self-centered sense that he owes nothing to anyone, in particular the Lord who is also the God of Lazarus.  He therefore has no sense of relatedness to the wretched Lazarus outside of his gates.  In yesterday's reading (see above) Jesus has turned to His disciples to instruct them in the powerful necessity not only of humility but of the attitude of service to God.  As disciples, their proper orientation is as those servants who are working off a debt, who owe their service to their master.  This may seem even strange and possibly harsh to us, but we need to understand that Christ is only speaking of our proper orientation toward God, our Lord.  All that we have, all that we are, all that we may become or develop into is not only by the grace of God, but is a gift of God.  Whatever we think we possess, it is through the gracious love of God for us.  When we live, work, and dwell within this understanding of ourselves and our places in all of the Creation, then we come to know who we are more thoroughly.  Moreover, we become oriented to that disposition which will bring us, in fact, the greatest satisfaction.  A person cannot live within improper boundaries, a lack of understanding of their own origin and purpose, and fulfill their own greatest happiness.  Without this deepest sense of our true center, whatever we have becomes a dangerously risky pillar on which to base our sense of ourselves and our lives, as material circumstances are so easily changed.  But if our true heart is staked on our true Center, we base our sense of ourselves on something that cannot leave or disappear, and which remains true.  Many modern trends in self-help and in popular psychology emphasize the practice of gratitude as a weapon against depression, and a way to keep a positive focus.  But there are deeper and more important reasons why the practice of gratitude puts us in a "right place" as human beings.  Let us consider, as we head into the season of Thanksgiving, and preparation for Christmas, how important it is for us to remember to give the glory to God.