And it happened that while He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing through Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him. And they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And it happened that as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? Was there no one found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
Luke 17:11-19
Introduction
There is a lot going on in this interaction that can be confusing or even frustrating depending on how we look at it. Jesus commends the one Samaritan who turned to give thanks, even to the shame of the nine who failed to thank Him. And yet, did He not tell them to go present themselves to the priest?
Yes, He did, but it helps to contextualize His command in the Law. There are quite a few commands regarding the one cleansed from leprosy, but the key passage is in Leviticus 14:
This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall go out to the outside of the camp. Thus the priest shall look, and if the infection of leprosy has been healed in the leper, then the priest shall give a command to take two live clean birds and cedar wood and a scarlet string and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed… …And the priest shall offer up the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be clean.
This section which ranges from verse 1 through 20 (32 if the leper is poor) outlines specific steps to be taken for the ritual cleansing of a leper who has already been healed. Note first that this is a law for “the day of his cleansing.” And this series of events which conclude with the leper becoming clean begins with the priest inspecting him and finding his “infection of leprosy has been healed.”
That much is important, because when Jesus sent the ten lepers to the priest, they had not yet been healed. They were only cleansed “as they were going.” It certainly took faith for the ten to set off to the priest before knowing they were healed, but the ritual in Leviticus is only the outward confirmation of what has already taken place. While the leper is already healed, he is only pronounced clean by the priest after accomplishing a series of tasks.
There is no requirement from the Law or from Jesus, though, to go immediately to the priest the very moment that leprosy is healed. It is only the beginning of the formal process for re-entering society. There is always room for thanksgiving.
The pervasive grace of God
In a sense, this is a reminder that all healings are from God. That is also what the ritual in Leviticus 14 teaches, with the inclusion of the grain offering which was considered “a thing most holy to the offerings to Yahweh by fire” (Leviticus 2:10), and an offering of thanksgiving. It acknowledged God’s provision in this healing. But unlike the other offerings prescribed in Leviticus, an offering of thanksgiving was not required to be given in response to anything in particular. It is enough to simply be thankful for what God has provided.
And God’s provision is everywhere. From the simplest breath taken to the most lavish of luxuries, everything we enjoy is a gift from God (James 1:17). It is not something to be taken lightly that God’s grace sustains you every moment of every day. When our failure to acknowledge Him draws wrath (Romans 1:18) and our sin demands death (Romans 6:23), God in His mercy gives us life instead. And if you are a believer, that life is eternal (John 3:16).
Thanksgiving in your prayers
But how often do you go to Jesus in thanks for what He has done in your life? How often do you thank Him for holding all things together (Colossians 1:17)? Are you thankful for the simple blessings or do you only offer thanks for the “big things”?
When I was in college, a friend of mine insisted on praying over a meal after we were finished rather than before we started. I asked him why he did this when everyone else prayed first, and he responded by telling me, “It is easy to thank God for this meal when you are hungry, but it is much harder to remember Him when we are full.” What struck me about this was not only the thoughtfulness with which he thanked God, but the immediacy of it as well. He did not wait for evening prayers to thank God for the food he received, but did so right as he completed the meal. That is how this Samaritan leper was: he did not wait until after the ritual was completed to find Jesus and thank Him. He thanked the Lord immediately for his cleansing.
And while I do not carry on my friend’s personal tradition of praying after meals (which would be especially difficult with 4 children who eat at wildly differing paces), I do make sure to stop and thank God when I experience relief He has given me. From stepping in out of the cold to sitting down after a long day, it is important to pause and give gratitude to God for the blessing He has just given me.
It is also important to fill our prayers with thanksgiving. Before asking God for anything, perhaps it would be better to simply thank Him for the faithfulness He has already shown us. Maybe if we focused our prayers on the praise and glory of our Father in heaven, when we do ask, it will be in alignment with His will (Psalm 37:4).
May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.
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