The ten walked corporately, headed toward Jerusalem as they had been instructed to do so by the master. “Go and show yourselves to the priests,” He had told them. The months and years of a common malady had fomented the unlikely bond of despair between them. And yet, as they were going, they were cleansed. Cleansed from years of leprosy, the debilitating numbness, loss of appendages, shame and social rejection; pushed to the margins of society, and loss of familial intimacy.
Luke 17:15 says “Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back.” It’s hard to imagine what it would be like watching leprosy healed before your very eyes in the matter of a few steps, or even a few miles. One must wonder how this presented. Were open wounds closed? Were digits restored? Was the stench of rotting flesh divinely absent? We do not know, but the man knew…and he turned back.
Only moments before the unlikely troupe from a distance ….cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” One may not recognize this at first glance, but when an entreaty to do something like this is directed to the Divine, it is called a prayer. All ten had assailed Jesus to deliver them from this walking death. All ten yearned to be healed. All ten desired to be restored to the warmth of affection and society. All ten “saw” that they had been healed. One turned back.
He returns to Jesus, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. When one gives God the glory, when one falls on his face before the Master, when one thanks the Divine in an act like this, it is called worship.
Disappointment is heard in the words of Jesus, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine — where are they? Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?’” Ten were healed, nine continued in their courses. One came back – a Samaritan. The math was easy…Ten had been spared a miserable death at the hands of this merciless disease, and yet, only one returned. The corresponding logical response was one of gratitude for this act of mercy. Only one knelt before the Giver of life.
Jesus had seen their pain. He had honored their request, as only a Divine sovereign could do. He did not, He would not force their gratitude – that needed to be voluntary.
“And He said to him, ‘Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.’”
It’s hard to discern the level of blessing conferred in these words. Was Jesus dismissing him and affirming that his faith had healed him physically? Or, was Jesus stating that the man had gained the greater blessing to see that Jesus was the healer of his life on a higher, eternal level? My understanding is the latter, that salvation through faith was granted.
Ten were healed, one came back.
Ten were healed, one was saved.
Ten were healed. One would join Him in Eternity.
Always good to ask the Divine. Always good to acknowledge His hand. Always good to come back and worship Him for who He is, and what He has done.
