"And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole." (Luke 17:12-19).
These men who were lepers were not supposed to be in public places due to their uncleanness. If they got around anyone, they were to shout, "Unclean!". These men were not abiding by the laws established in Leviticus 13. They took a risk by approaching Jesus; it took faith believing He could heal them. He didn't lay hands on them, He didn't pray over them. He told them to go show themselves to the priest. This was what anyone with leprosy was to do when the leprosy was gone. As they started on their way to the priest in obedience to Jesus, they were cleansed.
One of the lepers was a Samaritan. This complicated things even more, because according to John 4:9, Samaritans were not supposed to have any dealings with the Jews. Yet, he took a risk and came back to Jesus to thank Him for his healing. He worshipped, praised and gave God the glory for his healing. He pushed aside all the reasons why he shouldn't, and just did. He didn't mind what others might think, he just knew he needed to thank Jesus. Jesus told this man that his faith had made him whole. The others were healed and cleansed; and that is a wonderful miracle, but this man was made whole. This means that any damage done to his body from the leprosy was completely erased and restored. This was more than a cleansing, it was more than a healing. He was completely made whole; simply because he was grateful and worshipped the Lord.
In 2 Timothy 3:1-5, we see a list of how people will be in the last days. This is an extensive list; and in this list, we see the word "unthankful". As we look around us, we see unthankful people everywhere. Even children today for the most part are unthankful. They want more and more and come to expect even more.
God gives us miracles every day of our lives. We wake up, and are breathing; without even stopping to think about each breath. Do we stop and thank God for what He has done? Do we thank Him for the many miracles He gives us every day? Are we truly thankful, or do we just greedily expect more and more and more?
He deserves our praise, glory and honor. He deserves our thanks and gratitude from the bottom of our hearts. He is worthy of our worship.
How thankful are you?
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