On the way to
Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a
village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up 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 as they went they were
cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising
God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.
Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are
the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this
foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you
well” (Luke 17:11-19).
Leprosy is a terrible disease. Beyond the
crippling and painful physical symptoms there is the hopelessness and isolation
of this incurable and infectious disease. It made its victims outcasts from the
community and even estranged them from corporate worship. Leprosy alienated its
victims from others and drove them so far from God it’s understandable that
many of them gave up on life. But here were ten of them that had heard the good
news about Jesus. Perhaps they had been stirred by His own words as He
appropriated the prophets’ identification of the Christ to Himself… “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news
to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). Ten were
delivered from a crippling skin disease, but just one was delivered from
spiritual blindness, and like the one thankful leper, once alienated from God,
sinners who imitate his rightly placed faith in Christ find the mercy that promotes thanksgiving.
Christ’s love was applied. Ten hurting,
rejected lepers found a ray of hope. They did not ask directly for healing, but
for mercy. Their request for mercy revealed an attitude of unworthiness produced
by years of suffering. Jesus knew their hearts. He knew only one would get the
message behind the miracle today, but still He responded to the request of all
ten lepers, because that’s what loving mercy does… “God shows his love
for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans
5:8).
God’s law was accomplished. Instead of
dramatically declaring them healed, Jesus commanded the lepers to… “Go
and show yourselves to the priests” His command fulfilled the law and meant
journeying toward the temple where they were required to show their healing to
the priests and to offer sacrifices for their cleansing… “This shall be
the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought
to the priest” (Leviticus 14:2). This journey was a great step of faith
because it would begin before the lepers had any evidence of their miracle. In
the same way we are saved when our spiritual blindness is healed by God’s grace
and our sin is revealed to us by God’s law and we respond by faith seeking the mercy
of Jesus Christ… “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in
order that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).
Christ’s lordship was affirmed. Like
the nine blind lepers who hurried off to the temple, many believe salvation
comes through self-righteous work like obedience to God’s law. But Christ
fulfilled the law for us by meeting its righteous requirement of atonement for
sin on our behalf… “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians
5:21). Like the thankful leper who saw and praised Jesus Christ as the One
responsible for His deliverance, all who come in faith to Christ for mercy and
forgiveness find true salvation… “For by grace you have been saved
through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a
result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christ
confirms Himself as the only God and Savior to those who like the thankful
leper have faith in Him… “To those who have obtained a faith of equal
standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (2
Peter 1:1).
As we grow up into Christ, our
thankfulness and assurance grows because we have experienced…
The Mercy that Promotes Thanksgiving.
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