Are we thankful?

“Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’ When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed.” (Luke 17:11-14 NIV)

These ten men had a death sentence. Leprosy covered a wide range of skin conditions that were not curable. The problem was that they were contagious, so if you were diagnosed with one you were quarantined from the rest of society. As a result, they lived amongst others with similar conditions – after all, if you both had it you couldn’t give it to anyone else!

When people came near them they had to call out and warn them – as we see in this incident. Jesus and his disciples were travelling and as they entered a village they were met by a group of ten men with leprosy. When the text says ‘met’ keep reading: it wasn’t that they were close, because they weren’t, but they saw each other and the diseased men “stood at a distance”. As they couldn’t work, when they normally met people they would ask for charity. But they recognised Jesus, calling him by name, and asking that he have pity on them. Perhaps they had heard of other healings and hoped that he might take pity on them and heal them.

Notice that this time Jesus did not approach them. He simply told them to go and show themselves to the priests. This was what was in the Mosaic Law, recorded in Leviticus 14. When someone with a leprous condition was well again, the priest would then examine them and if it was truly gone they would be pronounced ‘clean’ and allowed back into society. Jesus simply told them to do this and, as they went, they were healed.

What would it be like to have a terminal illness and suddenly be healed from it due to some breakthrough. What would we do once we knew we were healed?

“One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no-one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Then he said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’” (Luke 17:15-19)

When one of the nine saw he was healed he had to go back and thank Jesus for what he had done. As he was going back he was shouting God’s praises – and wouldn’t we, if we had been healed of a terminal illness?

But where were the rest? Surely they would all have been thankful to have had such a dreadful, isolating disease lifted from their lives! But only one went back to thank Jesus for what he had done. What made this even more noteworthy was that this man wasn’t even a Jew, one of God’s people. He was a Samaritan, despised by most (it would seem that disease is a great leveller!). It would seem that the others were not even praising God like this ‘foreigner’. 

There should be an obvious application for our lives: are we thankful for all that God does for us? Are we thankful for the little things that we are given every day: the air that we breathe, the food on our table, our health, our safety (and the list could go on and on)? Sadly, too often we look on these as something we deserve.

May we learn to be more thankful for what God does for us and for what other people do for us.

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

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Readings for next week: Luke 17-21