LUKE 17:11-19

Luke 17:11-19

Let me begin by asking you a question: what kind of people deserve God’s grace? Trick question. The answer is, of course, no one. No one deserves God’s grace. If we truly understood that, it would change everything. You see, that’s our problem – that’s humanity’s problem. We tend to think we deserve the benefits of life, even the grace God has richly lavished on us. But truthfully, people largely don’t recognize the God who gives all good things. How do I know that? Gratitude, or the lack thereof. Gratitude has been our theme for three weeks in a row – it wasn’t intentional, but well, here we are. You see, Paul declared ingratitude to be one of our primary problems. In Romans 1:18ff where Paul takes humankind to task, he writes:

21 For even though they knew God, [because, all creation points to His reality and His glory] they did not honor Him as God or give thanks…

That’s an interesting way to start a discussion that will take the rest of Romans 1 where Paul says three times, because of their settled rebellion, God gave them over to their sin. He starts with, even though all creation points to the reality of God, they refuse to acknowledge God, honor Him, or give Him thanks. For what? Everything. Further, this problem will continue, even get worse, Paul suggests when he says in 2 Timothy – his last book, as he awaited certain death/martyrdom, talking about the last days, he writes:

1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, [that made the list] unholy…

That’s a stunning description of our culture today – lovers of self, money; boastful, arrogant; ungrateful, unholy. It’s always been our challenge. But we, the people of God – those redeemed by His undeserved grace and mercy – should be the most thankful of all.

Think about that. Here’s another question for you – how do you think this community would be impacted if we lived as grateful fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ? If we realized all good things come from our heavenly Father – James says it this way, “Every good thing and every perfect gift comes from above, coming from the Father of lights…” If we lived that way, how do you think it could impact our lives, our marriages, our families, our community? Think about it this way – is gratitude – recognizing all we have and all we are is a result of His kindness – could that gratitude be the foundation of evangelism and discipleship? If ingratitude is a foundation of all wickedness, maybe gratitude is a foundation of becoming and multiplying fully devoted followers of Jesus.

I’m thinking of changing our mission statement: we are called by the grace of God for the glory of God to become and multiply grateful, fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. It’s already too long – what’s one more word?
It’s interesting that we have been challenged with gratitude for three weeks. How is that working? What is God saying to us? Jesus addresses it squarely in our text today, another story found only in Luke, as we continue our study in Luke 17:11ff, which say this:

This amazing story has so many details we have slow down to catch all the nuances. We’ll use this outline:

I. The Setting (11)
II. The Lepers Cry for Help (12-13)
III. The Healing of the Lepers (14)
IV. The Gratitude of One and the Ingratitude of the Rest (15-18)
V. The Results [of returning to Christ in faith] (19)

Five points – we have to hurry. The Setting in verse 11. Throughout these travel narratives stretching from chapter 9 to chapter 19, Luke regularly drops in reminders that Jesus is headed to Jerusalem. He also drops in these location markers [GPS] – here, we see Jesus was between Galilee to the north where He was raised, and Samaria in the middle of the country. You probably know that Jerusalem is to the south in Judea.

One thing these location markers tell us is that Jesus was taking a circuitous route. Not meandering – but not a straight line. What does this tell us? I would suggest His travels were quite intentional. You see, He still has teaching to give, miracles to perform, and disciples to gather. And we’ve found those disciples are not who you’d expect. These are lepers – and one of them at least is a Samaritan leper. As the kids learned in Glory Days this week – Jesus was building an upside down kingdom – not what you’d expect.

We read he entered a village. As is often the case in Luke, the village is unnamed. We don’t know if it was in Galilee or Samaria. But it’s on the border of the two regions as the makeup of those He met indicates, which brings us to our second point – you see, I can hurry.

As He was entering the village, there were ten men who were lepers. As we’ve seen before, leprosy doesn’t necessarily speak of Hansen’s Disease or what we think of when we think of leprosy. It was some kind of skin disease, perhaps leprosy itself, that was readily discernable, seen by everyone. And it was contagious, so, you can read in Leviticus 13 and 14 all the laws regarding leprosy, including 13:45-46 which applied to these ten men:

45 “As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’
46 “He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.

Lepers were considered unclean, and announced it so. By the way, they were also considered especially sinful as leprosy was seen as the judgment of God. The Law required they display their sickness by wearing torn clothes, head uncovered, mustache covered because they understood the disease could spread by saliva. They were required to live outside the camp – outside the community – they were to live in isolation – with other lepers, fine – but not with clean or other healthy people. You know, like family members. Later, they were not even allowed in the cities. Of course, we know they had to cry out, “Unclean, Unclean” to warn others to stay away. The Mishna later required they be no closer than six feet – that’s interesting – kind of like COVID social distancing. And we had to cover our mouths, too. Do remember the social impact of such measures? Of course, that distance of six feet was typically expected to be much farther – as much as fifty paces. We see these men followed both the Law and cultural expectations, so they stood at a distance from Jesus.

Think about it, these lepers were not only physically sick; they were emotionally, relationally, and spiritually sick – sinful, unclean – ostracized from the community. The diagnosis of leprosy was about the worst thing to get. Which explains why these ten men were together – outside the village, away from their families and community life – physically unkempt with vocal warnings offered anytime someone came near. It could hardly be worse. Of course, given limited healthcare, the Mosaic Law gave such laws for the good of the community, sad though the results. If these men actually had what we consider leprosy – they would have missing appendages – fingers, toes, noses, lips, hair, they would have been a disgusting sight.

Which, by the way, makes leprosy a good description of sin’s effects on people. Of course, the physical deformities are not always readily apparent, but the damage is as deep and lasting.

Well, these men see Jesus. Kind of interesting – they know who Jesus is. Notice, they call Him by name first. Were they looking for Him? Likely. News of His kindness and healing abilities had spread throughout the land. Would He show them such kindness? And they call out to Him – they raised their voices – they had to, they were a distance away, “Jesus, Master.” That’s interesting – it’s typically only the Twelve or other disciples who call Him Master. But right away, they seem to know who He is – at least that He is Someone different – more than a mere rabbi or teacher. Oh, and notice it falls on the heels of the previous text – He is the worthy Master, we are unworthy slaves, like these men. Would He show us mercy?

Master, have mercy on us. Now, we usually think of grace as getting what we don’t deserve and mercy as not getting what we do deserve. But this was understood to be a cry for help – for mercy – perhaps the release from consequences of their sinful lives. Have mercy on us – show us compassion and release us from our miserable, broken condition – Master, heal us. Again, somehow – perhaps by reputation – these men knew Jesus could help them – show them mercy – do something about their deplorable condition. That’s the first step of crying out to Jesus – knowing your miserable state and knowing Jesus can do something about it.

Does Jesus answer their cries? Of course He does, which brings us to the healing of the lepers. But it’s an interesting healing. Earlier, when He healed a leper in Luke 5, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. Which means that man was too close – within the six-foot boundary. Further, Jesus would become unclean touching the man, unless of course, He made the man clean, which He did. Do you see? The leper was supposed to make Jesus unclean by His touch, but by touch, Jesus made the man clean. But here, He doesn’t reach out to them – because they were a distance away.

Not only that – He doesn’t say, be healed, and they were immediately healed. No – He says something nonsensical, really. Go and show yourself to the priests. That’s not right – read Leviticus 14. You don’t go to the priest while you still had leprosy or skin disease – you would go after you had been healed, cleansed, got better. Maybe the rash or skin eruption would dissipate, and you would go to the priest to be declared clean. You would go through an 8-day purification process – then if you were still clean, you could return to the community, to your family. The priests were the health inspectors. They weren’t doctors – they didn’t provide the healing – they would just declare it had taken place. The patient was no longer unclean.

But here, these men are lepers. Still bearing the marks of atrocious disease. And Jesus tells them, go present yourself to the priests. What – we’re diseased – we can’t do that. You can if the Master tells you to. By the way, local priests could do the health inspection, but to embark on the 8-day process included sacrifices – so if you were a Jew, it meant a trip to Jerusalem, if a Samaritan, a trip to Mt. Gerizim. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Go and show yourselves to the priest.

Think about that. They had to look at each other in disbelief. What did He say? Look at you. Look at me. I’m diseased. I can’t do that. But they did. And notice, as they were going. It took an act of faith for them to turn away and go to the priest. Jesus was calling out faith in these unclean men. Faith that He had the power, and the kindness to heal them. And so off they went.

Don’t miss this – get the picture in your mind. As they were going, they were cleansed. That’s important – it’s in the aorist, past tense, point in time event. At some point, as they were making their way, they were cleansed. What in the world did that look like. Hey, Goldstien, your rash is gone. Hey Joshua, you have your lips back. Hey, David, look – you just grew some new fingers. Samuel, you’re not near as ugly as you were a minute ago.

What happened here? In a moment, on the way, they were healed. Can you imagine the hooping and hollering? The cries of joy? Can you imagine the jumping around, hugging each other – He did it, we’re healed. And off they go – we assume – to continue their journey to the priest to be declared clean – to begin the 8-day purification process – to begin the journey home. Amazing.

Well, not all of them. Nine continue on, but one turns back. Turns back to the source of his undeserved mercy. To the one who heard their cries and healed them. You see, undeserved mercy should bring gratitude. Which brings us to the response of gratitude in the one, and the ingratitude of the nine. I wonder, is that the paltry percentage of those who praise the One who has touched them – one in ten? Look at verse 15 again, “Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back.” Were the others so distracted they didn’t notice he left? They continued on their merry way? Not this one – he turned back to the source of his healing.

Notice, glorifying God with a loud voice. He knew this was miraculous healing, and he knew who was responsible. Before he did anything else, he began praising God, glorifying God for what He had done. In other words, he showed gratitude. That’s the point. How can you not?

A loud voice. He wanted everyone to hear. To know what God had done for him. Charles Spurgeon tells the story of sharing the gospel with a woman known to be quite talkative. Spurgeon could hardly get a word in. Eventually she listened long enough to hear the good news and began to understand the mercy God had shown in Christ. She got excited and said, “O Mr. Spurgeon, if Christ saves me he will never hear the end of it!”

When is the last time you praised God – with loud or quiet voice – for the undeserved mercy He has shown you in the work of His Son? Luke tells this story to remind us of the gratitude we should have for Christ showing mercy to us. I have a good friend who can hardly pray without mentioning the salvation God has undeservedly shown him.

So this man turns back and praises God with a loud voice. Now don’t miss this detail – and he fell at His feet – that is, the feet of Jesus. Do you see the immediate difference? Shortly before, because he was unclean, he raised his voice from a distance. Now, having been healed, cleansed, he comes and casts himself at the feet of Jesus. He comes near to the Master and the Healer. But Master and Healer is not all He will be. We’ll come back to that. And He gave thanks to Jesus. He praised God, and gave thanks to Jesus. He expressed his gratitude in a sweetly humble yet clear way. Loud voice, casting himself at the feet of Jesus.

Then Luke adds this small but important detail: and he was a Samaritan. We know well by now who the Samaritans were. Remember, they lived in the central region of the country. Let me briefly review this mixed race of people called Samaritans. You may remember the Jews and Samaritans were avowed enemies. They didn’t like each other. Centuries before, the Assyrians had conquered Samaria. The Assyrians deported many of the people and imported people from other conquered nations. Later, Alexander the Great did the same thing. These imported people brought with them their pagan worship and intermarried with the remaining Jewish people of Samaria. Yes, eventually, the Samaritans renounced their pagan idolatry – but their hostility with the Jews was deeply entrenched. Besides, they didn’t accept the entire OT. So instead of traveling to the Temple to worship as required, they built their own place of worship on Mt. Gerizim in 400 BC. They also developed their own perverted Judaism. It was a disaster.

To make matters worse, the Jews had destroyed the Samaritan place of worship about one hundred and fifty years before this. There’s much more, but the Jews and Samaritans hated each other. I’ve told you, often when the Jews of Galilee would travel south to the Temple in Judea, they would avoid Samaria – they would cross over the Jordan and travel through the Decapolis and Perea and cross over the Jordan again at Jericho to get to Judea and Jerusalem. It was better to be with unclean Gentiles than be polluted by those dirty Samaritans.

That’s the relationship. Remember, Jesus is traveling between Galilee and Samaria. We don’t know if the village was in Galilee or Samaria. But here, we see at least one of these lepers was a Samaritan. Many, probably rightly, suggest the other nine were probably Jews. They were hanging out together because they were ostracized by their own communities and families. They needed community – race – Samaritan, Jew – no longer mattered. But, it was only this Samaritan who returned – not the Jews, if in fact they were Jews.

So this man, this Samaritan, returns to Jesus, a Jew, falls at His feet, thanking Him. Race no longer mattered to him. It shouldn’t to us, either. But notice what Jesus says, as He continues to build this upside kingdom. He asks three questions:
• Were there not ten cleansed? Yes.
• But the nine—where are they? Not here. They had other things to do – who has time to thank and praise the One who cleansed them?
• Then He asks this question: Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner? No; he was all.

Now, to be clear, Jesus was Himself not being racist. Remember, He’s the one who told the parable of the Good Samaritan. No, He’s highlighting, once again, that the religious – those who should have praised Him, didn’t. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God. He’s building a kingdom not of the religious who think they deserve grace – He’s building a kingdom of those who know they don’t. By the way, this word foreigner is not found anywhere else in the NT. But it was found conspicuously in another place. There was a sign on the Temple Mount between the court of the Gentiles and the court of Israel – of the Jews. It read, “No foreigner is permitted inside the partition and the wall around the temple. Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.”

Jesus opened the way for Jews and Gentiles to become children of God – bringing the two together and making one new body of believers called the church. He’s done that with all races – there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus.

Notice, finally, the result of this Samaritan man returning to Jesus in verse 19, “And He [Jesus] said to him, ‘Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.’” Was Jesus here stating the obvious – your faith in going to the priest still a leper has made you well – cleansed? No, that was obvious – so also to the other nine. But their healing was only skin deep. You must understand another detail not readily apparent. You see, the word for well there is actually the word for saved. Sozo. Your faith has made you saved.

What is Jesus saying? Almost everyone agrees – Your faith in returning to the One able to heal you, not only physically, but spiritually, has made you spiritually well. You see, He doesn’t use the word for cleansed – He uses the word for saved. And it’s not in the aorist tense – it’s in the perfect. Your faith has saved you now, with ongoing effect. You are made well, saved, into eternity. The other nine were physically cleansed, this one was physically and spiritually cleansed – saved. It’s what Jesus came to do – to seek and saved those who were lost. Four times the phrase, “your faith has made you well” is used in Luke: of the sinful woman who washed His feet with her hair; of the woman with the 12-year bleeding issue; this leper; and the blind beggar in chapter 18. Jesus was calling into His upside kingdom those you would never expect.

This is an incredible story. It is a perfect picture of what Jesus does for all those who fall at His feet, seeking the grace and mercy we do not deserve. And He will cleanse us – He will remove sin as far as the East is from the West. He will save you, for eternity. What is our response to be but only eternal gratitude. Both here, and there. You see, the lady talking to Spurgeon was right, He will never hear the end of it. It’s true. Revelation 5:

8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,
12 saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying,
“To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
14 And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Ingratitude, as Philip Ryken says is “a way of saying that God owes us whatever He gives us, and that we owe Him nothing in return,” namely undying gratitude. Most of us know the first question of the Heidelburg Catechism, What is my only comfort (or hope) in life and death? That I am not my own, but belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. The second question asks, what things do we need to know in order to live and die in the comfort (or hope) of Christ? The answer is threefold – “First, the greatness of my sin and misery. Second, how I am redeemed from all my sins and misery. Third, how I am to be thankful to God for such redemption.” My brothers and sisters, we have received mercy we did not deserve. If we truly believed that, it would change everything. We would be people of deep, abiding, unending gratitude.

Final questions as we close. Have you come to Jesus? Have you fallen on your knees, recognizing all He has done for you that you don’t deserve? Has He forgiven your sins and become the Lord of your life? Come to Jesus and receive His undeserved mercy and grace. He will receive you if you do – and you can be saved eternally.