Expressing Gratitude

KEY VERSE: “When [the leper] saw that he was healed … [he] fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks.” —Luke 17:15,16

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Luke 17:11-19

JESUS’ fame as a miraculous healer was great throughout Israel and surrounding lands. Wherever he went he was recognized by the people, and was called upon to help the sick and the maimed. And in his great compassion for the suffering of these people he always found the time and the strength to help them.

Near the end of his earthly life he and his disciples were going toward Jerusalem, where Jesus knew that his end would come at the hands of those who resented and feared his fame. But even under these trying circumstances Jesus’ ear heard the cry of the people.

Ten men with leprosy, the most dread disease of that day, were sitting along the roadside. Because of their affliction they were ostracized by society. They were not allowed into any city. It was required of them to always call attention to the fact that under the Law they were unclean, by announcing this to all who approached them. Though many were able to work, they were unable to earn a living, and had to exist by begging. To many, no doubt, it seemed a fate worse than death.

When these ten saw Jesus they called out to him. Ordinarily their appeal would have been for money, but to this great healer of the people their plea was, “Master have mercy upon us.” In answer to their cry, Jesus, although full of compassion, seemed to treat their appeal coldly. According to God’s arrangement with the Jews under their Law, all sickness was to represent sin; and the priests were to pass judgment upon cases of leprosy, determining whether or not the disease was indeed leprosy, etc. Our Lord’s direction that the lepers go and show themselves to the priests implied a healing, and suggested that by the time they should reach the priest they would be ready to have him pronounce them clean.

The lepers must have had considerable knowledge of the power of Jesus, and must have exercised great faith; for instead of crying out for instantaneous healing, they followed his direction and started for the priest to have an inspection. Doubtless they hoped that by the time they should reach him they would be well. They had gone but a short distance when they found themselves cured. We can well imagine with what joy they hastened to have the priest approve them in order to return to their families, their businesses, etc. But one of them slowed up and then turned back; probably the others, in their exuberance, did not notice this. Back he went and fell at the feet of Jesus, giving him thanks. His was a grateful heart!

This man was a Samaritan. Had he been a Jew no doubt he would have been invited by Jesus to become one of his followers. But because he was a Samaritan, Jesus merely said to him, “Arise and go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.” We cannot doubt, however, that the Lord’s providence followed this grateful Samaritan; and that when the time came for the opening of the door to the Gentiles, he was among those who gladly received the message, and made a consecration to become an heir of God and joint-heir with Jesus Christ our Lord to the heavenly inheritance.

We are not to understand that our Lord’s words, “Thy faith hath made thee whole,” meant that it was the man’s faith aside from divine power that made him whole, but rather that it was the Master’s use of divine power upon one who had faith. The power of God did the same for the nine others who were healed. They also had faith and were healed, and as Jews under the Law Covenant they had more ground for asking forgiveness and healing than had the Samaritan, but afterward they lacked a proper sense of gratitude for the mercy of God expressed.

Leprosy is used in the Scriptures as a symbol of sin. Just as the disease of leprosy eats away the flesh of its victims, so sin eats away the heart, the finer sensibilities of the human being, his character.

Not all lepers in Israel were cleansed by Jesus at his first advent; so during the Gospel Age, although Jesus by the grace of God tasted death for every man, not all have benefited from this precious sacrifice, but only one here and there.—Heb. 2:9

However, the Millennial Age is to bring a still fuller manifestation of divine grace to mankind, and all who will of the sin-stained people of this world will be cleansed—the sin of the world will be taken away (John 1:29), and in everlasting gratitude all will fall at the feet of Jesus and give thanks.

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