The Missing Nine
TRANSLATION
(11) On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was traveling along the border between Samaria and Galilee. (12) And as he entered a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance (13) and cried out to him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” (14) When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And, as they went, they were healed.
(15) Then one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned praising God with a loud voice. (16) He then threw himself down at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. (17) And Jesus asked, “Were not all ten healed? Where are the other nine? (18) Has no one else returned to give praise to God apart from this foreigner?” (19) Then Jesus said to him, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you whole.”
OBSERVATIONS
Two repetitions mark this passage: “ten,” designating the number of lepers Jesus met between Samaria and Galilee (vss. 12 & 17) and “healed,” speaking of what he did for them (vss. 14, 15, & 17). Luke was careful to indicate where this miracle had taken place, on the border between Samaria and Galilee (vs. 11) and the nationality of the one who had returned to give thanks, “a Samaritan” (vs. 16). Note also that Jesus never spoke words to heal the ten. He simply sent them to the priests, and on the way they were healed.
OUTLINE
I. Ten lepers begged Jesus to heal them. (11-14)
II. Only one, a Samaritan, returned to praise God and thank him for his healing. (15-19)
IDEA STATEMENT
The gratitude of the Samaritan for physical healing brought praise to God and wholeness to his entire being.
APPLICATION
Jesus asked three questions when the Samaritan leper returned to give thanks for having been healed. The answer to the first (“Were not ten healed?”) was obvious. Ten lepers had, in fact, been miraculously cleansed of their incurable disease. The answer to the second (“Where are the nine?”) made an emphatic point. The others who should have returned to give thanks and praise for benefits received failed to do so. Why? Were they too preoccupied, too absorbed in their own healings, to think about expressing gratitude to the one who had changed their lives forever? William George Jordan warns us about the failure to give thanks with these solemn words: “Ingratitude is a crime more despicable than revenge, which is only returning evil for evil...ingratitude returns evil for good.”
In his third question, Jesus expressed amazement that it was a Samaritan, a foreigner outside the community of Israel, who returned to express his appreciation (vs. 18). One would suppose that those who possess a greater understanding of God’s truth have a greater responsibility to live according to that truth. Yet, it was the Samaritan, a person outside the covenant community, who returned. And what a reward he received! Jesus conferred on him an even greater blessing than physical healing, namely, spiritual renewal, with the words, “Your faith has made you whole.” If the other nine had returned, they likewise would have received the gift of wholeness, a grace reserved for those who place their faith in the Son. In this story Luke pointedly reminded his readers that while physical healing is a great blessing, regeneration and reconciliation to God are far more significant for our eternal well being.