A Show of Gratitude

 Hello everyone.

I continue my exegesis of Luke 17 today, looking at a story you may be familiar with.  Jesus heals ten lepers, but only one returns to show appropriate gratitude.  Here is my translation:

11 While on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus was traveling through the area between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered one of the villages, Jesus was met by ten leprous men, who stood at a distance from him. 13 In loud voices they said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 
14 Seeing them, he said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priest.” Then, as they went, they were cleansed. 
15 One of them, seeing that he had been healed, returned and praised God in a loud voice.  16 He fell down at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.  He was a Samaritan. 17 So, Jesus responded to the man, saying, “Weren’t there ten of you that were cleansed?  Where are the other nine? 18 Is the only one who has found a way to return and give thanks to God, this foreigner? 19 Jesus said to him, “Get up, and be on your way.  Your faith has saved you.”

Jesus set out for Jerusalem back in Luke 9:51 and Luke has been sharing stories from this journey.  It appears that Luke is not necessarily telling the story chronologically, as Jesus has entered Samaria previously,  and had gotten close to Jerusalem by chapter 10, when he went to Martha’s house. Now he is traveling through the area between Galilee and Samaria. This story likely takes place early on in his journey, as it happens while he is still between Samaria and Galilee. 

So, as he is traveling along, Jesus enters a village, where he is met by ten men, all who were suffering from leprosy. The ten all cried out to him, calling him ‘Master,’ and begging for his mercy. They place their request for healing within their recognition of Jesus’ authority.  Jesus, the Son of Man, has the authority and the power to heal them of their leprosy, and in their request they are recognizing that. 

Jesus tells them to go and show themselves to the priest.  He does not heal them immediately.  However, they obey him and on their way they are healed. As lepers they were outcasts in their communities, so with this healing they were allowed to resume the lives that they had previously.  This was no small thing for these men.  

They had the faith to obey Jesus and receive their healing, but unfortunately, most of the men lacked the gratitude to return and thank him for what he had done for them.  Only one of the ten returned to Jesus to say, “Thank you,” and to offer Jesus the appropriate praise. 

The one who did return was Samaritan, an outcast among the outcasts.  But it is only this Samaritan that returns.  As the only one who returns, we see another example of  a “good” Samaritan.  The nine others, who were likely Jewish, do not return to Jesus and give the appropriate praise to God. 

It is impossible to know what was in the minds of the other nine.  Perhaps they were so excited to get back to their lives that they forgot about Jesus.  We do know that Jesus noticed their non-appearance, asking about them, and wondering aloud why they had not returned to offer God some well-deserved praise.  

It is interesting that Jesus referred to the one who returned as “this foreigner.”  Jesus is not anti-Jew or anti-Samaritan, but he is pro-faith.  I think that he is merely pointing out that the one that returned was not the one that you might expect.  One would expect God's chosen people to show more gratitude. 

Jesus tells the man to be on his way and that his faith had saved him.  The one who shows gratitude receives a commendation from Jesus that the others miss out on. 

Tom