Luke 17:11 onwards As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.”
Yesterday God answered prayer in a wonderful way for the journey and the border entry. In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, you never know how things could pan out.
If my nearest and dearest couldn't get past the border, we wouldn't be reunited.
Lots of my lovely family in Jesus were praying that all would go well.
As soon as I could, I sent out a message of thanks to Jesus and for their prayer support.
It matters!
In the passage today we read how Jesus healed ten lepers, but only one came back to say thank you.
Jesus asks where are the others? Why was it only a "foreigner" who came back.
Perhaps that foreign leper realised that, as he wasn't a fellow Jew, he had no entitlement, no right to a healing?
What were the others thinking?
They were obeying the law of Moses as Jesus told them, but they had no appreciation in their hearts. Or, if they did, they failed to express it.
Anyway the Samaritan's heart overflowed with gratefulness.
Leprosy was a terrible disease back then, it separated the sufferer from society and their loved ones - so to be healed meant a restoration of relationships, and even of income! They could work again.
Some interesting facts about leprosy:
"Leprosy is an infectious disease that causes severe, disfiguring skin sores and nerve damage in the arms, legs, and skin areas around the body. It is caused by a slow-growing type of bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae(M. leprae).The disease has been around since ancient times, often surrounded by terrifying, negative stigmas and tales of leprosy patients being shunned as outcasts. Outbreaks of leprosy have affected, and panicked, people on every continent. leprosy is contagious if you come into close and repeated contact with nose and mouth droplets from someone with untreated leprosy" [reminds me of COVID-19].
Without Jesus' cleansing blood we too are spiritual lepers, separated from God by our sin and can only stand at a distance from him.
Ephesians 2:13 AMPC But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were so far away, through the blood of Christ have been brought near.
It's a lesson to us never take God's blessings, love and provision for granted. Give thanks today with a grateful heart.
1 Chronicles 16:34 AMPC O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!
Comments