The one sure proof of saving faith.

By John Stallings

And he fell down on his face, at his feet, giving him thanks. Luke 17:11

I once read the story of a young Canadian student in 1860 who was awakened one night by the sound of two ships colliding. His name was Ed Spencer. He jumped out of bed, saw the situation and being a strong swimmer, jumped in and started swimming out to the rescue. Many passengers of those ships died that night but Ed’s willingness to risk his life saved seventeen of them.

Ed suffered from paralysis after that night and wasn’t able to complete his studies, basically becoming an invalid for the rest of his life. Years later, now an old man living in California, Ed was interviewed by a Los Angeles paper and asked what he recalled about the rescue. “Only this” replied Ed, “of the seventeen I saved, not one of them ever thanked me.”

Someone has said, “Of all the emotions we human beings experience, gratitude is the hardest for us to feel.”

A SIMPLE ENOUGH STORY, WITH A FAMILIAR RING

Luke 17:11-19 tells the story of ten men suffering from leprosy that Jesus healed and sent on their way. One turns back, happy and thankful to Jesus. But Jesus asks, “Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” Can none be found to return and give Glory to God except this outsider?” Message Bible.—

This sounds so eerily familiar that it reminds us of one of our first childhood lessons; “What do say when you’re given something? Thank you. Okay, good for you.

I often wonder when reading this story, was Jesus upset, surprised, amazed or disappointed; or maybe a combination of them all.

THERE ARE AT LEAST FIVE BOXES IN THIS STORY.

1. THE BOX OF LEPROSY.

We know enough about leprosy to know it’s a dirty disease, a horrible flesh eating sickness and no one can recover from it. In Bible days a person infected with the disease had to give up home and family and live outside the social matrix because of its contagious nature. The physical suffering was compounded by the fact that lepers were social exiles, they were forever unclean.

Lepers were boxed in, not only by the disease, but because of its contagious nature, they were considered ritually unclean. A leper was allowed no contact with non-lepers, and that’s why, in this story, the lepers “stood at a distance” when they called out to Jesus. They stood far off like wounded animals with rags wrapped around their hands. Others had their feet wrapped up with pieces of cloth. They could stay just close enough to society to allow them to beg, as long as they cried loudly, unclean, unclean, unclean.

Think what it would be like to have leprosy. It’s hard to think about. Imagine the waiting, the hoping, wondering how long it will take and how much suffering will be experienced before death.

There was a very famous leper in the Old Testament named Naaman. His story is in 2 Kings 5.Naaman was boxed in by pride and anger and almost lost his miracle because of it. He finally dipped seven times in a muddy little river, quiet beneath his dignity, but his obedience enabled him to escape the terrible box of leprosy.

2. THE RACIAL BOX.

We are not told specifically if the non-returning lepers were Jews, but the fact that Jesus makes much of the tenth and thankful leper being a “foreigner” or Samaritan, seems to imply it. Also the fact that the Jews and Samaritans fraternize in this story is in itself an “out-of-the-box” experience. It’s also out-of-the-box for a Samaritan to be willing to come back and thank a Jewish healer.

3. THERE WAS THE GEOGRAPHICAL BOX.

We know that Jesus tried to avoid traveling through Samaria, yet here is Jesus, Luke tells us, in “the region between Samaria and Galilee.” Jesus was skirting the borderlands, the in-between area that doesn’t fit neatly in any geographical box.

4. JESUS STEPPED OUTSIDE THE HEALING BOX HERE.

Jesus usually healed with a touch, but in this case He didn’t. As a matter of fact, He didn’t pray, He didn’t pronounce their healing; He did very little except to tell the lepers to go show themselves to the priest. The priests controlled most everything in those days.

They even functioned as health inspectors. As the lepers started to go at Jesus’ instruction, they noticed that their sores and wounds were drying up, and their blemishes began to disappear. With every step they took they felt stronger, younger, and more energetic. When they rounded the final turn on the way to the village, they were completely healed. It must have been an incredible walk for them.

Think of it—after all their suffering, all of the sudden at the word of a stranger, their loneliness, pain and banishment began to evaporate. In a matter of moments they all had the clean, healthy, supple skin of a baby.

5. THIS STORY IS OUTSIDE MANY PEOPLE’S THEOLOGICAL BOX.

I have talked to people who didn’t believe in miracles. They however usually weren’t sick. I’ve never seen a person who was desperate and needed a miracle who would say miracles can’t happen. Jesus spent two-thirds of His time while on earth, healing people that were going to die someday anyway, and he did it because it was his nature to heal. Have you ever been sick and gotten well? If the answer is yes, then certainly you have experienced healing. We call that natural healing. But if something untoward happens and natural healing breaks down, then there’s divine; or supernatural healing.


I’d rather have divine health than divine healing. I’d rather thank God I didn’t break my leg than to break it, and thank God for healing it. Sometimes there is healing when God “bends time” and speeds up a natural process. Others are creative miracles. Nothing is too hard for God.


NINE WAYS TO SAY “NO THANKS

What if a newspaper of that day had gone to do a story on these nine lepers who didn’t return to thank Jesus? What if it had been learned, through hard journalistic digging, that all the lepers had very good reasons to say “no thanks?” Imagine them gathered in one room and the reporter asking for their side of this story. Let’s first talk to leper, Jim.

1. JIM, what happened to you after Jesus healed you of leprosy? Jim might reply, “Well, I guess I wanted to wait for just a little while longer to see if the cure was real and was going to last. After all, there’s a little thing called “remission” you know. And by the time I realized the healing was the real thing, Jesus was dead.

2. JACK. And how about you jack? “Well I started to wonder if I had ever had leprosy. Whatever I had was much improved so I really didn’t give it much more thought.

3. JASON. “And you Jason, why didn’t you return? “Well, I was grateful for the cure but I had to take my son to his baseball game that day. I have been so busy lately, you wouldn’t believe it. You know now-a-days, I don’t know where the time goes.” And another thing, I was very anxious to just get back to my old life, my old routine.

4. LYLE was next to speak; “I didn’t know we were supposed to return to thank Jesus. I was just following instructions. You know, Jesus told us to go and show ourselves to the priest and that’s what I did. As lepers, we’ve become so used to following orders that we really just do as we’re told. And another thing, when Jesus told us to go, our feet started to move before our minds could think about it. We lepers move, eat, sleep, and speak according to instructions with little choice in the matter.

5. TIM “Tim, can you tell us why you never returned to thank Jesus for your cure?"-- " Well, I once took a psychological behavioral test to show me what personality type I was, and would you believe, I’m a procrastinator? Yeah, that’s right, and also the test said that we procrastinators are indecisive, tentative, and I found I have a touch of ADD. Hey, look at that bird up in the sky."

6—9. THE LAST FOUR lepers were Deaf leper, who loved music, Leper-Con, he was Irish, Spotted leper; strange name I know, but his healing caused him to have an identity crisis. He’d been a leper so long he wasn’t prepared to change. He was so at home with lepers that he couldn’t readjust.


The ninth leper sent word that he highly resented being labeled ungrateful, simply because he conformed to the traditional way of expressing his thanks; in the Temple, before the priest, just like Jesus instructed. He also wanted to go on record that he felt a sense of “entitlement” to the better things in life, and added that it was about time God answered his prayers.

The leper who returned teaches us, by his actions, to be more spontaneous with our gratitude. Luke said that he was “praising God with a loud voice.” In fact, the ex-leper fell on his face before Jesus. He was completely carried away and beside himself with joy and happiness. He felt like dancing a jig and shouting from the housetops. He was so excited that he didn’t even take time to have his healing verified by the priest, he was so anxious to thank this stranger.

He didn’t show up at the interview because he was so busy telling people what Jesus had done, he didn’t feel he could spare the time. He said he was so ecstatic he wasn’t in any shape to answer questions, even a year later.

Sometimes it’s good to throw away the restraints and let yourself be carried away with gratitude and joy.

A SENSE OF URGENCY CHANGES US IN REGARDS TO GRATITUDE.

Most of us find it easy to stay inside the box, playing it safe and following directions until something earthshaking happens. At those times, we find it comfortable to throw off restraints. We seem more inclined to give gratitude free rein when we feel a sense of urgency. People stand up at funerals and weddings and shock others with their free-flowing expressions of love and praise.

If a person is diagnosed with cancer, they are quick to begin telling the people they love how much they love them. Now time is of the essence, so they do it, now. Most of us would agree that we shouldn’t operate like this, but being human we do.

I truly believe that our lives would become almost heaven on earth if we would integrate gratitude and praise, not only to God but to one another into our everyday lives. If you think I’m wrong, ask yourself, have you ever grown tired of being loved, thanked and appreciated?


HERE ARE SOME THINGS THIS STORY TEACHES US.

God reminds us that if we don’t cultivate gratitude, it will take more and more to make us grateful.

Jesus would also remind us of some of the things for which HE gave thanks.

• He gave thanks for 5 loaves and 2 fishes, before He multiplied them to feed a multitude.

• He gave thanks for the bread and wine He ate with His disciples before His death, even though He said they were symbolic of His broken body and shed blood.

• He gave thanks to His father at the tomb of Lazarus, just for hearing His prayer.

One last thing in this story is found in Luke 17:19. Jesus told the returning leper, “Arise and go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole.”

The returning leper received a gift the other nine missed out on and that was “wholeness” for body, mind, soul and spirit. He not only received healing, he received wholeness, or salvation.

Gratitude is the surest sign of saving faith.

 If this seems hard for you to believe, then go out tomorrow & try to live the Christian life without gratitude & a sense of thanksgiving for His presence in your life, without the freedom which comes from knowing that He is present in your actions to do what you can’t do.

 Try to live out His instructions for your life without the gratitude & the strength it brings & your life will be anything but a shining example of good news.

Blessings,

John