I'm Going Back

I'M GOING BACK

Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy

¹¹ Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance ¹³ and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”  ¹⁴ When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.  ¹⁵ One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶ He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.  ¹⁷ Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

In layman’s terms, leprosy is defined as: a chronic, mildly infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, affecting the peripheral nervous system, skin, and nasal passages, including ulcerations, tubercular nodules, and loss of sensation that sometimes leads to traumatic amputation of the body part.

Traditionally, lepers were considered unclean and banished from society, forced to live in seclusion with no physical contact for fear of spreading the disease.  “As long as the serious disease lasts, they will be ceremonially unclean.  They must live in isolation in their place outside the camp.”-(Leviticus 13:46)  If a leper encountered a ‘clean’ person, they were required to shout, ‘unclean, unclean’.  That Jesus interacted with the lepers was in itself uncommon, compounded by the fact that they were Samaritans.  By all accounts, this interaction should have never taken place.  Not only did it take place violating numerous societal regulations, but they were healed.  You would think that would cause a great deal of thankfulness, however, only one returned to show Jesus his gratitude. 

In biblical terms leprosy was sometimes seen as associated with sin.  Like leprosy, sin can quickly spread, affecting every area of our lives, and more importantly separating us from God.  We’ve all been in situations where we’ve said, “Lord, if you get me out of this one . . .”, and Jesus does it, and we go on with our lives as if nothing happened, failing to keep our promise.  How many times have you been ‘healed’ or forgiven, and failed to ‘go back’ and tell Him thank you? 

As Christians, we must get to a place of thankfulness.  We cannot continue to take God’s healing, forgiveness, grace, and mercy for granted.  If He’s done something for you, no matter how small, we must begin to live in a state of thankfulness.  Don’t be like the nine.  ‘Go back’ and tell Him, ‘Thank you!’

Margaret Slaughter