Luke 17:11-19

Butler's Comments

SECTION 2

Grateful (Luke 17:11-19)

11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13and lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14When he saw them he said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priest. And as they went they were cleansed. 15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16and he fell on his face at Jesus-' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17Then said Jesus, Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? 19And he said to him, Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.

Luke 17:11-14 Made Well: A harmonization of the gospel accounts indicates that between Luke 17:10-11, Jesus was called to Bethany where His friend Lazarus had died. Jesus went there and raised Lazarus from the tomb. The account of this is found in John 11:1-57. From Bethany (which was a suburb of Jerusalem) Jesus retired to a remote area of Judea for a brief rest because the fateful Passover week of His arrest and crucifixion was only a few days away. The crowds were already gathering and forming caravans in the north (Galilee). Jesus wanted one final opportunity to evangelize, so He went through Samaria into Galilee to join one of these caravans bound for Jerusalem and the Passover. The time was the spring of A.D. 30. Luke takes up the record of His ministry here.

Before considering the incident of the ten lepers the student should refer to comments on Luke 5:12-26 concerning the information on Biblical leprosy:

a.

There is no mention of leprosy (defilement) after the death and resurrection of our Lord. Old Testament Law was nailed to the cross and fulfilled. When that was accomplished there was no such thing as ceremonial defilement for psoriasis or scaly sores. The apostles healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, caused the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, but never cleansed a leper! We therefore conclude that the significance of psoriasis in the Old Testament and in Jesus-' ministry (leprosy) was the need to be ceremonially cleansed, not healed. Biblical leprosy was not Hansen's disease. b. Actually the English word, leprosy, is a misnomer for both the Old Testament tzara-ath, for the New Testament lepra or lepros, and for modern Hansen's disease!

c.

What these ten lepers had was not Hansen's disease and a rotting away of the flesh, but a scaly skin disease like psoriasis which by Old Testament law caused them to be declared defiled and in need primarily of being declared, cleansed.

Ten lepers came to meet Jesus as He entered a village near the border of Galilee and Samaria. Lepers were religiously defiled and therefore banned from all associations with other people. They haunted the roads leading into cities and villages (they were not allowed to live within the walls of the towns). Frequently they lived in caves. Whenever healthy people came near them they were to cry out, Ame, Ame! (Unclean, unclean). These lepers stood at a distance and cried out to Jesus, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Jesus healed them of their disease. Nine of them looked and found themselves cleansed (healed, too, of course) which apparently emphasizes they were Jews and thus restored to ceremonial cleanness with their healing. All they needed to be permitted to worship again in the Temple and to be restored to society was official declaration from a priest. One of them, a Samaritan, was also healed but since he was not allowed in the Temple of the Jews anyway, there was no need to emphasize that he had been cleansed. No doubt, even the Samaritans (because of their close adherence to the first five books of Moses) enjoined some social bans against lepers too, thus the only companionship this Samaritan could find was nine leprous Jews. It is a sad commentary on human nature, but true nevertheless, that human misery is the only condition that seems to draw people together without racial distinctions. Had these Jews and this Samaritan not been suffering the social ostracization of leprosy, they would probably never have associated with one another.

Some interesting observations about this healing:

a.

Jesus did not even touch the persons healed. He simply said a word and they were healed.

b.

Jesus did not pray for them to be healed, or to have faith.

c.

He sent them away before the miracle took placeto test their faith.

d.

He healed nine people whom He knew (by divine foreknowledge) would be ungrateful, hoping they would be grateful.

e.

He demanded no money, no praise, no testimoniesnothingas a result of their healing.

f.

The one with the least privilege was thankful.

g.

The ingratitude of the nine apparently shocked and hurt Jesus.

Luke 17:15-19 Made Whole: Jesus addressed the Samaritan who returned to thank Him, Rise and go your faith has made you well. Actually Luke reports Jesus as saying, ... your faith has saved you, using the Greek word sodzo which may be translated, saved, preserved, made whole, delivered, set free, rescue. It was the Samaritan's attitude that saved him, or set him free, not the healing. Miracles do not save, attitudes do. The statement of Jesus implies that although the nine others were healed, they were not saved because they did not have the attitude of thanksgiving. Ingratitude is a symptom of disbelief. Ingratitude leads to futility and darkening of the mind in unbelief (cf. Romans 1:21). Nine of these lepers wanted to be cleansed (or healed), but that is all they wanted. They simply wanted to exploit the power of Jesus for their own selfish ends. They really did not wish any further commitment to Him. Ingratitude belies a condition of the heart making it impossible to receive grace. The ungrateful person refuses to acknowledge receipt of anything by grace. But it is only by grace that man can be saved. The man not willing to be saved totally by grace, really does not obey the will of Christ by faithhe obeys it hoping to merit salvation by self-righteousness.

Applebury's Comments

Healing the Ten Lepers
Scripture

Luke 17:11-19 And it came to pass as they were on the way to Jerusalem, that he was passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off: 13 and they lifted up their voices, saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go and show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, with a loud voice glorifying God; 16 and he fell upon his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were not the ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 Were there none found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger? 19 And he said unto him, Arise, and go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Comments

along the borders of Samaria and Galilee.The route He was following lay along the line that separated Samaria from Galilee. To say through the midst would be to suggest that He was actually going through these two provinces.

there met him ten men who were lepers.For the subject of leprosy, see comment on the healing of the leper in Luke 5:12-16. These men followed the law of the leper, standing afar off and calling out to Jesus for mercy.

Go show yourselves unto the priests.This also was a part of the law of the leper. The priest was appointed to pronounce on the cure. The remarkable thing about it is that Jesus ordered them to go show themselves before they were healed. He knew, of course, that they would be cleansed as they went.

And one of them.All ten were cleansed, but only one thought to return to give glory to God. He was a Samaritan, but he fell on his face before Jesus and thanked Him for what He had done.

Were not the ten cleansed?The thing that puzzled Our Lord was the fact that only the Samaritan had returned to praise God and thank Him for the miraculous healing.

thy faith hath made thee whole.Jesus said this same thing on many occasions to those whom He had healed. He believed that Christ could save him from the awful plague of leprosy; he expressed that belief by going on his way to the priest, and as he went the miracle took place.