Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers (Luke 17:11-19)
A little history on Judaism in Jesus' day will expand our experience of this story. Due to the highly contagious nature of leprosy, the affected persons lived apart from the rest of the community. In religious terms, having leprosy made a person 'unclean'. They were not able to participate in religious services or any form of social life. When these men found that they were healed on their way to the temple, nine of them found their desire to get to the temple to be ceremonially cleansed and get back to their lives to be absolutely irresistible! They never looked back - they were healed, and now they wanted to get on with living!
One man, a Samaritan btw, when he realizes that he is healed, turns and runs back to Jesus, falls at His feet, glorifies God and says, "Thank You" over and over and over! For him, life can wait - He has just met the Messiah! Yes, he has been extraordinarily blessed by being healed, but right now, all he can think about is the Healer! And what is Jesus' response? He tells him "your faith has made you well."
He was already healed, as were the other nine. What is Jesus talking about? I believe it is the distinction between taking whatever good God can give you and running with it, and recognizing the goodness of God, leading you to worship Him. All ten were healed of leprosy, but all ten would one day die. I believe that only one was healed for eternity. He recognized Jesus and worshiped Him; his faith in Jesus made his soul whole.
When the townspeople saw these 10 men, they all looked the same: healed, healthy, whole again. When God saw them, He saw nine and one. I Samuel 16:7b says: "For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
(the link to the kid's post is: http://elizabethtreger1.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-countdown-dec-17.html)
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