Luke 17:11-19 – Thanks-living

Being grateful and thankful ought to be the hall mark of a Christian. And the story of ten healed lepers recorded in Luke 17:11-19, shows that only one out of the ten has such an attitude. In these verses, Jesus was still on His way toward Jerusalem. We are told that He took the common route that most Jews would take: the border franking Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten lepers stood at a distance calling out to Him for mercy. They did not come near because the law required them to stay away from people. And they should be crying, "Unclean! Unclean!" so that people would stay away from them.

Jesus’ reputation would have preceded Him. And so here He was confronted by ten people in need of healing. Jesus responded to their cries by instructing them to go and show themselves to the priest. He told them to go and have the priest certified the healing because He was sure that they were already healed. In their day, the priest was assigned the task of affirming whether a person was healed of leprosy. Of the ten that started on their journey to see the priest, only one turned back to thank Jesus.  Many people can only thank the Lord when their blessings are affirmed. But this healed man willingly returned to thank the Lord before his blessing was affirmed. He not only  demonstrates his faith in Christ’s words but also His gratitude to Him. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen." He acted before he was declared clean. No wonder Jesus declared, "...  your faith has made you well."

Notice how he showed his gratitude. He glorified God in a loud voice because He is the source of all healings. Then he threw himself prostrate at the feet of Jesus and openly expressed his thankfulness. Luke tells us that he was a Samaritan, a foreigner. This seems to imply that the other nine were Jews. This being the case, it showed how unappreciative His own race was toward Him. Thanksgiving is an act of the will. Regardless of circumstances, congenial or uncongenial, we should learn to live a life of thankfulness. Expressions of thanks demonstrates one’s gratitude. Let us develop an attitude of gratitude. To put it more precisely, let us cultivate a life of thanks-living. For we are commanded to give thanks in everything. Paul said, "For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (us)." The words of a song aptly show hoe we ought to respond to all that Christ has done for us:

Tell me is it any wonder that I should love Him?

Is it any wonder that I should praise His name?

Tell me, is it any wonder that I should want to do His will?

When Jesus freely gave His life for me.