And it came to pass, as He went to Jerusalem, that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered into a certain village, there met Him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when He saw them, He said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And He said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole (Luke 17:11-19)
The ten lepers were cleansed by Jesus
In Luke 17:11-19, we read about the cleansing of the ten lepers. When the ten lepers met Jesus, they raised their voices from a distance and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”. Jesus was not a stranger to them. These ten lepers knew Jesus because they called Jesus by His Name and even called Jesus Master.
When Jesus heard their cry and saw the ten lepers, Jesus commanded the ten lepers to show themselves unto the priests.
The ten lepers obeyed the words of Jesus and did what Jesus had commanded them to do. And because of their obedience to Jesus and His words, as they went, all ten of them were cleansed of their leprosy.
You would think that all the ten lepers, who were healed would return to Jesus their Healer. But that was not the case.
Just one of them came back and glorified God with a loud voice and fell down on his face at Jesus’ feet and gave Him thanks. And this one man, who was cleansed from his leprosy and returned to Jesus, was a Samaritan, a stranger.
Jesus asked the Samaritan, where the other nine men, who were also healed from their leprosy, were? But the other nine men were nowhere to be found.
The other nine men were probably only interested in the gift and the healing of their bodies, so that they could continue their lives and go their own way then return to the Healer and thank Him and glorify God and follow and serve Jesus. Since the other nine men didn’t return to Jesus.
Although all the ten lepers were cleansed from their leprosy, just one was made whole by his faith (Read also: ‘Once saved always saved?’ And ‘Can no one pluck you out of the Father’s hand?’)
Many are cleansed, but few are made whole by faith
We still see the same thing happen today. There are many, who only go to Jesus when they need something from Him, and as soon as they have received what they’ve asked for and their need is met, they forget about Jesus and don’t return to Jesus, but continue their own way and live their own lives according to their will and are too busy for Him (Read also: ‘Religion or relation?‘ and ‘Too busy being busy‘).
Only a few are truly thankful for their cleansing and salvation and repent and become born again in Christ and are transferred from the darkness into the light and follow Jesus Christ and serve Him and obey His words and put off the old man and put on the new man and walk by faith in the will of God and glorify God (Read also: ‘Who is the old man?’, ‘Put off the old man’ and ‘Put on the new man’).
This is mainly because the majority of people love their flesh and the works of the flesh and love the gifts more than the Giver.
Jesus is good for the forgiveness of their sins, solving their problems, meeting their need, and giving what they want, but it often ends there. They don’t want to spend time with Jesus and don’t want Jesus to interfere with their lives and their will and don’t want Him to tell them what to do.
Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46)
Although they know Jesus by name and call Jesus their Lord, they are too busy with themselves and their own lives and don’t spend time with Him and don’t want to submit to Him and His words and will, and don’t do what He says.
And so many are cleansed, but eventually, only few are made whole (saved) by faith.
‘Be the salt of the earth’
