Jerome Sasanecki 

Thank God!  In Luke 17:11-19 Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem when he stopped at a village where he met ten people with the painful and sometimes deadly skin disease known in ancient times as leprosy. Being lepers these ten people knew that others would not want to be near them and were repulsed by them so the scriptures say they “stood at a distance”. Standing afar off from Jesus they cried out to him saying “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”

Lepers were shunned by society, put out of the city and away from direct contact with other folks. In fact, they were to yell out from beneath their torn robes and lank hair to passers by, “Unclean! Unclean!” so as to warn them that they were lepers. You can read all about it in Leviticus chapters 13 and 14.

So not only were these ten men ostracized from their community but they were also often put out of work and forced into poverty. The sores that covered their bodies were seeping boils that were incredibly painful to live with and would be in constant danger of becoming infected over time if not properly treated.

We can only begin to imagine the pain, both physical and emotional, and the ridicule these ten men endured on behalf of their skin disease. When they saw Jesus of Nazareth they must have known of the great miracles he was capable of performing; so, they cried out to him in faith. And Jesus sent them to the priests and they were cleansed.

The miracle that Jesus performed was astounding, but what stands out to me in this passage is the immediate reaction of the cleansed lepers, the recipients of God’s power. The scriptures say in Luke 17:15-18, “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’”

Only one came back to thank Jesus. Are we like the nine cleansed lepers who were healed and forgot all about the one who saved them, or are we like the one who came back and remembered his deliverer?

In the midst of our agony we cry out to God to makes things right. Sometimes God waits a little while to answer our prayers. And when the time comes that God, in His mysterious and perfect way, has answered our prayers, we seem to think that things have just worked out for us and forget about God’s power and concern for us.

In the aftermath of answered prayers, we sometimes forget that we ever cried out to Him, “Master, have mercy upon us!” We, as frail human beings, have the arrogant tendency to simply move on with our lives continuing to ask God for this and for that without ever remembering to thank Him fervently in prayer when He has answered us. God is not our vending machine!

Paul teaches us how we ought to pray if we desire to be at peace spiritually. In Phil. 4:5-6 He says, “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Are we praying with thanksgiving? Praying with open thanksgiving in our hearts is our way of showing God that we truly appreciate all that He has done, is doing, and continues to do for us. Let us resolve to live like the one Samaritan leper who, when he found out Christ had made him well, he turned back to him praising God and giving him thanks. Thank God for being God!