Luke 17:14When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

There were ten lepers who met Jesus and had a life changing encounter with the Lord. is so significant about these lepers who were healed is that out of the 10, only one returned to say thanks. There were nine who did not take the time to say thank you. If you were to infer the truth of this story on general humanity, we could say that nine out of ten people never really pause to give thanks for what they have. To be a leper meant no intimacy with anyone, no friendship with anyone, you were isolated and a total outcast. If you were a leper, you essentially lost everything, your family, your job, and your money.

In verse 13, we are told, as Jesus was about to enter into the city, that these lepers, who had to stand afar off, began to cry, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”. That was all that they could do. No physician could heal them.

We are told that as they began their journey to the priests, they were cleansed or healed. Faith is always required of the helpless.

What is significant is that out of the 10, there was one who reacted differently than the rest. The Bibles says that he saw that he was healed, he turned back and glorified God, and he came to Jesus and gave Him thanks. Why did this one react differently?

“And one of them, when he saw that he was healed”. The Bible says that he saw he was healed. Now the others no doubt knew that they were healed, but there was something different here. He took the time to note that he had been blessed. He realized that something wonderful had happened to him. He was sensitive to the power of Christ working in his life.

The devil will do his best to keep your mind off the blessings of God. He will constantly tell you how bad you have it, of how everything is wrong in your life. You see, it’s when you begin to realize how much you have in the Lord, that you will truly begin to be thankful, and when you are thankful, your heart will abound with love for the Lord that has so graciously given all to you. An unthankful Christian is a defeated Christian for he/she has lost their joy. He came to Jesus and fell down before Him in perfect submission and gave Him thanks. The Lord asked the question, Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Then note what He told this man, “Arise, go thy way, thy faith has made thee whole.” This was something that the others did not receive. One scholar said that a new power was given to him that day. He had faith, not just to be healed, but many
commentaries state that he had the faith to follow Christ. All people are blessed of God, but not all follow Christ. This man’s thankful heart responded in faith and he was perfected as a disciple of the Lord.

Bro Chito