One Out of Ten

One came back to say thank you. Ten men were healed, miraculously healed. Only one came back to say thank you.

As we see in Chapter 17 of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was traveling along the border between Samaria and Galilee. The people of Galilee were his people, Jews. The people of Samaria were the others, the half-breeds, the ones that the Jews wouldn't have anything to do with.

Unless they had leprosy, a terrible disease that forced people to live away from the rest of society. Then Jews and Samaritans could mix. As these ten men had done. Nine were Jews. One was a Samaritan.

They saw Jesus from a distance and called to him, asking to be healed. In answer, Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priests. According to the Law of Moses, the law that the Jews followed, that was the only way a leper could be certified as having been healed. He had to show himself to the priests.

As they went along, they were healed. Cleansed, as the Bible says.

Only one of them went back to thank Jesus. The foreigner. The Samaritan.

I'm sure the others were grateful. I'm sure they would profoundly thank Jesus if they ever met him again. But now they wanted to get back to their lives. Get back to their homes. Get back to their families.

Nine of them did exactly what Jesus told them to do. Nine of them did what the Law said to do. But only one did the right thing.

What about you? Do you stop to recognize the things that God has done for you? Do you thank him and praise him for his goodness?

Here in the United States, we have a day for giving thanks. But our gratefulness shouldn't be a one-time-a-year feeling. Let's stop, go back to God, and thank him every day for all that he's done for us.

Want to talk about what God has done for you? Join our discussion at www.hopeforlife.org or write to me at tarcher@heraldoftruth.org .