Well we’ve got some words and some not words, some doings and some not-doings, and cake. Wait. No cake. The cake continues to be a lie. 🙁
Luke 17:11-19; 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Psalm 111; 2 Kings 5:1-3,7-15
There’s something about this text that always bothered me. It’s not that 9 Israelite lepers didn’t go back to Jesus to say thank you. It’s not that the only one who did go back was a Samaritan. The thing that always bugged me was that Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest, and the Samaritan didn’t listen. I mean, there were rules for this kind of thing. If you thought you were healed of leprosy, a priest left the camp to go examine you. There was a sacrifice, a ceremonial sprinkling, and a ceremonial washing. Then, after 2 weeks, presumably to make sure you’re actually healed, you brought an offering to the priest and you’d be clean, as well as several ritual anointings. It’s all very clear in Leviticus 14:1-32. Yes — 32 verses about the procedure for being rendered ‘clean’ after being known as a leper.
That’s why Jesus sent them to the priest. He wanted them to not just be healed of their disease, but also be able to reintegrate into society. I have to assume that the other 9 lepers went to the priest, did their 2 weeks of cleansing rituals, and reintegrated into Jewish society. But then there was this Samaritan. Why would a Samaritan not want to deal with a Jewish priest? Well, one reason is Jews and Samaritans kind of hated each other. So, and this is purely conjecture, instead of going to the priest with the rest, when he realized he was healed he ran back to Jesus and praised God that he was healed. We don’t know if the other 9 did or didn’t praise God. We don’t even know if they still went back to the priest. All we know is that one went back to Jesus.
Now, I’m fairly sure that none of us here are lepers. I’d actually be surprised if any of us had even heard of a case of leprosy in this country recently — it’s more or less extinct in the West and is entirely curable. But that doesn’t mean God hasn’t done things for us that are as extraordinary as curing 10 lepers. And how did we response? Do we shoot God the equivalent of a thank-you card, something polite but somewhat forced? Or do we just go own about our day, chalking up God’s intervention to something else. Or do we take the path of the leper who turned back?
This Samaritan leper did at least one thing that none of the others did — he turned back to Jesus. I mean think about it, all the Jewish lepers would have no problem giving thanks to God, in the general sense. I mean they’re Jewish. They know God; they’re the ones that got all the rules. But it’s not enough to just give thanks to God. It’s a lot different to go to Jesus.
This may get a little bit awkwardly Trinitarian, cause you may be thinking what’s the difference. I mean, Jesus is God, so thanking God is going to Jesus right? Well, kind of. Look at our Old Testament lesson. Naaman was a Aramean, another foreigner. Like the Samaritan, he too suffered from leprosy. But unlike the Samaritan, his only understanding of God was as the local tribal god of these Israelite folk, much like Baal was his local tribal god. That’s kind of how it worked, and why the Israelites had so much trouble. Common practice back in Old Testament was to pray to your god and if that didn’t work try someone else’s. Naaman had probably gone through the same process given his condition, and so figured he may as well give this god a try. So Naaman found Elisha the prophet, did what he was told, and was cleansed of leprosy, exclaming, “Now I know that there is no God in all world except in Israel.”
Across many years, these two lepers had the exact same response, they didn’t just say thank you to God. They showed that something changed in them more than just their illness. The Samaritan leper bowed down at Jesus feet and Jesus said to him, “Your faith has saved you”. Naaman exclaimed that God is the only god.
Therefore, when God does something for us, it’s not just about saying thank you, but recommitting to serving Him. That IS the best way to thank God, not just with words, but by a life of loving service to Him. That’s how the Samaritan leper and Naaman responded; it’s how the apostles responded; and it’s how we respond today.