Thanksgiving musing

As we catch up to Jesus, He was making His final trip to Jerusalem. He was, in fact, on His way to die. Thoughts of Peter’s denials, Judas’ betrayal, a crown of thorns and nail-pierced hands may have been coursing through His mind as He walked, but they didn’t derail Him from gifting a group of very needy men with an impressive display of mercy.

As He was making his way from Galilee to Jerusalem, He came across a group of ten lepers who had located themselves on the border between Galilee and Samaria.

These men cried out to Jesus for mercy. Interesting. Mercy.

Did they mean mercy from God to forgive them of their sin? Or did they mean mercy from God to cleanse them from their leprosy? Maybe both - definitely the latter.

Leprosy was the ancient world’s equivalent to the worst contagious disease we can think of. HIV, avian flu, bubonic plague, dengue fever, malaria and Ebola all wrapped up in one hideous deforming plague. To be afflicted with leprosy meant instant expulsion from the community. To be a leper was to live with a death sentence, separated from family and friends.

The lepers Jesus encountered just outside a small village begged Him for mercy - and He told them to go back to the village and to present themselves to the priest.

THAT would have been one confusing assignment! It had been the priest who had declared the men leprous and unclean and was responsible for banishing them from the community. Now, still leprous, Jesus sends them back to the priest.

What would have been going through your mind had you been one of those ten? “Is Jesus making fun of us?” “Does He not realize that we are STILL lepers?” “Is He playing a joke on us?”

The priest was the one who would declare people clean or unclean, fit or unfit for life in the community. To go back to the priest was to simply hear him say, again, “Unclean.”

Impressively, however, the ten lepers did what Jesus told them to do and started walking toward the priest. The Bible tells us (Luke 17) that as they were walking, they were cleansed of their leprosy. Trusting Jesus and obeying His command, they received the mercy they had needed!

This is where the story takes a remarkable turn. Nine of the ten continued on to the priest to be declared “clean” and to be restored to their families. One, however, stopped in his tracks, reversed course, and went running back to the Man who showed him mercy.

This man was the lone Samaritan of the bunch (the Jews generally despised Samaritans and considered them “unclean” even without leprosy). He dropped to his knees before Jesus, fell prostrate before Him and worshiped in gratitude for his cleansing.

Jesus was deeply touched and commended him for his thankful heart. The Lord’s words make clear that it was his faith (going to the priest while still leprous) that made him well. The other nine showed the same faith and were also, thus, made well. But they neglected to add to their faith the adornment of gratitude.

No doubt they were profoundly thankful THAT they were no lepers. But only the Samaritan expressed gratitude TO Jesus for his cleansing.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends. We have here a model of gratitude. A doubly unclean man (a Samaritan leper) shows us the way to bring a smile to God’s face. As thankful as we all are FOR our many blessings, let’s all run back to Jesus, fall at His feet and express our gratitude TO Him for His mercy.