THE TEN LEPERS – PART 1
Had our Lord Himself not asked, the question, I’d have made excuses for the 9 lepers that did not return to thank Him for His merciful healing. Just for the purpose of argument, perhaps they had reasonable excuses. So I decided to play around with some here. Turns out that most of the excuses I could come up with would only be relevant if the 9 were Jews. And this could indeed be the case since it was mentioned specifically that the only one who returned was a Samaritan. This kind of suggests that the other 9 lepers were not.
As we know from the conversation of our Lord with the Samaritan woman at the well, the relationship between Jews and Samaritans was not the best. While they were not outright gentiles, the Jews looked down on them because they felt that their DNA was not ‘kosher’ and that they practiced what they considered ‘hybrid’ heretic Judaism.
As it turns out, all these ‘so-called’ disadvantages might just have worked in the favour of the only leper who returned as they freed him from the many considerations that might have weighed on the average Jew of his day. In other words, the fact that his religious obligations were different from that of the Jews might just have helped him to focus better on what was more important – expressing his gratitude. Let me try and clarify my thoughts better in the next few paragraphs.
I am sure you know that religious people always have a lot of rules, regulations and traditions they had to observe. In fact, our Lord Jesus actually told them to observe one of them. I won’t go into why I think he did this right now. But you can do your own research as many scholars have tried to explain why over the years. Rather, for now, let’s delve into the possible implications of the 9 lepers being Jews.
In the first place, ordinarily, they had no business keeping close company with a Samaritan because Jews considered Samaritans impure. We can therefore safely conclude that the only reason why this Samaritan leper was keeping company with the Jewish ones was because of their common predicament. You see, not only was their disease incurable, but they also had to leave their dreams, achievements and loved ones behind, to live in the outskirts of town and scavenge for food! Misery, as they say, loves company.
And their degradation did not end there. As you can well imagine, anyone who had to shout out ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ every time they came near someone would certainly prefer to steer clear of public places except when it was absolutely necessary. As Luke 17.11-19 clearly states, they dared not approach Jesus even in their desperate search for healing, but could only shout out their prayer from a distance.
I digress here to wonder why some people who had no such restrictions still feel they have to shout whil praying in church today, with little consideration for others around them. Like we are taught to observe rigorously when taking the Lord’s Supper, is the ‘Body’ not to be ‘discerned’ during prayer? Or is the symbolic communion more important than the prayer of agreement that guarantees answers from God? God teach us how to pray aright…
Back to our topic. I can just imagine how hopeful all the ten lepers were, having no doubt heard about the different miracles Jesus had performed on others. Perhaps their hope gravitated to faith when Jesus did not repudiate them but responded to their request.
However, I do wonder how they felt when Jesus’ response to their heart-felt cry for pity, was merely to instruct them to perform a religious rite that required healed lepers to show themselves to the high priest and offer the necessary sacrifice to confirm their healing. They certainly knew that this was the only way they would be readmitted into society. But not having yet seen the result yet, I wonder if ‘as they went’, they were actually heading for the priests as instructed.
Why do I wonder? Except the Samaritan was a proselyte, which priest was he heading to exactly? Recall that as a Samaritan, his practice of Judaism was considered heretical by the Jews. It could therefore be that he was not required to show himself to any priests. Except of course the Samaritans observed the same rules, in which case, maybe he was heading in a different direction all by himself when his healing took place. After all, mount Gerizim, is where his temple would be, as opposed to the Temple mount in Jerusalem where the jewish lepers would be heading.
This is why I suggested that perhaps being alone worked in his favour as it might have facilitated his decision to return to thank Jesus. But if we were to suppose that he was with other Samaritan lepers, or his fellow Jewish lepers, his decision to return alone becomes even more interesting! It would mean that he made a personal decision to separate himself from his erstwhile co-outcasts to return to thank Jesus. Such must be the stance of those who truly want to follow Christ. Salvation is a personal choice that requires will-power to receive and keep.
But then the idea was to come up with some imaginary and creative excuses for the 9 other lepers for not returning to thank Jesus. So going by the above, if ‘crowd mentality’ sounds like a good excuse to you, that would be number one for the 9 not going back to thank Jesus. It’s an excuse of course, but doesn’t sound like a good one to me although that is exactly the approach most people opt for. Don’t rock the boat, make no waves, just follow the crowd and avoid taking responsibility for your choices.
Here’s another possible one. Perhaps they were closer to their village, although the text tells us they met Jesus at the border between Samaria and Galilee, which might suggest that the lone Samaritan leper was close to home as well. But let’s just suppose the 9 were closer to their than him.
So, how about if they decided to rush home first to share the exciting news with their loved ones and tribesmen? You can’t really blame them for that, right? And perhaps the fatted calf was immediately slaughtered to celebrate their return, and this would take time? The excitement surrounding that celebration could certainly very easily distract them from going back to thank their Healer.
But this excuse too would leave much to be desired as it would also suggest that they were not following the instructions of Christ to them to go show themselves to the high priest in Jerusalem. After all, there were only synagogues in Galilee so, no sacrifices could be done there! Sacrifices had to be done in the Temple in Jerusalem which was much farther away.
This leads us to the next possible excuse. As the Temple is said to be located about 80km from Galilee, they would have had to undertake a 4-day journey by foot if indeed they were obeying the instruction to go show themselves to the high priest. So, maybe their focus was to reach the Temple as soon as possible and the thought of losing a day to go back and thank Jesus seemed unwise to them. There! We finally found what could be referred to as a ‘reasonable’ excuse although it once again puts them in a very bad light, when weighed against the great blessing of healing they had just received from Jesus.
Yet another consideration demolishes the probability of this excuse. When you read the account in the Bible carefully, the expression ‘he (the single leper) came back’ gives the impression that the one single leper who went back seemed to have found Jesus in the same spot He was when He healed them. This also suggests that they were healed almost immediately. If so, the distance excuse won’t work either.
There could be yet another excuse. As Jews, the 9 ex-lepers knew the sacrifices they had to take to the priests before they could be declared clean. So maybe they were being practical about this whole thing. Hurry away first to show your family you were healed, and have them procure the sacrificial animals they required before showing themselves to the priests. This excuse would make some sense if not for the fact that it is the priest who will tell you what sacrificial animal you must bring. And that they were available right there at the temple!
Besides, that response would be a subtle deviation from the Jesus’ instruction to them to ‘go show yourselves to the priests’. Jesus did not tell them to offer sacrifices but to simply go show themselves to the priests. This leaves room for this personal reflection on how excessive analysis and practical (even if religious) considerations in responding to God’s instructions can translate into disobedience. The first king of Israel (Saul) found that out early in his reign when prophet Samuel told him in 1 Samuel 15: 22 “Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams”.
Such subtle disobedience can come at a very high cost. That day, Saul lost his position and ministry. If this was the excuse of the 9 lepers for not returning to thank Jesus, they lost the ‘wholeness’ of their blessing! Lord have mercy on us!!
Let’s pursue this line of thought a bit further. In the New Covenant, the ‘sacrifice’ of New Testament believers is said to be worship and praise of God. This can be compared to what the single leper did. In the same vein, praising God for Salvation and so many other blessings God has showered on us is a good thing if it comes from the heart. And don’t we just love to sing and dance in church while praising our loving God today?
But caution! Does ‘Obedience is better than sacrifice’ not somehow suggest that living a life that glorifies God is much better than the public display of thanksgiving? In other words, attempting to copy the exuberant expression of joy and gratitude of King David, the man after God’s heart, by your dancing steps during public worship, will not get you very far when your heart and lifestyle is far from God.
Beloved brother and sister in Christ, never ever forget that your sacrifice of praise and worship is only pleasing to God when you obey His word. That is your only sure guarantee that God will defend you against unkind, sharp tongues when you cast your ‘dignity’ aside while worshipping Him. Not surprising therefore that it was only this one leper who prioritized the expression of gratitude with a pure heart blessing was perfected. May such be our case in Jesus’ Name!
And here’s yet another food for thought: Could it be that private and personal expression of gratitude overrides public testimony and excitement? After all we know of quite a few incidents in the Bible where Jesus’ instruction was not to tell anyone (Luke 5: 13 – 14; Mark 1: 40 – 44; Matthew 8:1-4; Matthew 16:20; Mark 8:29-30; Luke 9: 20-21).
Rather, in one particular incident one beneficiary of His goodness (incidentally another lone leper) disobeyed, sharing the testimony without restraint all over the place and ended up complicating Jesus’ work among the people. A great lesson for us all to ponder upon in this day and age where ‘celebrity testifiers’ seem to be the order of the day.
Before we move on, here’s a final conjecture to excuse the 9 lepers who did not return to give thanks: Could it be that the hostile, threatened priests warned them not to bring Jesus’ name up in their healing, at the risk of being excommunicated from the Temple? We did see something similar happen in the Book of Acts (3: 2-8). A lame man was healed through Peter and John’s ministration. He was excited and demonstrated his joy publicly. But it would seem that the religious leaders did not like his testimony. So they threatened, bullied and harassed him and his parents!
While the man that was healed stood his ground about the truth, his parents wavered for fear of excommunication, and responded diplomatically so as to avoid being excommunicated from their religion.
But should this be their excuse, the 9 lepers once again appear in a bad light. It would be that their religion is more important to them than the Truth. And that they were ingrates who treasured this of this world more than the Eternal Life in heaven offered by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now that we are done with imaginary excuses for the 9 lepers’ ungrateful response to God’s blessing, another Bible story about a leper comes to mind. This one was a famous leper for other reasons. He was a Gentile and had not been ostracized from society maybe because unlike these 10 lepers in the New Testament, he was a great and popular warrior who had served his king and people faithfully, and fought for his country valiantly.
Like the 10 lepers, he too heard (from no less than a Hebrew slave girl in his household, which is as low in social status as anyone can get) about a man of God who could heal him. But of course he proceeded in the way of the rich and famous! He first spoke to no less than the king of his own country, who approached the king of the Hebrews, who was then forced to appeal for help from the Prophet of God about his dilemma. (2 Kings 5: 8-12). As it turns it out, it was again a Hebrew prophet, a people his country had conquered, whom he had to approach to receive his healing!
Like the ten lepers, Naaman also stepped out in desperate hope. But discouragement soon followed, as the man of God (Elisha) did not spare him the time of day. Somewhat like Jesus to the lepers, the prophet’s enigmatic instruction, this time through no less than a spokesperson, was to go bathe in a river that was not known for its salubrity!
As can only be expected, Naaman’s initial response was anger, until his servants (again, people very much beneath his social status) persuaded him to at least give it a try. And by controlling his anger, humbling himself even before his servants, and stepping out in faith, he received his healing. A great lesson for those who think so highly of themselves that they continue to resist the blessing of Salvation that God is calling them to.
And another lesson from this great warrior was that like the Samaritan leper, he too went back with gifts to thank this distant, unfriendly and discourteous prophet who God used to heal him. His gifts were promptly rejected probably because this holy prophet Elisha most certainly knew that the praise should go to God who did the healing. And I imagine that he must have so wanted the Gentile power broker to acknowledge the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as the Lord of lords and King of kings. He knew that receiving the gift might detract from God’s Glory and give Naaman the wrong impression about the Power that healed him. And indeed Naaman got the message and even made a commitment there and then to this effect.
What a lesson for many men of God today who expressly or tacitly want to take God’s Glory for themselves. A dangerous thing to do, for our God will not share His glory with anyone and He is a Consuming Fire. King Herod found this out too late as was eaten up by worms for his temerity.
May this not be the fate of anyone reading this in Jesus’ mighty Name. Amen!