The One Who Returned Luke 17
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We pick up this morning in Luke 17:11 with a story of Jesus and 10 lepers.
At first glance, this passage appears to be a teaching on thankfulness for what the Lord has done.
While yes, that is certainly part of what Luke is communicating here, there is more to the story when we keep the passage in its context.
Last week we saw the disciples asking Jesus for an increase of faith to accomplish what He had told them to do.
They believed they needed increased faith to not cause others to be tempted to sin, to pay attention to themselves, and to forgive others.
Jesus in turn said, it is not about the quantity of the faith, it is about having obedient faith.
Jesus said that even the smallest amount of faith has the power to accomplish what He has asked them to do.
What is more at issue is the hardness of heart.
Whether or not they are willing to do their duty as Jesus has called them to do.
With that context in mind, let’s pick up in verse 11 this morning.
11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
As Jesus is journeying towards Jerusalem - time frame wise, these chapters are understood to be in the final 3-6 months of Jesus life.
He is traveling from Luke says Samaria and Galilee.
He is entering a village that is not named and when he is met by 10 lepers.
Leprosy remember was a horrible and contagious skin disease.
It is still around today but curable.
It primarily affects the skin, nerves, and upper respiratory tract.
Transmission:
Hansen's disease is spread through close contact with an infected person who has untreated disease.
It is not highly contagious though most people have a natural immunity to the bacteria that causes it.
Today it is most commonly found in India and Brazil.
2023 - approx 183k cases.
It is a terrible disease because it kills the nerve endings causing the infected person to not be able to feel.
The many who the disease is now named after wrote of how he was trying to open a stuck lock as he was studying the disease.
He could not, but a child patient came to him and said let me try.
The child jerked the lock and it came open.
Hansen wondered, how can this child have the strength to open this lock when I could not?
That was when he noticed blood on the floor and upon examination, the child had injury on his hand that went to the bone.
It was not a matter of strength, it was Hansen’s mind that caused him to stop because he would get hurt.
Leprous people would get injuries and not know, which would become injected and they would lose parts of their body to infection.
These ten lepers lived a miserable and likely lonely existence.
That is why these 10 had gathered together - the only interaction they could have with other people was with one another.
The fact that they stood at a distance indicates they had full-blown Leprosy, not just a little skin rash.
And so they kept their distance from people, as was specified in the law of Moses.
They may have been crying out “unclean, unclean.”
45 “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’
The verb met is significant indicating that although they knew they must keep their distance, they came forth to meet Jesus.
Their movement toward Him was a reflection of their belief He could help them.
These 10 lepers stood at a distance yelling to Jesus -
English Standard Version Chapter 17
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
In calling out to Jesus - they knew who he was.
Who he was and what he was doing had spread even to the social outcasts.
They call Jesus master - literally one who stands over and means a person of high status, chief, commander.
They cry out for mercy.
Their cry expresses a recognition of superior power and one who at the same time is approachable.
Jesus does what they ask.
He shows them mercy.
14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.
To the eyes of most people, these 10 were unattractive, even repulsive in appearance,
But in the eyes of Jesus, they were objects of His love and the deep compassion of His tender heart.
And these attributes are still His today for Jesus is “the same yesterday and today and forever.”
The end of this verse is where faith once again enters the picture.
Does Jesus say that these men are healed?
No, he says to Go and show.
And it was not until as they were going that something happened.
These 10 leprous individuals had to have faith that Jesus was who He said He was.
The reason they had to go and show themselves to the priests was because of the Jewish law.
“The priests kept close records of those who were declared lepers in Jewish society.
The priests functioned as the "health inspector's" so to speak and carried out a long process of determining whether a person was leprous or not.
Leviticus 13-14 gave the Levitical Priesthood detailed instructions as to what they were to do in case a leper was healed.
On the day that a leper approached the priesthood and said, “I was a leper but now I have been healed,” the priesthood was to give an initial offering of two birds.
For the next seven days, they were to investigate intensively the situation to determine three things.
First, was the person really a leper?
Second, if he was a real leper, was he really cured of his leprosy?
Third, if he was truly cured of his leprosy, what were the circumstances of the healing?
If after seven days of investigation they were firmly convinced that the man had been a leper, had been healed of his leprosy, and the circumstances were proper, then, on the eighth day there would be a lengthy series of offerings.
The fact that Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests indicates that Jesus kept the Law,
but even more significantly indicates that the priests would be privileged to be eyewitnesses to an incredible miracle (actually 10 miracles)!
The thing we need to understand is that this did not happen frequently and healing did not happen prior to Jesus coming.
People weren’t healed of leprosy.
In fact the priests taught that only the Messiah could heal a leper.”
This was actually another sign of the Messiah’s coming.
One that the religious leaders missed.
Jesus has been going about healing people - we might imagine the first leprous person getting healed and going to the priest saying I have been healed of leprosy.
They may have looked at each and and said, oh yah, there is something in the law about that, but we have never had to do it before.
From the time the Mosaic Law was completed, there was no record of any Jew who had been healed of leprosy.
Naaman was healed of leprosy, but he was a Syrian Gentile, not a Jew.
Although the priesthood had all these detailed instructions as to how they were to respond in the case of a healed leper,
they never had the opportunity to put these instructions into effect, because from the time the Mosaic Law was given, no Jew was ever healed of leprosy.
As a result, it was taught by the rabbis that only the Messiah would be able to heal a Jewish leper....
In his article entitled “The Three Messianic Miracles” Fruchtenbaum writes.… (Messianic Jewish Historian and writer Arnold -
Some time prior to the coming of Yeshua (Jesus), the ancient rabbis separated miracles into two categories.
First were those miracles anyone would be able to perform if they were empowered by the Spirit of God to do so.
The second category of miracles were called “messianic miracles,” which were miracles only the Messiah would be able to perform.
Yeshua did miracles in both categories: general miracles and also messianic miracles.
So because of the rabbinic teaching that certain miracles would be reserved only for the Messiah to do, whenever He performed a messianic miracle it created a different type of reaction than when He performed other types of miracles.
Jesus sent these ten lepers directly to the very priesthood that was seeking to kill him.
This meant that instead of one messianic miracle, there were now ten messianic miracles performed: the first messianic miracle was performed ten times over.
Ten times over Caiaphas and the priesthood had to spend seven days investigating the whole situation.
Ten times over, they had to decree that all ten of these lepers had been cleansed and healed of their leprosy.
Ten times over, they had to decree that Jesus had performed the miracle.
Getting back to the faith part - the lepers had to have faith in Jesus, they weren’t healed - it was not like the paralyzed man who got up and picked up his bed.
These 10 men had at the bare minimum a basic faith in a healer.
Jesus asked them to exhibit enough faith to do what He said.
There thought was probably - well what do we have to lose, we already have nothing.
They had faith in the power and compassion of Jesus.
As such they were cleansed.
There is 3 words in this final section that we need to make note of.
Cleansed - healed - and made well.
As these men went they were cleansed.
to make physically clean
But one of them Jesus says saw that he was healed.
The word healed - means to cure, to restore and is used literally of deliverance from physical diseases and afflictions and so to make whole.
The one man realized - I have not only been cleansed, I have been made whole!
As such he turned back - praising God with a loud voice.
This is the aspect of thanks for God.
Jesus just healed all 10 of them, and yet only the one returned.
The reason for that is found in the third word.
Let’s read again together.
17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
This man’s faith, no matter the size made him well.
This man’s response is more than one of manners.
It is evidence of a changed heart.
He fell on his face at Jesus feet, giving him thanks.
In the busyness of life, we may forget to give thanks.
Someone has done something for us-given a gift, performed a task, delivered a timely sermon, provided a word of counsel or comfort.
But we fail to say thanks.
(I fail to say thanks - I still have a list of thank you cards I need to get done....).
But this man did give thanks.
And the response Jesus gave showed that this one mans faith was in more than just a healer, but in a savior, the messiah.
Jesus says so
The word that Jesus uses here for wellness (Greek sesōken) is a form of the New Testament word for salvation.
Here was a man who was isolated and alienated from society, cut off from the community of faith.
But now he is at the feet of Jesus.
He is no longer separated from human relationships—medically, ethnically, or spiritually—but reconciled to God and man.
The man is saved in every sense of the word.
He has received “not just physical healing such as the other nine received, but forgiveness and reconciliation and eternal life, and the removal of all alienation and distance between himself and God caused by his sin and moral uncleanness.”
This man embraced Jesus as God, and as Lord.
Saving faith is trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God.
For us saving faith is not just a belief in facts but personal trust in Jesus to save us.
The definition emphasizes personal trust in Christ, not just belief in facts about Christ.
Because saving faith in Scripture involves this personal trust, the word "trust" is a better word to use in contemporary culture than the word "faith" or "belief."
The reason is that we can "believe" something to be true with no personal commitment or dependence involved in it.
But to trust is the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.
To have trust in Jesus means you are relying upon His integrity, His strength, His ability, His surety.
When we look to the example of this 1 of 10 lepers.
What saved the man—what made him well, body and soul—was faith in Jesus Christ.
He first exercised that faith when he cried out to Jesus for salvation. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”—this was his simple prayer of faith.
He exercised his faith again when he obeyed Jesus and went to show himself to the priests.
According to verse 14, it was only as he went that his skin was healed; when he started off he was still a leper!
Therefore, it took faith for him to follow the command of Christ, and if he did not have that faith, he would not be healed.
It was also by faith that he went back to Jesus and worshiped.
This is what distinguished the man from the other nine lepers.
They too were healed by faith, at least to a certain extent.
But their healing only went skin deep.
So how do we live this out today?
Living Out Faithful Gratitude
Living Out Faithful Gratitude
Responding to God's Mercy with Obedience
Like the ten lepers, we all have a need for mercy—whether physical, emotional, or spiritual.
Their obedience in going to the priests, even before seeing the healing, reminds us that faith means trusting Jesus even when we don’t see immediate results.
Personal Application: Where is God calling you to step out in faith today? Are you waiting to "see" results before obeying, or are you willing to trust Him fully?
Recognizing the Giver, Not Just the Gift
The nine lepers received their healing but did not return to give thanks.
How often do we seek God’s blessings but fail to return in worship and gratitude?
The Samaritan's response shows us that salvation is more than just being cleansed—it's about being in a relationship with Christ.
Personal Application: When God answers your prayers, do you pause to thank Him?
Are you cultivating a habit of gratitude, or do you quickly move on to the next need?
True Faith Leads to Worship
The healed Samaritan not only returned but fell at Jesus’ feet in worship.
His faith was not just in a temporary blessing but in the person of Jesus as Savior.
Jesus' words, "Your faith has made you well," show that salvation is more than just physical healing—it is a heart transformation.
Personal Application: Does your faith lead you to worship?
When was the last time you simply praised God—not because of what He has done, but because of who He is?
Breaking Barriers Through Christ
This Samaritan was not just an outsider due to leprosy but also because of his ethnicity.
Yet, Jesus welcomed him, showing that God’s grace knows no boundaries.
Personal Application: Who in your life might feel like an outsider?
How can you extend God’s love and invite them into fellowship with Christ?
Our challenge is to let our faith be more than just a request for help, but to let it be a response of worship and obedience.
Let us take time to thank God—not just for answered prayers, but for who He is.
