When one of them saw that he was healed, he came back. He praised God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him. - Luke 17:15

In Luke 17 Jesus gave an amazing gift to ten men. And while all ten of them may have been happy that they received a gift, only one of them chose to show their thankfulness to Jesus. Let’s read together in Luke 17:11-19.

 

 

The story of Jesus healing the ten lepers in Luke 17 appears immediately after a teaching conversation Jesus has with His disciples after one asked Him to “increase our faith.” In this conversation, Jesus indicates that obedience to God is not something extra we do to receive His thanks and rewards. Rather, it is our duty to serve Him, just like it is a servant’s duty to serve his master. Our pride sometimes twists this truth and tells us that we should expect God to thank us for all we do to serve Him. But Jesus teaches here that true faith is total dependence on God and a willingness to unselfishly do His will. This conversation, combined with the story of the ten lepers, puts gratitude in its proper perspective. God is the one deserving of gratitude because of the grace and mercy He freely gives to those who do not deserve it.

 

Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. He traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men met him. They had a skin disease. They were standing close by. And they called out in a loud voice, “Jesus! Master! Have pity on us!”

 

Jesus saw them and said, “Go. Show yourselves to the priests.” While they were on the way, they were healed. - Luke 17:11-14

 

When one of them saw that he was healed, he came back. He praised God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him. The man was a Samaritan.

When Jesus saw the Samaritan, He immediately wondered about the other nine men who had also been healed.

 

Jesus asked, “Weren’t all ten healed? Where are the other nine? Didn’t anyone else return and give praise to God except this outsider?”

 

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up and go. Your faith has healed you.”

 

It is hard to believe that only one of the ten men Jesus healed came back to thank Him. Certainly, the other nine men noticed that they were healed, but they did not take the time to return to say, “Thank you.”

 

It’s very likely that once the other nine saw they were healed, they ran home to their families and friends. After all, they had been living far away from them for some time. Can you imagine how excited they were? Can you imagine how happy their families must have been to see them again?

 

Though these nine other men were so, so happy to be healed, they didn’t return to Jesus to publicly GIVE THANKS. They didn’t “praise God with a loud voice and throw themselves at His feet” like the leper who did return to thank Jesus.

 

 

The same question could be asked of us today: “Why aren’t these people giving Me thanks?” Jesus has given us the unbelievable free gift of forgiveness. We didn’t have to do anything to earn it. Even though our sin deserves to be punished, Jesus took that punishment for us when He died on the cross. How many of you think that’s the biggest, best gift we will ever receive?

But the problem is, many people accept the free gift of forgiveness and never do anything to show their THANKFULNESS to Jesus.

 

The message from God is clear: we should have a heart filled to overflowing with thanksgiving to God, AND we should also tell God and others how thankful we are! God has done so much for us! He deserves our thanks!

 

Here is what Psalm 107:1-2 says about thankfulness:

Give thanks to the Lord, because He is good.
His faithful love continues forever.
That’s what those who have been set free by the Lord should say.

 

We should each be truly thankful for what Jesus has done for us.