Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

The Greek word we translate into the English word leprosy actually refers to many kinds of skin diseases.
A few interesting points here:
1) He met the men on the way into the village,
2) The men stood at a distance, and
3) He sent them to the priests to be cleansed.

What I find interesting here is that they were clearly outcasts due to their diseases. They roamed outside the village. They also knew this and were used to being outcasts and they abided by the rules of an outcast. They stayed away from him and called out at a distance.

Imagine with me, for a minute, how it would be to live a life where no one wanted to be around you, in fact they were fearful of you — no hugs, no family dinners, no dates, no wrestling matches with friends or the kids. It would be a pretty hard life.

I am also reminded of the story of the Good Samaritan and how the priest bypassed the hurt man on the side of the road. Helping him would have required much additional work, as he would have been considered unclean. I find it interesting that he told these men to go show themselves to the priest, before they were healed. While this was the technical requirement to be declared clean and re-enter society, it is also a little ironic. The priest left them out there as outcasts. This also would have required faith. If the healing didn’t happen, this could have gotten them into trouble with the priests. Why? Because the Jews thought these skin diseases were contagious. (We now know most of them are not.)

So all of these men were cleansed on the way, but only one returned to thank Jesus.

When God blesses me, through healing, provision, or other people, am I thankful enough to seek him out and say “thank you”? Do I even recognize it as a blessing?

As a result of being thankful, the one man also received salvation. The phrase, “your faith has made you well” can also be translated: “your faith has saved you.” So ten lepers were physically healed, but only the grateful one was saved into God’s kingdom.

The picture is clear, the nine other lepers were only interested in the transaction of healing. They were not thankful and did not seek Jesus out. But the one grateful and thankful leper got the grand prize — eternity in heaven, all because of his heart of faith in Jesus. He knew a secret, I believe, the others did not: the value in a touch from The Healer is not so much being healed as having a relationship with The Healer who mends hearts!

Are you in need of a mended heart today? Or do you want to help others, but find yourself depleted quite a bit? I can relate sometimes.

We serve a Savior who is not only someone who we can ask to heal our physical bodies. No. He wants to do and give us so much more! He wants to heal and transform our hearts. Pursue the Savior and you will find salvation!

Lord, thank you for helping me understand that relief from suffering is just a small part of your healing ministry. You desire grateful hearts who are hungry to follow you and learn the truth.