Thank You: Luke 17:11-19

My grandma said this all the time, “Tommy always say ‘please’ and ‘thank you!’” I have figured out she was right!

Jesus was on His way into Jerusalem and passed between Samaria and Galilee. He was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance. Lepers were quarantined as their disease could be passed to others. Since the lepers weren’t allowed to be close to anyone but other lepers they stood at a distance and cried out to Jesus for mercy.

The law said when you were healed of an infectious skin disease, like leprosy you were to go and show yourself to the priest who would guarantee you were healed and release you from quarantine.

Jesus jumps right to what they were supposed to do after they were healed. He tells them to go show themselves to the priest and while they were going to show themselves to the priest to prove they were healed they were cleansed of the leprosy! It is obvious that Jesus planned to heal them, and they were healed.

Ten male lepers were healed! One of the healed lepers turned back and offered praise to God, and he was not quiet about his praise! He came and fell in front of Jesus; in fact, he fell on his face before Jesus and gave thanks to Him!

It is interesting that the one man who came back and gave Jesus thanks was a Samaritan! The Jews did not care for Samaritans. In fact, Samaritans were considered “foreigners” by the Jews and were hated! If you think that the Samaritan guy did not know he was hated by the Jews, think again! If you think that he missed the reality that Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi, think again! In the face of racial hatred by the Jews, Jesus healed the man and regardless the racial disgust the average Jew had toward him, he came back and thanked Jesus for healing him.

How did Jesus respond? He asked the obvious question, “didn’t I heal ten lepers, what happened to the 9 other guys?” Jesus also wanted to know how it was that no body, but the Samaritan could be found to come back and give God praise and thank

Jesus!

Verse 19 of Luke 17 gives Jesus’ response to the Samaritan, “And he said to him, ‘Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.’” (ESV) Obviously, Jesus was pleased by the thanksgiving that was offered to Him by the Samaritan man.

We need to live with an attitude of thanksgiving before Jesus! He may not have cleansed us of leprosy, but what He paid for us at the cross has cleansed us of our sin. He has given us a gift no one else can give and we need to come to Him with thanksgiving all the time!

Back in 1967 I was out drinking with some of my buddies and stopped in for some food at a café in Flagstaff, Ariz., late in the evening. After we ate, we were hanging out in the parking lot of the café drinking wine.

A car of guys I knew pulled up and called me over to speak with them. I knew them so I went over to talk to them. They had filled up the ‘52 Chevy they were in and totaled six guys.

When I got to their location, they said they heard I had been talking about them. They phrased their affirmation in language I choose not to use in this article. I made it clear to them I wasn’t talking about them because I never thought of them! They didn’t seem to like my response, as they grabbed me and threw me on the ground and all 6 started kicking me as I covered up the best way I knew how in a fetal position.

I was thinking this might not be such a fun evening! It was looking bad for me. My friend Dan was wearing a black and red checkered coat.

I noticed that coat of his flying across the parking lot with him in it! He aimed for the largest of my attackers, a big guy named Ruppert, and hit him at a full run with his right fist just as hard as he could. Suddenly, everyone was off me and Dan was beating on Ruppert against a car!

Dan saved my bacon that night by putting himself at risk! In a way, he paid my penalty for a stupid fight and I went free. I thanked him! Jesus took our sin on the cross and paid our penalty and sets us free! Always offer a “Thank You” to Jesus!