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Attitude Of Gratitude Leviticus 13:45-46; Luke 17:11-19 (KJV)
SCRIPTURES
45 And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, un- clean.
46 All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habita- tion be.
Luke 17:11-19 11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which
stood afar off:
13 And they lifted up
their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glori- fied God,
16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
17 And Jesus answer- ing said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
18 There are not found that returned to give
glory to God, save this stranger.
19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Background
This week’s lesson in- cludes two different passages, one from Leviticus and the other from the Gospel of Luke. The section from Leviticus gives us some con- text to the section in Luke. According to the Law of Moses, anyone who had lep- rosy was considered unclean (see Leviticus Chapters 13 and 14 for the laws regarding leprosy). If the disease didn’t go away after washing with water and a quarantine pe- riod, it was considered to be lasting and the person with the leprosy was banished from the community to a life- time of shame and isolation.
The Law And Leprosy (Leviticus 13:45-46)
Leviticus chapter 13 re- veals that a person who had discovered what looked like leprosy in their skin was to go and show themselves to the
priest who would then take the person through a number of rituals. If the priest de- clares that the person has lep- rosy, he pronounces them to be ceremoniously unclean (see Leviticus 13:44). We should remember that the biblical classification of lep- rosy is based primarily on spiritual rather than medical considerations. Anyone touched by a “leper” also be- came ceremonially unclean. Therefore, everyone tried to avoid it, and the leper was re- quired to warn people of the pending danger.
Since most skin diseases in the Bible were considered to be leprosy, some people with different skin diseases could be declared clean by the priest after being quarantined for seven days.
Jesus Hears A Need (Luke 17:11-14)
This journey Jesus was taking would lead to Jerusalem and His crucifix- ion. However, it would also take Him on an indirect route “through the midst of Samaria and Galilee” to Jerusalem.
We are told that the “ten
lepers” who came to see Jesus “stood afar off.” Be- cause of the need to control the spread of a disease for which there was no cure, the law required that a leper was to be isolated from the rest of society.
While they were in this condition, the leper was re- quired to wear mourning clothes, leave his hair in dis- order, keep his beard covered and cry “Unclean! Un- clean!” so everyone could avoid them as they walked the streets (see Leviticus 13:45-46).
Jesus’ Instructions For The Lepers (Luke 17:13-14)
In response to their re- quest for mercy, Jesus told them what they needed to do. He said “Go shew your- selves unto the priests.” Jesus gave this in- struction because the Old Testament Law gave “the priests” the responsibility of examining lepers to deter- mine if they no longer had the disease so they could return to society Jesus gave them no indication that He had healed them or that they were going to be healed.
Although the ten lepers demonstrated a measure of faith by coming to Jesus for help, a greater measure of faith was necessary to do what He said without having any evidence that they would be healed. He simply told them to go and let “the priests” see you. Their obedi- ence demonstrated their faith.
Jesus Assures The Thankful Leper Of His Healing (Luke 17:19)
With this statement, Jesus seems to imply that the man received more than just phys- ical healing. Jesus’ words here suggest that this leper also received salvation. The ungrateful nine were also healed, but Jesus would have been justified if He had re- voked their healing for their ingratitude. But the one leper had his healing confirmed when Jesus said, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” This should remind us that tempo- ral mercies we receive from God are multiplied and made better when we seek them with prayers and praises of “faith.”
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