By Pastor John Brito

Don’t you hate missing out on something amazing? Well, here’s something that you can miss out on if you’re not careful. It’s so important that even if you received a miracle from Jesus, you would still be at a loss in comparison.

What is it? It’s found in the story of the ten lepers. The story goes like this:

As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria.12 As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance,13 crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”14 He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!”16 He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.17 Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?18 Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”19 And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.” Luke 17:11-19 (NLT)

Leprosy isolated people from their family and friends. The rules for leprosy, as prescribed in the third book of the Bible, Leviticus, would have a leper leave his family and community, and go live outside the city, forbidden to return, unless healed of the disease.

All contact with people was prohibited. To ensure this, the leper had to yell at any passerby, while still at a distance, “Unclean, unclean.” So, lepers often banded together, as they shared the physical and social impact of an isolating disease.

As Jesus began entering the village, the lepers began crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” What’s interesting is that they seemed to have known a lot about Jesus. They knew his name. They knew the title that only his disciples addressed him by: Master; and they knew that he was a miracle worker, as evinced by the fact that they pleaded for mercy, as if he could do something about their condition.

So, how did these lepers know Jesus? Luke’s Gospel doesn’t say. Perhaps they followed him from a distance? One thing is clear: they knew that his words had power, because when he said to them, “Go show yourselves to the priests,” they obeyed without hesitation and went on their way.
It was only the priest, according to Levitical law, that could inspect them and declare them healed of their leprosy. Only then, could they return to their family and community. Luke doesn’t say how fast they were going to Jerusalem, to present themselves to the priest, but I imagine they were running, desperate to reunite with their family. “And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.”

To cleanse, in the original Greek, means, according to the BDAG (Greek lexicon), “To heal a person of a disease that makes one ceremonially unclean.” To be ceremonially unclean meant that one couldn’t be around others or go worship God at the temple. But as they ran toward Jerusalem, the power of Jesus caught up to them and cleansed them, allowing them to be fully restored into society.

But we’re told that “One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!”16 He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.”

Out of the ten, he was the only one that could see that he had been healed and realized at that moment that Jesus was the mediator of that miracle, and as such, was the mediator of the Kingdom of God (God’s saving activity). He now perceived Jesus to be the Messiah, the anointed one sent by God. The Son of God.

The man did three things:

1. He came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!”
2. He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet.
3. He thanked him for what he had done.

The man came back to Jesus, because miracles should always bring us back to Jesus; he praised God, which is the proper response to receiving God’s mercy; and he fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet. Literally in Greek, went face to the ground. This was a sign of submission to Jesus. He recognized that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and surrendered his life to him, and he thanked Jesus for what he had done. By thanking Jesus, he acknowledged him as the source of the miracle.

“Jesus asked, ‘Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?18 Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?’” I find this question so interesting. Didn’t Jesus tell the ten to go present themselves to the priest for inspection? So why is he asking, “Where are the other nine?” Apparently, he expected them to return to him once they too had realized that they had been healed. Instead, they received their miracle and returned to their lives, and missed out on something big.

You see, the one leper that returned to Jesus heard something that the other nine didn’t: “Jesus said to the man, ‘Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.’” The word healed here can mean to rescue, heal or to save. We’ve already seen that this Samaritan had been cleansed (healed) with the other nine, as they went to see the priest. Therefore, he already knew that he had been healed. This is why he had returned in the first place. What he heard Jesus say to him was that his faith had saved him.

The other nine were healed but not saved of their sins. They heard Jesus say, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” But they didn’t hear, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed (saved) you.” They missed out on something far greater than physical healing, and that was to see Jesus for who is and to understand why he had healed them. Miracles are only signs that point us back to Jesus’ identity and his mission. They failed to see the purpose of the miracle and lost out on something greater.

Look back at every miracle that Jesus has done for you see and see what they pointed to. What did Jesus want you to learn about his person and his mission? Perhaps he has been telling you that he loves you, that he’s with you, that he wants you to walk with him and that he wants you to submit to him? Miracles are only signs that point to Jesus’ identity and mission. You can miss this by only focusing on the miracle itself. This is why thanksgiving is so powerful. It reminds us that we have received something outside of our ability (grace), given to us by a gracious Lord (source), that we might know him better (purpose).

What are you thankful for?