Lk.17:15-19 – Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”

The miracles of Jesus have the smell of authenticity about them. They deal with pain, rejection, and hopelessness; all of us have felt those things in our lives. Lepers had to be the most miserable of all people in those days; they were suffering with an incurable disease, isolated from friends and family, and no hope of ever getting well. Hopelessness and sorrow was on the docket every day, at least it was until Jesus came on the scene. Obviously word had gotten to these ten lepers about the miracles Jesus had performed, that’s why they were crying out for healing when Jesus came to their region. “Go show yourselves to the priests”, that’s all Jesus said. Everyone knew what that meant, this was a promise of healing, only the priests could verify their healing and allow them back into their community and that’s where they were headed. As they ran toward the priest they suddenly realized what had happened, they were all healed. Nine of them just ran faster, running toward town, the Samaritan turned on his heels and headed back to Jesus. Why did he go back? He had no choice, Jesus had healed him and given him his life back, he had to return and give thanks.

Maybe Jesus has done something wonderful for you recently. We are celebrating our national day of Thanksgiving soon, maybe the Lord has done something for you since last year, I know He has done some things for me. Maybe we should come to Jesus like the leper, fall at His feet and give thanks to the Lord.

What was difference for the Samaritan leper than the other nine in this story? The other nine saw their miracle as a way to go back to the way things used to be. That couldn’t happen for the Samaritan, he realized that this was more than just a healing, this was an introduction to a whole new way of life. He had met Jesus and his life could never be the same.