STORY SETTING AND BACKGROUND THE
THANKFUL LEPER Jesus heals ten lepers, but only one
remembers to say "Thank you:' Luke 17:11-19 THE SETTING After raising Lazarus
from the dead, Jesus retired with His disciples to the village of Ephraim which
very likely lay about 20 miles north-northeast of Jerusalem (John 11:1-54).
Here He and His disciples seemingly stayed in seclusion until the time of the Passover
festival was drawing near. Since the accounts of Matthew and Mark speak of Jesus'
later activity in Perea, the Jewish province on the
east side of the Jordan, it is
probable that Jesus journeyed with His disciples through Samaria to join the
Galilean pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. When they came to the great
LEPROSY When Jesus and His disciples came near the In the Bible the term
leprosy is used to cover a variety of skin diseases. Leviticus 13 and 14
record the regulations which God had laid down to be
observed in examining and guarding against these skin diseases. Among these
skin diseases was that known as Hansen's Disease or
true leprosy. There are three different kinds of true leprosy. You
may notice that some of the lepers in the filmstrip are shown as having lumps
especially in the face. This is known as the nodular type of leprosy, which
also attacks the mucous membranes of the nose and throat. Another type of
leprosy results in the lack of feeling in the affected areas. Sometimes open
sores develop, and parts of fingers and toes may eventually fall off. A third
type may consist in a combination of the first two mentioned. Today people contracting leprosy are isolated and
given special treatment, depending on the variety which they have. If
diagnosed in time, it is possible in some instances through medication to
arrest leprosy. At the time of Christ,
anyone who contracted a skin disease covered under the term leprosy was taken
to a priest who also served as health officer. The priest examined him as
outlined in Leviticus 13 and 14. If diagnosed as leprosy, the person was
required to leave his family and live elsewhere away
from people. In many instances such a person joined others who had also been
isolated from their homes for the same reason. In the case of our story,
ten men were together, nine of these were Jews and the tenth was a Samaritan. JESUS HEALS THEM When these ten lepers
appealed to Jesus for help, He told them to go and show themselves to the
priests, the health officers of their day. They had faith in the healing power
of Jesus. On the way, they felt and saw that they had been healed. One of the lepers was moved by a spirit of deep
gratitude to return to Jesus to thank Him. On the way back he publicly praised
God and witnessed to the wonderful healing he had experienced. He fell down in
front of Jesus and humbly and gratefully thanked Him. Note Jesus' reaction that
only one had come back to thank Him. Note also how disappointed He was that
none of the others who were fellow-Jews had thought it important to recognize
the great gift God had given them through the healing of Jesus. Seemingly they
accepted it as something coming to them as members of God's chosen people. |