Jesus was not only walking along the boundary of two regions,
but He was walking along a path of prejudice and hostility that existed for a
long time. In the past the Jews and the Samaritans had no dealings with each
other.
*Back about 720 B.C. the Assyrians
had invaded the northern kingdom of Samaria Babylon 17:24 ) Now it is not possible to transport a
whole people. Some of the people of the northern kingdom were left. Almost
inevitably they began to inter-marry with the incoming foreigners; and thereby
they committed what to the Jew was an unforgivable crime. They lost their
racial purity. In a strict Jewish household even to this day, if a son or a
daughter marries a Gentile, his or her funeral service is carried out."
So
it is in this background that we find Jesus facing racial and national barriers
as He meets up with a band of lepers. And one of them as we see in this event
is a Samaritan. But the one thing we observe concerning this group is that in
the midst of their misfortune, they had forgotten that they were Jew and
Samaritans. The leprosy that they had in common, led them to realize that they
were all men of need. All of them needed healing from Jesus.
This is something
that we need to get a hold of in our society. It doesn't matter concerning our
race, education, or financial status; we all are sinners, who need a Savior.
And we all need Jesus to help us in our lives. We need Him to help us in the
decisions we make, in getting along with other people, in enduring the
challenges of life.
It doesn't matter who we are, we need Jesus. And we should
be so thankful that He is apart of our lives. In response to their cry for
help, Jesus tells them to go and report to the priests that they had been
healed.
In Leviticus 14:2-20, we find the ceremonial law concerning the healing
of a leper. Jesus knew that it was still being enforced, so He called all the
lepers to go and show themselves to the priests to begin the process of
officially being pronounced “clean.” And on the way, they were healed. But Luke
writes that only one, when he realized what had happened, came back,
“glorifying God, with a great voice.” He was definitely grateful for what Jesus
had done for Him, and He wanted Him to know it.
It is sad that even today,
there is just a few that truly give God thanks for the awesome blessings He
bestows to us. I heard this preached one time, “You can do a great number of
good things, and never get a compliment or praise; but you do one negative
thing, and you will never hear the end of it.” I would be bold to say, that God
hears more negative responses than positive, to the things that happen in
people’s lives.
The question of why God is doing this to us is a common
everyday response to the workings of God.
But I like Job’s response to a wife that told him that he
should “curse God and die” (Job 2:9) Job said: “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and
not receive the bad?” And the Apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “Give thanks in all circumstances; for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” God allows trials to come
into our lives, to strengthen our faith, and to help us to have endurance,
which produces maturity. (James 1:2-4) Jesus recognized that there were ten
lepers who had been healed, and that only one had returned to give thanks for
his healing. You can feel the disappointment in His words.
I hope and pray that the Lord will not be disappointed in us
today. It has been the observation of some that, we go from Halloween to
Christmas, and this time of Thanksgiving is ignored. In our hearts, in our
homes, may it never be ignored. God is
good! He is good all the time. Even in those times, it doesn't seem like He is. He is an awesome God, who deserves our praise. We pray that we will not be….the only one.
Photo: JAMESCASTRO_ - Pixabay.com
*The Gospel of John Volume 1 by William Barclay P.149,
Par 2