While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. 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.” (17:11–19)

Miraculous healing was a constant reality in our Lord’s ministry. Matthew 4:23 notes that “Jesus was going throughout all Galilee … healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.” As “the news about Him spread throughout all Syria and they brought to Him all who were ill … He healed them” (v. 24). At Peter’s house in Capernaum, “they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill” (Matt. 8:16). Matthew 9:35 records that “Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.” Before feeding the five thousand, Jesus “saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick” (Matt. 14:14). Similarly, before the feeding of the four thousand, “large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them” (Matt. 15:30). East of the Jordan River, “large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there” (Matt. 19:2). During Passion Week, the culmination of Christ’s earthly ministry, “the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them” (Matt. 21:14; cf. 12:15; Luke 5:15).

The miracles the divine Lord performed, for which there was never a human explanation, provided incontrovertible evidence of His deity and thus convincing testimony to the truth of the Christian faith. They give evidence of His supernatural power supporting His claim to be God Himself (John 5:36; 10:25, 37–38; 14:11). The astonishing healing recorded here in Luke’s gospel is one of the countless healing miracles Jesus performed as He banished illness and disease from Israel during His earthly ministry. It took place during His final journey to Jerusalem, which Luke has been chronicling since verse 51 of chapter 9. This healing is the fourth of five selected and recorded miracles from that journey Luke was inspired to recount (cf. 11:14; 13:10–13; 14:1–4; 18:35–43). The first three involved individuals, while the final one involved two persons (though Luke mentions only one of them). This miracle far surpasses the other four in extent. It is a demonstration of divine power that is unmistakable and undeniable—the simultaneous healing of ten men afflicted with leprosy, the most dreaded disease of that time.

In an earlier volume in this series, I wrote the following description of leprosy:

Adding to the physical suffering of those afflicted with leprosy was the attendant social stigma. Not only were lepers cut off from family, friends, and banned from the rest of society, their condition was also considered to be divine judgment for their sin (as it was in the case of Gehazi [2 Kings 5:25–27] and Uzziah [2 Chron. 26:16–23]. This was consistent with the traditional Jewish belief that suffering was God’s judgment for sin [cf. Job 4:7–9; John 9:1–3]).

Although it describes an actual event this story, like a parable, is rich with spiritual truth. It is an amazing demonstration of divine goodness, tenderness, compassion, and mercy, as well as Christ’s divine power to heal many of incurable disease and restore them to full health. It is also a story of gratitude, worship, and salvation, while at the same time a tale of shocking ingratitude. It is the story not only of ten lepers who were healed physically, but also of one man who was healed spiritually and eternally

THE TEN WHO WERE HEALED

While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. (17:11–14)

As noted above, this incident took place while Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem. Before arriving there for the final time at the beginning of Passion Week, the Lord made three brief visits to the city and its vicinity. He went there for the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7, 8), the Feast of Dedication (John 9, 10), and to Bethany, which was near Jerusalem, where He raised Lazarus from the dead. After performing that miracle, Jesus left the environs of Jerusalem for the village of Ephraim (John 11:54), located in the region described here as between Samaria and Galilee, where this incident likely took place.

When Jesus entered the unnamed village, He was confronted with an all too common scene: ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him. Unlike the leper in Luke 5:12–13, who came close enough to Jesus that He could touch him, these men kept their distance as the law required (cf. Lev. 13:45–46; Num. 5:2–3; 2 Kings 7:3).

This was a pathetic, lonely group of outcasts, eking out a survival existence on the fringe of society.

Seeing Him approaching, they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Epistatēs (Master) appears in the New Testament only in Luke’s gospel, always in reference to Jesus (cf. 5:5; 8:24, 45; 9:33, 49). This is the only occasion where the term was used by someone other than His disciples. Epistatēs denotes someone who possesses notable authority or power. The lepers’ use of it to address Jesus indicates that they had knowledge of His miraculous ability to heal, which was widely known from His ministry in Galilee and Samaria. Their plea, have mercy on us, was a common expression used by people who asked Jesus in pity and compassion to heal them (e.g., Matt. 9:27; 15:22; 17:15; 20:30–31; Mark 10:47–48). Their disease was incurable; their situation hopeless; their lives miserable. Jesus offered their only chance for deliverance. Mustering what hopeful faith they had, these ten desperate men begged the Healer to heal them.

Their pitiful cries attracted the Lord’s attention. Unlike the leper whom He healed earlier in Luke’s gospel, Jesus did not lay His hands on all of them (cf. 5:13). He had no reluctance to approach and touch lepers, but on this occasion, when He saw them, He did not immediately heal them but He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests” so that they could be examined and be declared clean (cf. 5:14). Some may wonder why Jesus did not say, “Be healed” at that moment. No doubt in part He was testing their faith in His ability to heal them in His time. His command would be an affirmation of the validity of the law of God (cf. Matt. 5:17–19). By obeying, these men were demonstrating faith and fulfilling their obligation as the law required. The priests who would receive the ex-lepers functioned as the local health inspectors, and there was an elaborate process, lasting for eight days and involving various examinations, sacrifices and rituals, to determine whether a person was free of leprosy (Lev. 14:1–32).

In the type of stunning understatement that describes most of Christ’s miracles, Luke merely notes that as they were going to show themselves to the priests as He had commanded, the ten men were cleansed. There were no spectacular, dramatic words, special effects, or histrionics, just a complete, instantaneous cleansing of all traces of the disease that had infected and disfigured their bodies.

Ironically, the very priests who vehemently rejected Jesus would have to validate the undeniable fact that the lepers had been healed. They would be forced to confirm His supernatural power and strict adherence to the law, and thus become reluctant witnesses to His deity. And during the eight days that their healing was being validated, the men themselves would be living witnesses to Christ’s divinity.

THE ONE WHO WAS SAVED

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.” (17:15–19)

Up to this point, the ten men had acted in unison. All had pled for Jesus to heal them; all had obeyed His command and started on their way to the priests; all had been healed. At that point, the uniformity was broken as one of them, surely full of joy, amazement, and wonder when he saw that he had been healed, turned back toward Jesus. They were all overjoyed at the prospect of returning to a normal life with family and friends, but only this one soul grasped the profound implications of what had happened to him. Recognizing that he had been in the presence of God incarnate, he wanted more than a mere physical healing; his heart longed for salvation from the divine Healer. The Jews knew that the Old Testament taught that God was primarily a Redeemer and a Savior (Job 19:25; Ps. 19:14; Is. 41:14; 43:3, 11, 14; 45:15, 21; 49:26; 60:16). He understood the reality of his sinful alienation and need for forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

This man did three things that reveal the longing of his heart for that reconciliation. First, unable to restrain his joyful praise, he began glorifying God with a loud voice. Luke used the phrase loud voice to convey the idea of strong emotion, such as that displayed by Elizabeth (1:42), the followers of Jesus at the triumphal entry (Luke 19:37), and even demons when they were confronted by the Son of God (4:33; 8:28). This may have been the first time in years that he was able to speak above a rasping whisper, since leprosy sometimes affected the larynx.

Second, he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet in worship. That was an affirmation of Christ’s deity, since the Old Testament taught that only God was to be worshiped (Ex. 20:3–5; 34:14; Deut. 5:7–9).

Finally, he gave thanks to Jesus. The other nine no doubt intended to worship God in the temple. This man, however, did not worship Him through religious ritual at a temple from which God had long since withdrawn His glory. Instead, recognizing the manifestation of divine power and grace he had witnessed, he worshiped God in Christ, the true temple; the one in whom “all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9).

What made his response even more amazing was that this man was a Samaritan. The Jews and Samaritans hated each other and, under normal circumstances, had no dealings with each other (John 4:9). It was only because the other lepers were outcasts from Jewish society that he was able to associate with them. The Jews certainly would not have expected God to heal or save a Samaritan. Yet not only did God save many people from a Samaritan village (John 4:39, 41–42), but also the first person to whom Jesus revealed that He was the Messiah was a Samaritan woman (John 4:25–26).

The Lord then asked three rhetorical questions that highlight the ingratitude and indifference of the nine. The Greek form of the first question, “Were there not ten cleansed?” expects an affirmative answer, since there were ten lepers and they had all been cleansed. Jesus was in effect saying, “There were ten cleansed, weren’t there?” But only one had returned to give praise, worship, and thanks to Jesus, which prompted His second rhetorical question, “But the nine—where are they?” No answer is given, but presumably they were hurrying on their way to the priests to begin the procedure for being declared clean. The word translated where is at the end of the phrase in the Greek text for emphasis, making the question literally read, “But the nine, they are where?” They also should have been there gratefully worshiping Jesus, but having taken what they were given from Him, they felt no compulsion to remain. Since their interest in Him was only selfish and superficial, they had no desire to worship or even give Him thanks.

Sadly, that reflected the prevailing attitude toward Jesus throughout His ministry. Trusting in their Abrahamic lineage, the Jewish people believed that they were thereby entitled to blessing from God. They had no true sense of sin, remorse, or desperation in the face of judgment and hell. They were righteous in themselves and so not looking for a savior from sin. A political and military Messiah was their expectation; someone who would powerfully deliver them from their enemies, provide them with all they needed, and heal all of their diseases (cf. John 6:14–15, 26).

Unlike the hardhearted, impenitent, self-satisfied nine men, the repentant man knew that he needed a Savior. He recognized that he had come face-to-face with God and his soul was traumatized by an overwhelming sense of his sinfulness. Peter had that same reaction after Jesus demonstrated His deity by providing a miraculous catch of fish. “When Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’” (Luke 5:8).

Jesus’ final rhetorical question, “Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” emphasizes that he was not one of the Jewish people. He was a stranger to the covenants, yet he alone of the ten healed lepers returned to give glory to God. Barred from worshiping Him in the inner court of the temple, he humbly worshiped God incarnate in the person of Jesus.

The story reached its wonderful conclusion when the Lord said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.” The phrase made you well does not translate the word katharizō (“cleansed”) from verse 14, or the word iaomai (“healed”) from verse 15. It is sōzō, the familiar New Testament term for being saved from sin (e.g., Matt. 1:21; 10:22; 19:25; 24:13; Luke 7:50; 8:12; 13:23; 19:10; John 3:17; 12:47; Acts 2:21, 47; 4:12; 16:30–31; Rom. 5:9–10; 10:9, 13; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 2:15; Eph. 2:8; 1 Tim. 1:15; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5; Heb. 7:25; James 1:21). This man alone out of the ten who were miraculously healed received the second miracle of salvation from sin. His trust, gratitude, humility, commitment, love, praise, and worship mark his faith in Jesus as the faith that saves.

But this incident is not merely the story of ten individuals. The one who was redeemed and the nine who were not are representative of the general attitude toward Jesus. The nine represent unbelieving Israel, who had only a superficial interest in Jesus. The people wanted what they could get from Him—healings, food, deliverance from demons, rescue from the oppression of Roman rule—but refused to acknowledge Him as God and worship Him.

On the other hand the penitent man pictures the believing remnant among the Jews and any non-Jewish repentant sinners who will enter the kingdom of God (Matt. 21:31–32). Both groups enjoyed the benefit of Jesus’ power and basked in the wonder of His teaching and miracles. But the majority were content with the superficial, temporal benefits they could get from Him. Only a few humbled themselves, glorified Him as God, worshiped Him, and desired that He transform their hearts.

All people face the same two choices. They can be content with experiencing the common grace of the God who “causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45). Or they can embrace Jesus Christ as Master and Savior and cry out in penitence, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” (Luke 18:13). Only the latter will be justified (v. 14) and enter God’s eternal kingdom.