The thanks-giving Samaritan Leper

Cane Creek Friends Meeting 11/16/25.

A large dog walks into a butcher shop carrying a purse in its mouth. He puts the purse down and sits in front of the meat case. "What is it, boy?" the butcher jokingly asks. "Want to buy some meat?" "Woof!" barks the dog. "Hmm," says the butcher. "What kind? Liver, bacon, steak ..." "Woof!" interrupts the dog. "And how much steak? Half a pound, one pound ..." "Woof!" The amazed butcher wraps up the meat and finds the money in the dog's purse.

As the dog leaves, he decides to follow. The dog enters an apartment building, climbs to the third floor and begins scratching at the door. With that, the door swings open, and an angry man starts shouting at the dog. "Stop!" yells the butcher. "He's the most intelligent animal I've ever seen!" "Intelligent?" says the man. "This is the third time this week he's forgotten his key."

He wasn't thankful.

Contrast that to the story of Pam, who worked in downtown Chicago. Every morning, she encountered a heavyset, middleaged woman in a shabby coat soliciting spare change in front of an old brick church. She greeted everyone with a smile and a pleasant "Good morning." Pam almost always gave her something.

After almost a year of this routine, however, the woman in the shabby coat disappeared. Pam wondered what had happened to her.

Then, one beautiful day, she was in front of the church again, still wearing the same, shabby coat. As Pam reached into her purse for the usual donation, the woman stopped her. "Thank you for helping me all those days," she said. "You won't see me again because I've got a job." With that, she reached into a bag and handed Pam a wrapped package. She had been standing at her old spot waiting, not for a handout, but for the people she recognized so that she could give each of them a doughnut.

She was thankful.

Luke 17:11-19

TenHealed ofLeprosy

11As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. 12As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, 13crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

14He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”[a] And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

15One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” 16He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.

17Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? 18Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.[b]”

Be thankful even if you are in difficult circumstances.

This kind of thankfulness is faith.

We start with ten men who have the worst disease of their day. The physical ramifications are horrendous. Leprosy attacks the body, leaving sores, missing fingers, missing toes, damaged limbs. In many cases, the initial pain of leprosy gives way to something more terrible than that - a loss of sensation in nerve endings, leading to more damage to more body parts. The disease can take 30 years to run its course, and in that time span, entire limbs can simply fall off. It is, assuredly, a most horrible disease.

The emotional pain of a leper, however, must have been even worse than the physical pain. He was removed from his family, from his community. There could be no contact, whatsoever, with his children or grandchildren. None. Immediately removed. His wife would not be allowed to kiss him goodbye. He would not have allowed it, for fear that she, too, would become afflicted.

Lepers tended to roam together, looking for food, begging for assistance from a great distance, learning to yell in loud voices, both from the need to warn others, and to beg for help from across the way.

What would it have been like to have been removed from friends and family for a lifetime. It must have been horrible.

In this account, ten men encounter Jesus, and say. "We want to be well!" they scream at Jesus. And Jesus responds, "Go and show yourselves to the priest."

The local priest had duties other than leading worship on the Sabbath. He was also something of a health official. If a person was miraculously healed of leprosy, it was up to the priest to inspect the body, to test for a complete removal of the disease, and to announce the person healed. In such cases, the person would have been cleansed, and at that point, it would be fine for the leper to see his wife again, to hold his daughter again, to look for work again. If the priest gave him the OK, he would be healed!

Now, Jesus says to these lepers, "Go and show yourselves to the priests."

They look down at their bodies. The hands of one man are still mangled. Another man looks at his leg, which ends with a filthy rag at the knee. Another looks at his skin and finds it as repulsive as ever.

In other words, all of these men were no better off than they had been ten minutes earlier, when they had first spotted Jesus.

And yet, they headed off in search of the priests. And on their way, they were healed. On their way, a hand reappeared, and tingled with life. A crutch tripped on a filthy rag, as it fell to the ground.

The leg was back, healthy, whole, and complete. The skin cleared, and the tiny hairs on a forearm turned from snow white to brown. One looked at the other, another looked at the rest, and the screaming started. The smiles broke into cheering. They raced off in the distance, not believing that the nightmare was finally over.

But in order for the miracle to happen, these men had to start walking in faith before their circumstances had changed one tiny bit.

Is there a more important lesson for us, as we approach Thanksgiving? We cannot wait until the problems are over to start walking in faith. Now listen, we cannot put conditions on God. We cannot say, "Lord, as soon as there's enough money, I will follow your instructions." We cannot pray, "Lord, if you'll just solve this issue in my family, I'll start to go to church." We cannot put conditions on God! Instead, God places a demand for faith on us, before anything at all has changed.

God might say, "Love me despite the disease. Obey me despite the lack of knowledge, or the lack of resources. Follow me now, despite the depression. Say no to the temptation, while it still is difficult. Praise me in the darkest of nights, and in the worst of circumstances."

This is the nature of God, a God who loves us so much, He'll give us the opportunity to be thankful when nothing about our circumstances gives us that motivation. Friends, that is the very definition of faith. If we praised God only on the good days, only in the best of circumstances, it would not be faith at all.

Will you be thankful despite the difficult circumstances? If so, you will have experienced faith.

While on a shortterm missions’ trip in 1996, Pastor Jack Hinton from New Bern, North Carolina, was leading worship at a leper colony on the island of Tabango. There was time for one more song, so he asked if anyone had a request. A woman who had been facing away from the pulpit turned around.

"It was the most hideous face I had ever seen," Hinton said. "The woman's nose and ears were entirely gone. The disease had destroyed her lips as well. She lifted a fingerless hand in the air and asked, 'Can we sing Count Your Many Blessings?'"

Overcome with emotion, Hinton left the service. He was followed by a team member who said, "Jack, I guess you'll never be able to sing that song again."

"Yes, I will," Jack replied, "but I'll never sing it the same way.

One healed leper came back. One healed leper caught himself in the midst of the celebration and returned to Jesus. He reversed his steps, put his family on hold, put the priest on hold, and came back to the cause of his celebration.

"Where are the other nine?" Jesus asked.

Do you realize what this says? Jesus said, "Go, and show yourselves to the priests. Jesus never commanded that any of them express thankfulness to God, or return to Him, the healer. Nevertheless, that is what Jesus expected.

R. C. Sproule in his book “About Following Christ.” Writes, “Jesus’ encounter with the ten lepers illustrates the importance of thanksgiving. Countless sermons have been preached about the healing of the ten lepers, focusing attention on the theme of gratitude. The thrust of many of these sermons has been that Jesus healed ten lepers, but that only one of them was grateful. The only polite response to such preaching is to call it what it is—nonsense. It is inconceivable that a leper enduring the abject misery he faced daily in the ancient world would not be grateful for receiving instant healing from the dreadful disease. Had he been one of the lepers, even Adolph Hitler would have been grateful.

The issue in the story is not one of gratitude, but of thanksgiving.

It is one thing to feel grateful; it is another thing to express it. Lepers were cut off from family and friends. Instant cleansing meant release from exile. We can imagine them deliriously happy, rushing home to embrace their wives and children, to announce their healing. Who would not be grateful? But only one of them postponed his return home and took time to give thanks.”

Remember, a priest must make the declaration that a leper had been healed? There were great details involved in this process. There were details of what a priest was to look for, and how a person with the disease could be readmitted to the community, healed, and whole.

But did you know that in our record of the Old Testament, and the New Testament, that every single healing of a leper came by supernatural means? There were great details about what would happen if a leper became naturally well, but it never happened as far as we know. Perhaps people suspected of leprosy were pronounced clean when their skin rash cleared up. Perhaps someone with a mild infection ran the course of the sickness and was readmitted. But according to the records of the Bible, no real leper was ever naturally cured. This was a lifetime sentence of pain and exclusion.

But there were some healings. The sister of Moses had leprosy for a week and was miraculously cured.

A man named Naaman was cured miraculously. And that's it, in the OT. In the NT, however, Jesus heals lepers as if they had mild colds. Jesus continued the practice of healing lepers not naturally, but supernaturally.

It was another way of God saying to us: This is the Messiah. This is the Christ. This is Immanuel. God is with you, for only God has healed lepers. Only God.

Jesus loves you, no matter who you are, where you've been, or what you've done?

(Read Matt. 8:1-4)

Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy

1Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside. 2Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”

3Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared. 4Then Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”

A leper approaches Jesus, stopping at the required distance. He knelt before Jesus, begging for help. The very sight of him was repulsive. The smell of him was revolting. People gasped and backed away. Some surely commanded him to clear the roadway, to not put anyone at risk.

Matthew writes that Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. It was the touch of a loving hand. It was the touch of a human hand.

Today, you've touched more people in an hour than this man had touched in years. Today, you've been close to friends and family. Maybe a child has been in your lap. Maybe a hug met you at the door. Maybe it was a handshake from a friend.

Not this guy. He longed for a loving touch more than he longed for food. More than he needed water, he needed love. And before he was healed, while there was still a tremendous risk, Jesus was willing to give him that touch.

No abuse has scarred you so badly that Jesus won't touch you. Jesus is willing to lovingly touch you, hold you, and restore you.

No sin has made you unlovable. Jesus is willing to call you his friend and stand beside you. It was his death that paid for your sin.

No fear has disqualified you. No problem has put your life on hold. No failure has negated his love.

The miracle of Thanksgiving is the love of Jesus. No exceptions, no qualifications, no doubts. He loves you.

And for that, O God, we are so thankful.