(Luke 17)
TEN lepers, of different nationalities, but made by adversity brothers, met the Lord on the occasion of His coming, through the midst of Samaria and Galilee, to Jerusalem.
They stood afar off, as became such diseased men, and lifted up their voices, in a common wail, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
Their poignant sense of need made them in earnest, and caused their cries to blend. Theirs was no religion of caste. They could not afford to say, “Stand by, for I am holier than thou.” The Jew and the despised Samaritan had to make common cause, and to accept a universal dead-level. Oh, what a grand obliteration of self-righteous distinctions does the sense of personal need and ruin produce! The neighbor is no longer saddled with the crime of which you are guilty; the charge is no longer thrown from off your shoulders and laid on his. No, the consciousness of personal need leads you to lift up your own voice and cry for “mercy.”
And a most important exercise is this!
Well, these ten lepers cried for mercy, nor cried in vain. For truly wrote the poet: ―
“None shall seek that shall not find,
Mercy called whom grace inclined.”
“And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go, shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.” Yes, in the alacrity of grace, Jesus made that the “day of their cleansing” (Lev. 14:22This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest: (Leviticus 14:2)), and bade them, in accordance with the law of Moses, go to the priests. They went! The faith that made them cry to Jesus for mercy, now led them to obey His word; and, mark, as they went they were cleansed. How many yards they had gone priest ward we are not told; doubtless not many, but at a certain point, on their way from Jesus to the priests, they were cleansed!
An unfelt touch of omnipotent grace rebuked the foul disease, and cleansed them all.
Each felt the electric throb of new life and health; the flesh of each became like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean!
Nine of them went on to the priests, according to the law of Moses and to the word of Jesus.
“One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks; and he was a Samaritan.” One of them, only one, consciously healed, first turned back, and, with the voice that had just cried for mercy, glorified God; and, secondly, fell on his face at Jesus’s feet, giving Him thanks (how becoming), and he was a Samaritan!
Yes, but this one Samaritan discerned in his blessed Healer the true representative of God.
What virtue could there be in the priests, now that such a Physician was present? His faith made the distinction that should ever be drawn between form and power. He put to shame the others.
Hence Jesus said, “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?” Sure all the ten had been equally cleansed; but nine had passed on to the priests, and to the decaying order of religion which Jesus had come to supersede.
But did He not bid them go? Certainly He did, before, but not after, they had been cleansed! As they went they were cleansed. The moment of cleansing made all the difference. In view of it the rites of Judaism were appropriate, but afterwards they had no meaning. It was an anachronism, a thing out of date. A system like that of Judaism suits lepers who feel their need of cleansing, but for lepers who by grace have been cleansed it is absolutely unprofitable.
Therefore Jesus said, “Where are the nine?” “Where?” They had swamped themselves in an effete order of religion, in which “glorifying God” and “giving thanks” to the Lord Jesus were really unknown. “There are not found,” again said Jesus, “that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.”
Alas, ten lepers, all cleansed, but only one a true worshipper! But how common today to see His grace practically ignored by the want of a hearty return to give glory to God and thanks to the Lord Jesus. How easy it is to become swamped and irretrievably lost in the wide profession around, and thus to lose the sense of cleansing and to abandon the voice of praise.
Ten got all they needed from Jesus; only one gave to Him what He wanted!
Where are the nine?
Think, dear reader, of the mighty cure effected by the Lord on these ten lepers! The number was nothing. Had it been multiplied tenfold, His grace was the same! The incurability of the disease was nothing. Had it been still more incurable (like sin itself), His grace was still sufficient! What the priests could not, cannot do, Jesus can! Only come to Him―the Sin-bearer; trust His atoning blood; rely on His faithful word; and return to give glory to God, as a saved and happy worshipper. J. W. S.