Passage: Luke 17:11-19. Only the despised Samaritan returned to thank Jesus.

The ten lepers were healed on their way to the priest to show they were cleansed. We can be healed on our way home or going to the doctor.

The translations are mine, but if you would like to see many other translations, please go to biblegateway.com. I include the Greek text to bring out the nuances, but readers may ignore the left column, if they wish.

Let’s begin.

Cleansing Ten Lepers (Luke 17:11-19)

11 Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ πορεύεσθαι εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ αὐτὸς διήρχετο διὰ μέσον Σαμαρείας καὶ Γαλιλαίας. 12 Καὶ εἰσερχομένου αὐτοῦ εἴς τινα κώμην ἀπήντησαν [αὐτῷ] δέκα λεπροὶ ἄνδρες, οἳ ἔστησαν πόρρωθεν 13 καὶ αὐτοὶ ἦραν φωνὴν λέγοντες· Ἰησοῦ ἐπιστάτα, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς. 14 καὶ ἰδὼν εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· πορευθέντες ἐπιδείξατε ἑαυτοὺς τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν. καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ὑπάγειν αὐτοὺς ἐκαθαρίσθησαν. 15 Εἷς δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν, ἰδὼν ὅτι ἰάθη, ὑπέστρεψεν μετὰ φωνῆς μεγάλης δοξάζων τὸν θεόν, 16 καὶ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον παρὰ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ εὐχαριστῶν αὐτῷ· καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν Σαμαρίτης. 17 ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν· οὐχὶ οἱ δέκα ἐκαθαρίσθησαν; οἱ δὲ ἐννέα ποῦ; 18 οὐχ εὑρέθησαν ὑποστρέψαντες δοῦναι δόξαν τῷ θεῷ εἰ μὴ ὁ ἀλλογενὴς οὗτος; 19 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ἀναστὰς πορεύου· ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέν σε.

11 And so it happened that as he was going to Jerusalem, he passed through the middle of Samaria and Galilee. 12 He entered a certain village, and ten men with skin disease met him at a distance. 13 They raised their voice and said, “Master, pity us!” 14 He looked and said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests!” And it happened that as they were going away, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, seeing that he was healed, turned around, and with a loud voice glorified God. 16 He fell right in front of his feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus responded and said, “Weren’t ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were none of them found returning to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.”

Comments:

“skin disease”: The standard translation is leprosy. Nowadays scholars say the word was generic for skin diseases. Let’s call the ten men “lepers” for convenience.

A leper was required by law to wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face, and cry out “Unclean! Unclean!” in order not to contaminate someone else (Lev. 13:45-46).

⁴⁵ “Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ ⁴⁶ As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp. (Lev. 13:45-46, NIV)

It is moving how Luke writes that the ten lepers met him—from a distance. Usually meeting people happens up close and personal. They were following the law.

Skin Disease, Mold in Leviticus 13, 14 from a NT Perspective

“They raised their voice”: that is a literal translation. It means they shouted at him because they were standing at a distance. The noun voice is in the singular, as if they were united and called for the same blessing. No, they did not say “pity us” in unison, but at different times. One: “Pity us!” A second one: “Pity us!” A third one: “Have mercy on us!” And so on. They all wanted to be healed. They were not like all the disabled and sick sitting at the pool of Bethesda, all of whom wanted healing, but they also seemed to be in competition with each other (John 5:2-17). Unity is better than discord.

The Samaritan saw that he was healed. He actually saw his skin was cleared up. He must have held out his hands and arms in front of him, rubbed his face. He may have asked a passerby, “Look at my face! Is the disease still there? No? I’m healed! I’m healed!”

“healed”: this verb is iaomai (pronounced ee-ah-oh-my), and it means, unsurprisingly, “healed, cure, restore.” The noun, incidentally, is iasis (pronounced ee-ah-seess), and it means “healing, cure.” Here it is the passive form of the verb, so we are talking about the divine passive, which is an understated way of saying that God was working through his Son to heal the lepers.

Incidentally, the noun is used three times: Luke 13:22; Acts 4:22, 30. In other words, only Luke uses the noun.

Then the one leper turned back and with a loud voice glorified God. “I praise you, God!!! Thank you, God!!! I glorify you, God!!!” It must have been an exciting and moving scene. (And now you know why Pentecostals do what they do!)

It is known from other passages that Jews and Samaritans did not like each other (John 4:9). In fact, some extra-devout Jews walked around the entire region instead of passing through it.

The Samaritan was despised, but he showed the most gratitude. Jesus said in Luke 7:47 that if someone has been forgiven much, he will love much. As the despised Samaritan, he must have felt like the extra-outcast. So he felt his healing more deeply. God himself did not reject the Samaritans, by virtue of their being Samaritans. God loved them as much as he did the extra-pure Jews or anyone else.

Then Jesus tells the grateful Samaritan to stand up and go. His faith has healed him.

“faith”: here the Samaritan’s faith was directed at Jesus and his need. He didn’t get distracted with complex issues. It means he had confidence and trust that Jesus could heal. See v. 5 for more comments.

Word Study on Faith and Faithfulness

“healed”: In this case, the verb is sōzō (pronounced soh-zoh and used 106 times in the NT), and is passive (“be saved”). Since the theology of salvation (soteriology) is so critical for our lives, let’s look more closely at the noun salvation, which is sōtēria (pronounced soh-tay-ree-ah and used 46 times) and at the verb sōzō (pronounced soh-zoh and used 106 times)

The verb sōzō means “save, rescue, heal” in a variety of contexts, but mostly it is used of saving the soul. BDAG says that the verb means, depending on the context: (1) “to preserve or rescue from natural dangers and afflictions, save, keep from harm, preserve,” and the sub-definitions under no. 1 are as follows: save from death; bring out safely; save from disease; keep, preserve in good condition; thrive, prosper, get on well; (2) “to save or preserve from transcendent danger or destruction, save or preserve from ‘eternal’ death … “bring Messianic salvation, bring to salvation,” and in the passive it means “be saved, attain salvation”; (3) some passages in the NT say we fit under the first and second definition at the same time (Mark 8:5; Luke 9:24; Rom. 9:27; 1 Cor. 3:15).

Here it means “healed” or “cured.”

Application for Ministry Today

I believe that Jesus’s ministry teaches us today how to minister to the sick and demonized. Let’s see what we can learn. I number my points in this section for clarity and order.

1.. Jesus looked at them, as they stood off at a distance. He didn’t wave them off. He could see that they had faith to be healed. He said to them that they should go and show themselves to the priests. This was required by law (Lev. 13:17). Then as they went their way, they were cleaned. Amazing.

2.. People may not get healed during the church meeting, but they may get healed on their way home or at home.

3.. Somehow his vocal pronouncement—out loud—communicated healing to them. Yet, he did not say they were healed but that they were to show themselves to the priests. And the priests might say the lepers were unclean.

4.. But in the lepers’ case, the priests would pronounce them clean. Somehow the lepers’ faith was in the mix, as seen in their unified cry for Jesus to show mercy on them. Jesus healed everyone who came to him with a request for healing.

5.. Healed people should be grateful. But if they don’t turn around and thank you, then your reward will come from God.

6.. As I write in all the healing posts:

Let it be noted that Jesus never went in for “decree and declare.” (Name one time he used such verbiage during his prayer for the sick. Nor did the disciples use those formulaic words in Acts).

Instead, God the Father through his Son who was anointed by the Spirit performed miracles of healing. Jesus clarified that he does only what he sees his Father doing (John 5:19). He lives because of the Father (John 6:57). He speaks only what the Father taught him (John 8:28). He does what he sees the Father do (John 10:37).  What Jesus says is just what the Father told him to say (John 12:49-50, 57). Perhaps the most important verse about miracles: “Many good works I have shown you from My Father” (John 10:32). (In John’s Gospel, “good works” = miracles, at a minimum.)

And so the Father through his Son who was anointed by the Spirit, performed all miracles during his Son’s ministry (Acts 10:38). The Son obeyed and followed his Father and also did the healings by the Spirit. The Trinity was working together.

6..We too should develop life in the Spirit (Gal. 5), so we can hear from the Father through the Spirit, in Jesus’s name and authority granted to us. We will never heal as Jesus did, because he is the Anointed One without limits (John 3:34). But after the cross and the Son’s ascension, the Spirit can distribute the gifts of healings (plural) as he determines (1 Cor. 12:11), not as we “name and claim” or “decree and declare.” Let the Spirit work, and you listen and obey, and then rebuke a disease (not the person) or pray for healing.

4. Gifts of the Spirit: Gifts of Healings

Kenneth Copeland Gets a Pacemaker

Is ‘Decreeing’ Biblical for Christians?

What Is Biblical Confession?

For fuller commentary, go the chapter:

Luke 17

Scroll down to right verses.