On another occasion, as Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he was passing along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²When he entered a certain village, ten men with leprosy met him. Standing at a distance, ¹³they called out loudly, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

¹⁴When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” As they went away they were cleansed.

¹⁵One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. ¹⁶He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷Jesus responded, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸Was no one found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹Then he said to him, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has saved you.”  (EHV)

“Some people’s kids….” Don’t you like it when you don’t have to be embarrassed by your kids or grandkids being rude of ungrateful? When our kids were little, sometimes they’d have a friend over who’d rudely refuse to eat what was put before them, maybe even saying something like “I hate that.” We told our kids that if they ever acted like that at someone else’s house we’d tan their hides and never let them go somewhere.

“Some people’s kids….” What is it about “Abraham’s kids”? Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan? The Jewish fellows passed by, but the foreigner stopped and helped. Here we don’t have a parable but an actual event that happened, and once again Abraham’s kids acted just as spoiled and rude as the ones Jesus incorporated into His parables, while the foreigner is the polite one. How said for those nine! God doesn’t need our praise, but we need to praise Him to fully enjoy the gifts He’s given us both for body and soul. Therefore, “O My Soul, Praise Him for He Is Your Health & Salvation!”

He Is Your Health and Salvation

On another occasion, as Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he was passing along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²When he entered a certain village, ten men with leprosy met him. Standing at a distance, ¹³they called out loudly, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

Can you picture the scene? Lepers weren’t allowed to live in town. They generally hung around the caves that also served as a cemetery at the edge of town. But they saw Jesus approaching, and it seems clear they knew what Jesus was capable of. They had heard about Him and His miracles. Word was spreading all over Galilee. So when they saw Him approaching, they called out to Him for help. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” They “believed” in Him enough to call Him “Master” and ask not just for help but for “mercy.” How far their understanding and their faith went we don’t know. But they certainly believed He had the power to make them well.

¹⁴When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” Why tell them that? Why not heal them first? In a way Jesus is testing their faith. He is telling them that they will be healed before they get to where they need certification that they are no longer unclean. And They all eagerly obeyed and went without asking questions—yet another sign that perhaps we could call all ten of them believers. And as they went away they were cleansed.

But as soon as they were healed, one of them stopped in his tracks. He wasn’t in such a hurry that he couldn’t return and give thanks. But He wasn’t just grateful. He was overwhelmed with thanksgiving and praise. ¹⁵One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice! He’s shouting it for all to hear. Praise to the Lord the Almighty! God is awesome! Great is thy faithfulness! After shouting God’s praises, ¹⁶He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. He’s overwhelmingly grateful to Jesus. He’s not just thanking Him anymore, now he’s worshiping Him!

One returns to give thanks, “And he was a Samaritan,” Luke hastens to add as he writes this third Gospel for the Gentiles to whom Paul preached— Gentiles like us,Gentiles like the ones to whom Paul wrote in Corinth in our epistle lesson: “And he who provides seed to the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed for sowing, and will increase the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be made rich in every way so that you may be generous in every way, which produces thanksgiving to God through us” (2 Corinthians 9:10–11). “O My Soul, Praise Him, for He Is Your Health & Salvation.”

¹⁹Then [Jesus] said to him, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has saved you. But there was a sad note. ¹⁷Jesus responded, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸Was no one found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?” This man was saved through faith, Jesus said. Were the other nine saved through faith, too? On the one hand, they had all asked Jesus for mercy. They had all gone on their way trusting Jesus’ word that they’d be healed before they got to the priest. On the other hand, we sure see a difference between the one who gave thanks and the nine who didn’t. Saving faith is more than knowing what God is capable of. It’s trusting in Him to do what He says and promises. It’s more than just thinking ‘God is good,’ or trusting Him for daily bread. Saving faith trusts in Jesus for salvation. Your faith has saved you, Jesus said to the one who gave thanks.

Noah, too, was saved by faith. So was his family. He completely relied on what God said would happen even though he was setting himself up for 120 years of persecution and mockery. Year after year Noah just kept working on that ark because he knew the One who told him to do so is faithful. That’s what real faith looks like.

Your faith has saved you too! Nothing else has. Salvation is by faith alone because we are unable to do anything to save ourselves, just as lepers can’t cure themselves. We all deserve to die physically and spiritually, temporally and eternally. The moment sin came into the world the process of dying began for us all. Leprosy is a picture-perfect example of what sin did. Leprosy is a rot that starts on the inside, just like sin. It smells of rotting flesh. Leprosy leads to numbness and wounds that don’t heal. We inherited the leprosy of sin and sin leads inexorably to death.

But God didn’t want us to die from the leprosy of sin. He wanted to cleanse us spiritually and ultimately restore us physically also. That’s why He sent Jesus. Jesus came to “take up our infirmities and sicknesses” (Isaiah 53). “By His wounds,” Isaiah the prophet declared, “we are healed.” Faith in Christ is the only way of salvation, and He has provided it.

Therefore, Praise Him, O My Soul, for He Is Your Health & Salvation!

O My Soul, Praise Him

“Was no one found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?” Jesus asked. Thankfulness doesn’t come naturally to fallen mankind. “Some people’s kids?” Yeah, some people’s kids. Adam and Eve’s kids. Even with the incredible miracle that these men experienced, thankfulness didn’t come naturally to them, even though they knew who had healed them.

C.S. Lewis once wrote that the hardest moment for the atheist is when they really do feel grateful some time, but don’t know or have any god to say thanks to. What a blessing the Leper knew where to go to give thanks. What a blessing Noah knew to whom to offer his sacrifice. But knowing whom to thank most certainly doesn’t come naturally. We have to learn who God is from the Word, and by God’s grace we have. We know what God has done for us and we know Jesus is the one to thank. That itself is grounds for praise and thanks! “Thank you, Lord, that you have made yourself known to me and revealed your promises and fulfillments to my once darkened soul!”

What joy comes to us as we give glory to God! “God loves a cheerful giver,” Paul wrote, and that applies to the giver or praise as well! Of the ten, the Leper who gave thanks was the happiest of them all. It made Him happy and fulfilled to thank Jesus. Noah was happy to make an offering to God. He was happier after than before, because he’d been given, and he took, the opportunity to praise His Saviour, and God filled him with joy.

How joyful it makes us to sing a hymn like our Hymn of the Day with meaning, thoughtfulness and joy from the heart. And how well it sums up God’s wonderful deeds in our lives and our reasons to give Him thanks as we praise Him:

1     Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!

O my soul, praise him, for he is your health and salvation!

Let all who hear now to his temple draw near,

joining in glad adoration!

2     Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things is wondrously reigning

and, as on wings of an eagle, uplifting, sustaining.

Have you not seen how all that’s needful has been

sent by his gracious ordaining?

3     Praise to the Lord, who has fearfully, wondrously, made you,

health has bestowed and, when heedlessly falling, has stayed you.

What need or grief ever has failed of relief?

Wings of his mercy did shade you.

4    Praise to the Lord, who will prosper your work and defend you;

surely his goodness and mercy shall daily attend you.

Ponder anew what the Almighty can do

as with his love he befriends you.

5     Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!

All that has life and breath, come now with praises before him!

Let the amen sound from his people again;

gladly forever adore him!

God has cured us of the leprosy of sin, and He will one day even completely restore our bodies. In fact, He’ll make them better than they ever were before. We know whom to thank. It’s Jesus. And as we praise and thank Him, He fills us with joy. Therefore, “O My Soul Praise Him for He Is Your Health and Salvation!”

Amen.

Pastor Timothy Buelow

Our Saviour Lutheran Church

Lake Havasu City, Arizona