THE CLEANSED MEN
‘There met Him ten men that were lepers, … As they went, they were cleansed.’
Let us consider each point in the record:—
I. The awful state the men were in.—They were ten lepers (Luke 17:12); the disease was incurable (2 Kings 5:7); and it was often sent as a punishment for sin. So it was with Miriam (Numbers 12:9-10), Gehazi (2 Kings 5:27), Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:19-21). Those who were afflicted with leprosy were obliged to live separate from others (Numbers 5:2; 2 Kings 15:5). So these ten men ‘stood afar off.’ How like this is to the disease that is upon all mankind! Sin separates between us and our God (Isaiah 59:2). There is no one who can cure the disease but God only (Mark 2:7). If that cure is to be effected we must cry, ‘Unclean, unclean’! (1 John 1:9; cf. Leviticus 13:45).
II. The wondrous cure the Lord performed.—We read that they meet Jesus (Luke 17:12). This was indeed a blessing, though we may always meet Him (Isaiah 64:4; Isaiah 41:10; Hebrews 13:5). They call Him by His precious name (Matthew 1:21; Acts 5:31). They recognise His authority—‘Master.’ They do not ask for the cure of the disease, but only mercy. ‘His compassions fail not’ (Lamentations 3:22). ‘His mercy endureth for ever’ (Psalms 138:8). He tells them to go to the priest, who was the judge of leprosy (Leviticus 13:2); thus upholding the law, and calling for their obedience. So Naaman (Isaiah 48:18). They obeyed, and ‘as they went they were cleansed’—the cure was complete.
III. The little thankfulness that was shown to Christ.—We should expect them, on being cured, to come back and say how grateful they were to Jesus, and praise Him as God for doing what God only could do. Did they? Only one returned out of ten (Luke 17:15-16; Psalms 106:13; Romans 1:21). This one shows us that whoever learns in himself the power of Jesus to save and cleanse, will praise and live to the glory of Jesus (Psalms 103:1-2). Look at Paul the Apostle (Php_1:29; Galatians 6:14). Those nine show us how many accept God’s favours and mercies, and yet never acknowledge by the smallest return of gratitude that they realise the benefit (Psalms 107:31).
—Bishop Rowley Hill.
Illustrations
(1) ‘The usual road in travelling from the north of Palestine to Jerusalem would be through Galilee first and then through Samaria. The most probable solution is that our Lord travelled along the boundary between Samaria and Galilee to the River Jordan, and then followed the course of that river down to Jericho, at which city we find Him in the next chapter.’
(2) ‘A Jewish leper would doubtless catch at our Lord’s direction to “go to the priests,” and accept it as a hint that he would hear good tidings on showing himself to them.’