Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” – Luke 17.18
Earlier this summer, I went to church with about a hundred and fifty prisoners at the state prison in Mansfield. I knew the preacher would be good. We had arranged for Rev. Zan Holmes to guest preach that Sunday as a way of closing out another successful year teaching two classes of Disciple Bible Study. Rev. Holmes did not disappoint.
I wasn’t ready for the music, though. The musicians were all inmates. The instrumentalists and singers – about ten total — were as good as any you might hear elsewhere. It was loud, it was lively, and it was all praise to God – a remarkable experience of worship.
I remember one song, in particular; the chorus went something like this: You didn’t have to wake me up this morning, but you did Lord. And I praise you Jesus…. We sang that line over and over and as I looked around that cinder block room – a dozen-dozen blue shirted men standing, singing, clapping – I thought, “You’d never know we were here. These guys mean what they’re singing about. They are happy to be alive right now and they are not shy about are giving their praise to Jesus.” I was humbled.
Once upon a time, Jesus healed ten lepers on a trip he took with his disciples to Jerusalem. Somewhere between Samaria and Galilee, ten men – ten social outcasts, sick in body and sick in soul – called out to him as he passed by. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us,” they called out. Luke describes sparingly what then happened: When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.
The story’s center, however, has to do with one leprous man (a Samaritan, it is noted) out of the ten who, after initially walking away, turned around and said, “Thank you.” Actually Luke wrote that he “[Praised] God with a loud voice” and fell down in thanksgiving in front of Jesus. To which Jesus noted to his disciples, Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?
It’s just a guess on my part, but if that once-leprous Samaritan could have sung, You didn’t have to wake me up this morning, but you did Lord. And I praise you Jesus, he would have. He turned around to face Jesus and gave thanks for his healing.
He wasn’t the only one cleansed of disease, Luke tells us – the others walked away just as clean. But he was the only one who turned around and gave praise to the healer. And Jesus observed it with rhetorical questions, “Is he the only one who was healed? Where are the other nine?”
Jesus knows we all need blessings to get through life. It’s a hard world and we need as much of God’s assistance as we can get. He blesses and wants in return only the recognition that they are just that: blessings. Not earnings, not entitlements. Blessings.
Not a day goes by that we all shouldn’t be saying thanks for one more day to know the goodness of God. He didn’t have to wake us up this morning, either. But he did.
— KDS
Thoughts Along the Way 