Encountering Jesus will challenge us to see that our gratitude for God’s activity in our lives reveals the reality of our relationship with God.

This week we have been looking at an encounter that ten lepers had with Jesus that is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. Wednesday we looked on  as the ten lepers realized that they had been miraculously healed by Jesus, one of then returned to Jesus, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him.

In other words, while the remaining nine lepers continued on their way to the priest, one leper went back to Jesus so that He could make much of God’s activity through Jesus. This leper who had been miraculously healed by Jesus was demonstrating the reality that he was submitting his life to Jesus in a way that recognized Jesus as being large and in charge of his life. This leper who had been miraculously healed by Jesus wanted to thank Jesus for God’s activity through Jesus.

We looked on as Luke explained that this man who had been miraculously healed by Jesus was a Samaritan. We discovered that Samaritans were viewed by Jewish people as outsiders that were far from God.

And yet this Samaritan, who would have been viewed as being an outsider who was far from God, responded to God’s activity in his life through Jesus by making much of God and thanking God as though he was an insider who was close to God. We see how Jesus responded to this Samaritan in Luke 17:17:

 Then Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine-- where are they? "Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?"

Now Jesus statement here to the Samaritan, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Hey didn’t I just miraculously heal ten of you guys? But the other nine guys who I miraculously healed, where are they at? Didn’t any of the other guys that I miraculously healed want to make much of God’s activity in their lives? So you are telling Me that only this outsider wanted to thank God and make much of God for His miraculous activity in his life?”

You see, while the nine other lepers, who were Jewish people who were supposed to be insiders when it came to a relationship with God, were miraculously healed physically, they were not grateful for what Jesus had done for them. The other nine lepers, who were Jewish people who were supposed to be insiders when it came to a relationship with God, did not recognize who Jesus was and were not grateful for what Jesus had done for them.

By contrast, the one leper who was a Samaritan who was viewed as an outsider when it came to a relationship with God, returned to Jesus and expressed his gratitude for being healed physically and his recognition of who Jesus was and his need for Him spiritually. Luke then concludes this section of his account of Jesus life by recording a statement that reveals for us a timeless truth that can occur when we encounter Jesus. So let’s look at that statement and discover that timeless truth together in Luke 17:19:

 And He said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has made you well."

Luke tells us that Jesus responded to the Samaritan man who had returned to make much of God and thank God for what He had done through Jesus for him by stating "Stand up and go; your faith has made you well." Now question that could pop into your mind at this point is “Well Dave, the Samaritan man was already made well by Jesus. As a matter of fact, all ten men with leprosy were already made well by Jesus. So why would Jesus tell this Samaritan man who he had already miraculously healed from leprosy to get up and go, your faith has made you well, when he already was made well?”

You see, while Jesus had miraculous healed all ten lepers physically, that did not mean that He had healed them spiritually. Remember, the ten lepers did not ask Jesus to deal with their spiritual condition. Instead, they only asked Jesus to deal with their physical condition. And Jesus was willing to extend grace to them and do the miraculous for them so that they would be healed physically.

However, while Jesus had done the miraculous for them physically, nine of the lepers, who were Jewish people who were supposed to be insiders when it came to a relationship with God, failed to express gratitude for what Jesus had done for them physically. While Jesus had done the miraculous for them physically, nine of the lepers, who were Jewish people who were supposed to be insiders when it came to a relationship with God, failed to recognize who Jesus was in light of what He had done for them physically.

Only the one leper, who was a Samaritan who was viewed as an outsider when it came to a relationship with God, expressed gratitude for what Jesus had done for him physically. Only the one leper, who was a Samaritan who was viewed as an outsider when it came to a relationship with God, recognized who Jesus was in light of what He had done for him physically. And it was this leper’s response of faith in Jesus and his faithful response of gratitude for what Jesus had done for Him that revealed that he recognized that he had been rescued by Jesus and desired to follow Jesus by faith as Lord and Leader.

Only the one leper, who was a Samaritan who was viewed as an outsider when it came to a relationship with God, responded with gratitude for what Jesus had done for him physically in a way that revealed the reality that he had placed his confident trust in Jesus in a way that would miraculously heal him spiritually so that he would experience the forgiveness and the relationship with God that he was created for.

And it is here, in this event from history in the life of Jesus involving an encounter between ten leprous men and Jesus, that we discover a timeless truth that can occur when we encounter Jesus. And that timeless truth is that encountering Jesus will challenge us to see that our gratitude for God’s activity in our lives reveals the reality of our relationship with God. Just as it was for these ten lepers, just as it has been throughout history, encountering Jesus will challenge us to see that our gratitude for God’s activity in our lives reveals the reality of our relationship with God.

You see, the reason why the nine lepers, who were Jewish people who were supposed to be insiders when it came to a relationship with God, were ungrateful for God’s activity in their lives through Jesus was due to the reality that while they wanted something from Jesus physically, they did not want a relationship with Jesus spiritually. The reason why the one leper, who was a Samaritan who was viewed as an outsider when it came to a relationship with God,  was grateful for God’s activity in his life through Jesus was due to the reality that he not only saw his need for something from Jesus physically, he wanted a relationship with Jesus spiritually.

So here is a question for us to consider: If you were to find yourself in this event from history as a character in this event from history, which character would you be? Or better yet, if those who knew you best were to put you into this event from history, who would they so you would be?

Would you find yourself in this event from history as one of the nine lepers? Do you consider yourself an insider when it comes to a relationship with God but are not really grateful for what God has done for you through Jesus? Do you consider yourself an insider when it comes to a relationship with God but in reality only accept what Jesus does for you without being grateful for who Jesus is? Do you consider yourself an insider when it comes to a relationship with God but only want something from Jesus not a relationship with Jesus? Would those closest to you view you as being ungrateful, even demanding?

Or would you find yourself in this event from history as the one leper? Do you respond with gratitude for what God has done for you through Jesus that flows into a lifestyle that is marked by gratitude? Do you respond with gratitude for Jesus because you desire a deeper relationship with Jesus, not just something from Jesus? Would those closest to you view you as being gracious and generous to others?

If you were to find yourself in this event from history as a character in this event from history, which character would you be? Are you grateful for what Jesus does for you? Or do you accept what Jesus does for you without showing gratitude to Jesus for who He is?

Because, as we see from the ten lepers encounter with Jesus, encountering Jesus will challenge us to see that our gratitude for God’s activity in our lives reveals the reality of our relationship with God.