Where Are the Other Nine?

Well, we're going to read together from the Scriptures of the New Testament.

We're reading in Luke chapter 17, and we're reading from verse 11 to verse 19.

Luke 17 · chapter mention

! Let's hear and read together in God's Word.

On the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.

And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers,

who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying,

Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

When he saw them, he said to them,

Go and show yourselves to the priests.

And as they went, they were cleansed.

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back,

praising God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks.

Now he was a Samaritan.

Then Jesus answered,

Were not ten cleansed?

Where are the nine?

Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?

And he said to him,

Rise and go your way.

Your faith has made you well.

This is the Word of God, and to His name be the praise and the glory.

All right.

We are in a summer series called Questions That Jesus Asked.

And I'm sure that when we announced that we were going to do this series,

nobody thought of the question,

Where are the other nine?

It's not the most common question you think of when you ask,

What are the questions Jesus asked?

But this is a moving story, actually.

Not a well-known story, but a moving moment in the Gospels

when Jesus encounters these ten lepers.

And it's not well-known, but it's so important.

And there's a literary frame that Luke gives us in the passage,

and it starts in verse 12, and it helps us understand it.

Verse 11, I should say,

He came to Jerusalem.

And then in verse 12,

He was met by ten lepers,

but they were at a distance.

And there's the word distance.

Ten lepers are at a distance physically from Him

at the beginning of the story.

But when you get down to verse 18 at the end of the story,

though they've been cleansed,

nine lepers are still at a distance from Him.

Only one has come any closer at all.

And so there's a physical distance at the beginning

because of leprosy,

because of the disease and the separation that was required by law.

But even after the leprosy is cleansed,

nine out of ten are still very far away from Jesus at the end.

And that means that Luke is trying to do what the Bible does,

and that's show us that something like physical leprosy

has always been meant to be a sign of a spiritual reality as well,

of something going on on the inside,

of a relational distance that is still there at the end of the story.

I think every one of us today will know of that colleague at some point

where we've worked with them for years,

but we still don't really know them.

And in the same way, you can sit across from the table,

even from family for years,

and never really have relational depth connection.

So there can be physical distance,

but there can be physical closeness, yet relational distance.

And you have that distinction from the beginning to the end

in this literary frame that we're given.

Why?

What's the difference?

How can it be that He cleanses them from leprosy,

yet they're still far from Him at the end?

And Luke is trying to get us to see that that physical distance

is representative of a different type of leprosy,

not just physical outward leprosy,

but I think He wants us to see that there's such a thing as spiritual leprosy.

And when we realize that, we have to say,

do I have it?

Is that my disease?

Is that my problem?

So let's think about that,

and we'll find out through looking at three things.

Number one, the one that they're distant from,

the person they're distant from.

And then secondly, the heart of leprosy.

And then finally, the leper priest.

So first, who's the one that they're distant from here?

In verse 11, Jesus is traveling.

He's on His way to Jerusalem,

and He passes between Samaria and Galilee.

Now Jesus is going somewhere,

and He's going somewhere on purpose.

He's going to Jerusalem.

And to get there takes not the normal route at all.

So if you were to follow Jesus' travels towards Jerusalem at the end of His life,

He doesn't make a straight line.

He's kind of all over the place.

It's more of a zigzag.

And here, He passes between the liminal space,

between the territory of the Jews and the territory of the Samaritans,

the borderland, the no man's land, really.

A place that nobody normally would go to as a Jew on their way to Jerusalem.

And that's because there's deep ethnic animosity,

the ethnic partiality.

That's quite a minor way to say it, how thick and deep it is,

the hatred, really, between Jews and Samaritans.

Different temple, different priests,

and pretty much utter separation and normal life segregation.

But here, Luke says He's traveling towards Jerusalem.

And that is a significant little moment

because it's the third time we've been told

He has owned His way to Jerusalem in Luke's gospel

since this moment in chapter 9, verse 51,

where we're told He set His face towards Jerusalem.

So that's a moment of fulfillment from the Old Testament,

Isaiah chapter 50, verse 7,

Isaiah 50:7

where it said the suffering servant,

talking about a suffering servant,

will one day come and set His face like flint towards Jerusalem.

A weird metaphor for modern people,

to set your face like flint towards something.

But for an ancient person, flint is this quartz-like material

that basically is unbreakable.

And so He's locked in to Jerusalem.

In other words, the reason this is the third mention,

He's on His way to Jerusalem,

is because Luke wants you to read this story,

understanding that it's in the shadow of the cross.

He is set on going to die for the sins of humanity.

This happens in the shadow of the cross.

It's the story of the cross, really, that this is leading to.

And along that way, Luke has this travel motif.

We saw it in the road to Emmaus.

But part of his journey to Jerusalem and to the cross

is this continual stopping along the way

to make people who you expect to be outsiders into insiders.

And the people that you think are supposed to be insiders,

you find out are actually outsiders.

So as soon as He says in chapter 9, verse 51,

I've got my face set to Jerusalem,

the next chapter is the parable of the Good Samaritan.

You know, who's a good neighbor?

And nobody expects Him to say,

it's the Samaritan that's the good neighbor,

that shows people how to love.

He's constantly showing how outsiders are insiders.

And that means that on His way to the cross,

in the shadow of the cross,

He wants you to see that the kingdom of God

is different than the world expected.

And the kingdom of God is upside down.

It's not normal to human expectation.

And He wants to bring outsiders in.

There's nobody more outside than a leper.

They are the outsiders of all the outsiders.

The king is on his way to be thrown out of the city gate.

And on his way, he wants to bring to himself

people who are the most thrown out in all of the culture.

And that is the Samaritan leper,

the most thrown out person,

the most excommunicated person in the whole culture.

So in verse 12, there's a leper colony

on this borderland between Samaria

and the territory of Jews in Galilee.

And there's 10 lepers.

And they're Jews and Samaritans

because even though Jews and Samaritans

are separated in normal life,

when you are a leper,

all ethnic animosity goes away.

You're cast out from society.

You band together.

And so these Jews and Samaritans are here together,

not thinking any more about racism

or ethnic partiality or anything like that.

And it's because they're excommunicated.

So Leviticus 13 and 14 is the background

to their excommunication.

It's Levitical law in the Old Testament

that requires them to be cast out of the city.

There's a hundred verses on leprosy

in those two chapters, nearly a hundred verses.

And it's important to know that leprosy

is a category more than a disease in the Bible.

So we think of leprosy as a disease.

Leprosy is more of a category.

The first house I ever lived in, in Edinburgh,

had biblical leprosy.

You would wipe mold off the walls in the morning.

You would go to work, you would come home

and the mold would be right back streaked across the walls.

And in Leviticus 13, that's a house of leprosy

because it's got mold.

And it was to be, Leviticus 14, 45,

it is to be knocked down within the camp of God

in the Old Testament because of its leprosy.

And the bag that I purchased

because I was moving to Scotland to study

and you move internationally, you buy a bag, right?

A new backpack and it got leprosy.

And I had to throw it away

because of the first house I lived in in Scotland.

So leprosy is a skin disease,

different types of skin diseases,

but it's also moldy houses

and all sorts of things in the Bible.

And that's because leprosy in the Levitical code,

the God's law is like everything else

in the ritual laws of Leviticus,

an outward sign of an invisible reality.

So leprosy is cast out of the city of God's camp.

Why?

Because it was symbolic,

somebody literally wearing it,

a house having it that says this mold,

this death, this problem cannot be a part of Edenic life,

the life you were made for.

So in the Old Testament,

the people living in the promised land

were a sign of the land that was one day to come,

life in the new Eden.

And that meant that dead bodies

couldn't be inside God's city

and mold couldn't be in God's city

and decay couldn't be in God's city.

And that means that these lepers,

it's not that they did some sin

in order to get leprosy.

Never.

We don't believe in karma.

There's no karma here.

It's that leprosy is one of the chosen signs

in the Old Testament

of what it means as representative humanity

to be in Adam,

as David was talking about early.

In other words,

lepers stand for all of us.

So spiritual leprosy,

physical leprosy is a sign of the truth

that all of humanity has spiritual leprosy.

And so spiritual leprosy represented

in physical leprosy

has to be sent outside of the camp,

outside of the city,

outside of the village.

And so these guys are excommunicated

and it is a triple excommunication.

As one scholar put it,

it is living death.

So religious excommunication,

there's no temple worship.

You cannot go to church.

It is relational excommunication.

Imagine being outside the city

and seeing your family travel by,

but you can never get near to them.

Never a hug.

They could leave food for you,

but you could never cross the street

to see them.

And it's civic excommunication.

You know, you can never go home.

You can't be a part of the people

that you would come from.

And so in the first century rabbinic culture,

leprosy had become something

even more than Levitical law.

It becomes such an excommunication

in every way.

And rabbis were famous

for echoing 2 Kings 5, verse 7,

2 Kings 5:7

where Naaman, the Syrian,

comes to Israel

to get healed of his leprosy.

And the king, he says,

oh, king of Israel,

tell me how to be healed from my leprosy.

And the king says,

who do you think I am?

God?

Only God can heal people from leprosy.

In other words,

there's nothing we can do about this.

And once you go to a leper colony,

the skin diseases

are obviously going to spread.

And so it's typically

a lifetime sentence.

And it was a horrific life.

What do they ask for to Jesus,

of Jesus?

Verse 13,

they say,

they see him,

they say,

Jesus,

master,

give us mercy.

Send us your mercy.

What are they asking for

when they say this word mercy?

They say master.

Clearly they know

this guy is something different.

He's a prophet.

He's a master.

That's kind of like saying a rabbi,

a great teacher.

And when they say mercy,

normally a leper had to go around

in the first century saying,

leper,

leper,

unclean,

unclean.

So if you were to get near them,

they would say unclean.

And that was the signal.

Get away.

I can't be,

I can't be talked to

or communicated with

or got near to.

But here,

when they see the master,

they say,

mercy,

mercy.

And what are they asking for?

And it's clear,

I think,

from the context

and the commentators

all agree on this,

that they're not saying,

have mercy on me,

Jesus,

because I need forgiveness of sins

because I'm a sinner.

They're saying,

give me my life back.

I want to go back

to my family.

I want to go back

to the people that I love.

And that means that

alienation is the wound

they're crying out for.

Alienation is the wound

from which they say,

mercy,

mercy.

Now,

that might not be

the most important thing

to ask Jesus for.

But,

who is this one

that they cry out to

in mercy?

I want to point out to you

before we move

to the main idea here.

Jesus Christ

is the kind of redeemer

who does want to give them

that kind of mercy.

He is the kind of redeemer

who does want to give

them relief

from their skin disease.

He is.

He does.

He does want to give them

their family back.

He does want to put them

back into the city.

He does not despise

that prayer,

that request.

No,

not at all.

Jesus offers

cleansing deeper than skin.

Absolutely.

And that's very important.

But,

he is

on his way to the cross

announcing

that he is indeed

bringing a kingdom

where there will be

no skin diseases

and where people

will not be separated

from their families

because of leprosy

and people will not

starve anymore.

And,

that means that

Christianity

is not

just concerned

with your soul

and it is

very importantly so.

But,

the Christianity

of Jesus Christ,

your redeemer

is as Sinclair Ferguson

put it,

the kind of redeemer

that wants to give

this kind of mercy

to people.

And so,

in verse 14,

he says,

go show yourself

to the priests

and while they were

going to see the priest,

they were healed

along the way.

Now,

the story should end there.

It was a very,

it's a very nice story.

It's a,

it's a great ending.

He sent them

even before they were

ever healed,

which means they had

some measure of faith.

This,

this prophet

can heal me

and I'm going to go

see the priest

and have my,

my cleanliness announced.

This man is powerful

over diseases.

He can heal skin disease

and that would have been

a perfect ending.

And yet,

it's not the end

because that's not the end

of what actually happened

in history

and Luke doesn't want you

to think that that's the end

because there's something

more here,

something deeper

to deal with here.

And so,

he leads us then,

this leads us

to the meat

of the story

and that's the heart

of leprosy secondly

in verses 15 to 18.

Now,

you'll see this

in the passage.

The word in the Bible

most often used

for healing leprosy

is not the word healing.

It's not that they were healed.

It does use that word sometimes,

but most often,

it takes up

the Old Testament language

of cleansing.

And so,

in this passage,

we're told

they were cleansed.

Why?

Because this is ritual language

from Leviticus

that a priest

had to cleanse his hands

to enter God's presence.

the word cleansing

for healing of skin disease

is connecting us

to the religious realities

that are present in it.

There's a sort of idea

of there's a baptism

that needs to take place.

And that's because

the text,

like all of the Bible,

is pointing us to see

that the leprosy

on the outside

is not just about

the leprosy on the outside.

It's about something

deeper than that,

about the healing,

the cleansing,

the baptism

that humanity needs

deeper on the inside.

External problems

are a revelation

of internal problems

all throughout the Bible.

And so,

cleansing is the word

that we really need.

And so,

in verse 15 and 16,

you'll see that

one of the nine,

when he was cleansed,

healed,

he praises God

with a loud voice,

he turns back.

The word,

the language gets used,

he turns back.

It's almost

a physical word

for an inner

type of repentance even.

You can see how much

the physical

was pointing to the spiritual.

It says,

when he saw

his outward skin

was healed,

he turned around.

And he goes back

to Jesus,

praising God.

And he,

we learn at the end

of the story,

Jesus points out,

he's a foreigner,

he's a Samaritan.

He is the very one

of the ten

you do not expect

to do this.

He's not Jewish.

He's an outsider

in the community,

yet the outsider

is so far away

from being distant

to Jesus Christ

that now he's laying

on his face

at his feet.

The outsider

has become the insider

and you see Jesus

under the shadow

of the cross saying,

I'm here

to make lepers clean

and to bring outsiders,

those with a deeper problem,

spiritual leprosy,

all the way in,

all the way to me.

And it's this one,

this Samaritan

that sees it

and pronounces it.

it's him

that repents

in his physical action

and turns around

and goes back to Jesus

and the exegetical key

in all of it

is in verses 15 and 16

and then down

in verse 18.

What does he say

when he turns around?

It says he turns back

and he praised God

with a loud voice

and then when he falls

on his face

before Jesus' feet,

he gives him thanks

and Jesus answered,

where are the nine?

There's the question.

Was no one found

to return,

was no one found

to return

and give praise

to God

except this one Samaritan,

this foreigner?

Now you might pass by this

but it's so important

because if you were

to go across the street

to New College,

to any of the academic

divinity departments

across the UK,

the places where many

of our church members

have studied,

in the biblical studies

department,

in the New Testament

department,

you would be told

that Jesus never identifies

himself as God

in the Gospels

and instead,

Paul identifies Jesus

as God.

Decades later,

he creates that

and then we read

that back into the Gospels

because we've read Paul

and that's the normal thesis

of the New Testament

departments across the land,

across the academy.

But did you catch it?

What's the exegetical key?

What's the key

in this man's life

in turning around

the one of the ten?

It's that he turned back,

he went toward Jesus

praising God

and then you say,

well,

who is this God?

And then as he laid

on his face

at Jesus' feet,

Jesus said,

where are the rest?

Did no one else

come back

to praise God?

And that means

that Jesus is saying,

he's God

in this moment.

Did nobody else

come back

to get on their knees

and praise God?

And who is that?

Well,

it's whoever the person is

that you're laying

on your face in front of.

That's who the one

you're worshiping is.

You see,

Jesus self-consciously

in this moment

on his way to Jerusalem

identifies himself

as God.

And that's the real key

to understand

the issue

in the heart

that's going on

in the other nine.

And you see,

10 men received

physical healing

from Jesus,

healing from their lepers.

They received

a wonderful benefit

from a great master,

a great rabbi.

One man,

one man among the 10

had an encounter

of worship

with his God.

You see,

10 men got

a great benefit

from him,

a great master.

Boy,

was he powerful.

But only one person

had an encounter

not only with a great master

but his God.

And so,

when he realized

that he turned back,

he came back

and he fell on his face

praising God,

praising God

and giving thanks

before him.

And so,

Jesus said,

where are the other nine?

In other words,

they came for the benefits.

Luke is trying

to get us to see

that leprosy

on the outside

points us to

spiritual leprosy

on the inside.

And spiritual leprosy

in this story

has two aspects to it.

The first is this.

It's when

we have

one of the most common

and respectable

forms of unbelief.

And that's

to believe God exists,

to be a religious insider,

to be interested

chiefly

in the benefits

of belief

rather than

any sense

of a living relationship

with my God,

our God.

God.

And that's

the beginning

of the revelation

of spiritual leprosy

deep in the heart.

The difference

in the nine

and the one

is the nine

got a benefit,

the ten did,

but only one

realized that

this is my God

and I want

a living relationship

with him.

And Jesus,

he said something

really similar

in John's gospel

after feeding

the 5,000

in John 6.

He turned

to a group

of people

that came to him

and he said,

you seek me

because you ate

the loaves of bread

and were filled.

So you're chasing

after me

because I filled

your belly

last week.

And it's important

to say Jesus

wants to fill bellies.

And Jesus

wants to heal

skin diseases.

And Jesus

wants to restore

people to their family.

And Jesus

wants to put

us back

into the city

we were made for.

And he also

saying,

but the real

heart of living

faith is to

want him

and to come

back because

you want him

more than any

benefit.

And so that

leads to the

second and

deeper aspect

of spiritual

leprosy here.

And that's

this,

the one,

the Samaritan,

he came back

and it says

he got on

his knees,

he got on

his face

and he gave

thanks.

And Jesus

asked where

the rest to

come and give

thanks to me.

Spiritual

leprosy

is a problem

humanity has

and it is

in this passage

I think being

implicitly taught

to us that

it is a heart

of ingratitude

to God.

It's living

a life of

ingratitude.

Where does

unbelief start?

You know,

unbelief does

not begin

with atheism.

It's striking

that in

Paul's

most important

definition of

unbelief in

the book of

Romans,

Romans chapter

one,

the way he

begins it

all,

Romans 1

21,

he says,

although

humanity

knew God,

they didn't

honor him

as a God.

nor did

they give

thanks.

So when

you asked

Paul,

what is

unbelief?

And he

said,

to not

come and

honor God

or give

thanks to

him.

And so

when we

think about

ingratitude

in our

lives,

you know,

I think

when I

think about

it at

first,

I think

I chalk

this up

to an

issue of

manners.

You know,

that's not

a very,

my kids

aren't being

grateful

enough.

And I

think you

need to

learn your

manners.

But the

Bible

takes in

gratitude

and says

it's not

just manners,

it's

spiritual

leprosy.

A lack

of gratitude

to God

and to

other people

and all

the things

we've been

given.

You know,

you think

about it,

no one

tonight

would ever

say,

you know,

I want

to live

with ungrateful

people.

We know

how important

gratitude

of the heart

is to

being a

healthy

human.

And how

do you

diagnose

spiritual

leprosy?

How do

you know?

Well,

spiritual

leprosy

manifests in

the modern

world in

a newer

phrase we

have,

and that's

just a

sense of

entitlement,

of being

owed

things.

How do

you know?

How do

you know

the places

in your

life where

you've

got that

disease,

where you've

got entitlement,

where I've

got entitlement?

I was thinking

about this,

and it's

not by making

a list of

the things

you're thankful

for and

then asking

what's not

here.

These are

the things

I'm not

very grateful

for.

I think

it's far

more can

be diagnosed

by addressing

your irritations

and asking

what irritates

me the most.

So when

you're at

work,

when I'm

at work,

when I'm

here downstairs

and the

Wi-Fi

goes out,

I get this

lump down

in my

stomach,

my chest

that says

I cannot

believe that

I'm going

to lose

hours here.

I can't.

The Wi-Fi

went out.

Or when

you're

Amazon

Prime

delivery

does not

come because

it said

Amazon Prime

is next

day delivery

and you

think,

can you

believe this?

The Amazon

Prime delivery

package did not

come the next

day.

Well,

it's silly,

but what's

actually happening

is what's being

expressed is that

our irritations

show us far

more our sense

of entitlement

than making a list

of things we're

grateful for and

looking,

what have I not

listed here?

You've got to

look at your

irritations.

And friends,

modern people,

people of

2026,

with me,

we are far

more prone

to this

spiritual

leprosy

than any

other era

of human

history

because we

are customers.

We are

perpetual

customers.

We live

in an age

of being

a customer

at all

times,

and customers

paid,

and therefore

they're entitled.

And,

you know,

the customer's

never grateful.

The customer

is always,

always owed.

I was thinking

about this

through the lens

of imagining,

and I have to

hustle here.

In 18th century,

Edinburgh,

I've heard that

word a couple

times,

so I'm going

to use it,

Edinburgh,

an Edinburgh

a citizen

in the 18th

century,

living out here

on Victoria

Street,

where the

poorest of the

poor lived

in the 18th

and 19th

century.

And there

were 50

people to a

flat at times

when Thomas

Guthrie planted

this church

and visited

those poor.

And the

disease was

rampant,

and once

Thomas Guthrie

found a

whole pig

living,

a couple

pigs living

inside one

of the flats

that he

visited.

That's where

you kept

your animals

too.

And imagine

showing them

a tap

of water

that never

stops right

here in our

little kitchen

hut.

And then

imagine

turning and

taking them

a step

further,

taking them

to Waitrose.

Boy.

And then

imagine taking

that 18th

century Edinburgh

poor living

in 50 in a

room across

the street

and pulling

out your

phone and

saying,

I have

every song

that's ever

been recorded

in this

device right

here.

And you

know,

if my

phone doesn't

play my

podcast on

the way to

work on

Monday,

I want to

throw it.

I'm so,

you know,

why?

Because what

happens in a

customer culture

is that what

was once a

gift becomes a

norm.

And what was

once a norm

becomes an

expectation.

And what was

once an

expectation

becomes something

that we're

entitled to.

And because we

live in a

customer culture,

boy, we live

in a world

where people

publish Google

reviews for

worship services.

We live in a

customer world,

and that means

that we struggle

with entitlement,

rights,

more than any

other in human

history.

And the Bible

says,

ingratitude and

not seeing

everything as a

gift of God,

we don't deserve

anything,

is spiritual

leprosy.

There's two

ways to come

before the

Lord.

One is to

say, I love

your benefits

and I'll take

your goods.

And the

other is to

say, this is

my Lord and

my Savior,

and I want to

get on my

knees and say,

Lord, thank

you, I don't

deserve anything.

Now, how do we

fix it as we

finish?

Very briefly,

thirdly, the

leper priest.

This requires

self-examination

in our lives.

Of course, the

question as we

close has to be,

do I struggle

with ingratitude?

Do I have

spiritual leprosy

in my life?

Am I an

ungrateful person?

And am I

entitled?

And the answer

is yes.

Yes.

And that is

why Jesus'

face is set

like Flint

towards Jerusalem.

And here in

verse 14,

as we close,

we can ask,

why did Jesus

send them to

the priest in

the first place?

He said,

go to the

priest,

because the

priest in the

first century

in the ancient

Near East is

the public health

official,

the public health

officer.

And so you

got to go to

the priest,

and once you're

healed,

you have to

show that to

the priest,

and then the

priest pronounces

that you can

come back,

you're not

excommunicated

anymore.

Where is Jesus

sending them to?

He's sending

them to the

priest,

and who is

the priest?

The priest

is the most

important official

in the culture

that reads

the law,

and then declares

the law over

someone.

He takes

Leviticus,

he says,

have the rules

of Leviticus

been followed

in this person's

situation?

And if it

has,

he says,

now you can

come back.

But it's very

important to know

the priest could

never make

anybody clean.

The priest could

only declare

somebody clean.

All they could

do was look at

the law and

ask,

is this enough?

And I think

in the same

way,

as it's been

pointed out

by others,

when Jesus

sends them

to the priest,

he's sending

them to the

law of the

old covenant.

And when you

diagnose in

yourself,

I do have

spiritual leprosy,

I am a person

who struggles

with ingratitude,

I do have a

sense of

entitlement,

I'm not

grateful to

God for so

much.

If you say,

how am I

going to deal

with it,

and you go

to the law,

you go to

the priest,

and you read

the Bible,

and you

will find

this,

that the

law is a

perfect mirror,

but a

useless medicine.

It can show

you what you

should be,

but it will

not make

you clean,

it will not

help you,

and if you

say,

today I'm

going to

practice

gratitude,

and I'm

going to

keep a

gratitude

journal,

and I'm

going to

talk to

the Lord

every day

about all

the things

I'm

thankful

for,

do that,

absolutely,

but the

problem already,

it's too

late.

The spiritual

leprosy is

already there.

The ingratitude

has already

been established,

the rebellion

has already

been,

and so you

can try,

we can try

our hardest,

but even if we

do it so well

tonight,

by tomorrow,

well,

we have been

grateful enough,

and when he

sends them to

the priest,

what is he

doing?

There's a

moment,

I think it's

in verse 15

and 16,

when the

one of the

ten sees

his arms

cleansed,

his body

cleansed,

and then as

soon as the

cleansing comes,

he turns

back,

and he goes

the other

way.

Why?

It's like he

realized,

guys,

he told us

to go to

the priest,

and we've

been cleansed,

the priest

is behind

us,

the priest

is the one

that sent

us.

He turned

around,

why?

Because he

knew that

the priest

of the old

covenant

could not

do anything

for him.

This is the

declaration of

the end

of the law,

and now in

this moment,

the one of

the ten,

the Samaritan,

the outsider

realizes Jesus

Christ is the

true and better

priest.

I need a

priest that's

not just going

to declare me

clean,

maybe,

according to

Leviticus,

I need a

priest who

can make

me clean.

And he

comes back

because he

realizes that

this is not

only my

master,

not only my

rabbi,

not only my

God,

but he is

also my

priest.

And Jesus

just so

happens to

be set

with his

face like

Flint towards

Jerusalem,

where the

true priest

will become

the supreme

leper in

all of

history.

The true

priest who

is God

also became

leprous for

you.

And the

way to

deal with

the problem

of our

ingratitude

is to

come and

say,

the law

can't

cleanse me

and my

gratitude

can't

cleanse me

and I

can be

as grateful

as possible

for the rest

of my

days and

that will

not help

me.

Instead,

we've got

to say

that he

was stricken

at the

cross for

my

entitlement.

He was

crushed

because of

my life

of ingratitude.

He was

excommunicated

ultimately

because of

my spiritual

leprosy.

And only

on that

basis then

can he turn

to you

in faith,

in your

faith,

because that's

what you're

saying.

And he

says,

rise up

and go

on your

way.

And so

in verse

18,

the last

word here

in verse

18,

rise and

go your

way.

Your faith

has made

you well.

And I have

to point

out the

footnote

in the

ESV,

if you

have a

Bible

in front

of you,

which says

that it

could also

be translated,

your faith

has saved

you.

And I

think it

should read,

rise,

your faith

has saved

you.

He was

one amongst

the ten

who said,

this is

my priest,

he will

be stricken

for my

ingratitude.

If you

say that

tonight on

that basis,

now go,

now go

and practice

gratitude.

Gratitude

has to be

shown to

God.

And to

protect

ourselves

from

ingratitude,

it's got

to be

shown every

day,

that's the

practice of

gratitude

we're

called to.

So in

verse 15,

gratitude,

what does

it look

like?

It looks

like a

man,

a woman

who

daily

gets on

their face,

on their

knees before

the Lord

Jesus and

says,

thank you,

thank you,

morning and

evening,

thank you,

Lord,

I don't

deserve it.

That's the

practice of

gratitude.

Let's pray.

Father,

we ask that

you would

teach us to

be grateful.

We know

that we're

not,

so we

come before

you,

declaring our

spiritual

leprosy and

our need and

needing your

forgiveness.

And we

look to the

true leper,

the Christ

who was

made supremely

leprous for

us in the

middle of

history.

And now

we ask,

Lord,

that on the

basis of

being cleansed

by him,

you would

give us

fresh gratitude.

Gratitude brings

joy to us,

and so we want

it this week

even.

So forgive us,

Lord,

change us,

send us in a

new direction,

help us to be

like the

Samaritan who

turned back

and got on

his face and

worshipped you.

And so,

Lord,

we say thank

you as we

sing the

final hymn.

In Christ's

name we

pray.

Amen.