JESUS HEALS THE TEN LEPERS

 The event of Jesus healing the ten lepers is recorded in the gospel of Luke 17:11-19. Jesus was passing through the border of Galilee and Samaria when this miracle occurred.

Leprosy is a disease that begins with a very slight symptom, a mere spot somewhere on the body and then keeps spreading until it eventually covers the whole body. It could affect eyelids, making blinking difficult and making protecting the eye difficult which could result ultimately to blindness.

People who have a more advanced form of leprosy find it difficult to control their limbs, thereby making existence very cruel. In our world today, there are more than 3,000,000 people with this disease globally.

At this time in the scriptures, people feared leprosy tremendously and were afraid of touching a leper for fear of transmission of the disease. Lepers were exiled from the society and abandoned to live outside villages and towns in separate little communities. This disease was regulated by the law of Moses among the Jews. 

In Leviticus 13:45-46, there is a very specific command which was still applicable at the time of these miracles. The command says "And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. then vs 46 says "he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be."

This principle was adopted all the way through Jewish history to keep lepers separate. The priests had the particular responsibility of monitoring this illness and evaluating whether a sufferer had recovered from the disease or is been treated from the disease.

Jesus was passing through Galilee and Samaria. We do not know what village he was about to enter but he encountered the ten lepers on the outskirt of the village. This place was a border territory between some Jewish villages in Galilee and some Samaritan villages. As a result, the lepers were a mixed ethnic population. Some of them were Jews and some of them Samaritans.

When they realized that Jesus was passing, they lifted up their hands and called on him in a loud voice "Jesus! Master! have mercy on us" Surprisingly, Jesus did not enter into any conversation with them. He didn't tell them they have been healed, he only said to them "Go, shew yourselves unto the priests"

The lepers left immediately to show themselves unto the priests who were tasked with the responsibility of monitoring who is still suffering from the disease and who has recovered. They left, despite not having seen any changes in their body yet. There's no record of any extended conversation with Jesus. They left, trusting Jesus and and his instruction and as they went, they were totally healed from the disease.

The moment they got their healing, nine of them disappeared. We do not know where they went to. Whether they went to Jerusalem, wether they went to the priests or whether they went to their families at home but one of them, a Samaritan, as he noticed that he had been healed, came back to Jesus and threw himself at his feet and worshiped him.

Jesus asked him "Where there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?" Then he said to him "Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole" [Lk 17:19] 

In our world today, there are many who behave as the remaining nine. In the time of trouble, many of us pray and ask God for deliverance, when He finally hear and deliver us, we forget him and go our own ways. That is the attitude of the ungrateful. We give God thanks for what he has done for us by living a life that pleases Him.  Thanks for watching, please like, share and subscribe. Bye for now.