Grateful heart
11 – “And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
12 – And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
13 – And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
14 – And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
15 – And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
16 – And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
17 – And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
18 – There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
19 – And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” (Luke chapter 17 verses 11 to 19)
They come to God Almighty with the motive for God to reach out and solve the needs in their heart.
There is need in the human race that everyone needs to have a sincere heart of gratitude. When I say a sincere heart of gratitude, I mean one should stir up the heart of gratitude without any attached sentiment. We are in the time when people will say something and mean something else. They will saying something at the expense of something else. They are not a true mirror of what they confess.
That is one of the challenges in the christendom today. When some persons take God to be an ATM machine. They only come to God, not because of what God desires from them. They take interest in the kingdom because of what they can gain from God. They come to God Almighty with the motive for God to reach out and solve the needs in their heart. They are not yet willing to yield to the kingdom principles.
They were counted as the dead in the land of the living.
From the scripture above, we have come to find out that there were ten lepers who were in desperate need to be cured from their predicaments. No one can actually figure out how far their predicaments have dealt with them. But I can tell you it has eaten up on them that they have come to accept that nothing on planet earth can rescue them from such terrible illness. How long they have experienced such no one can tell.
They have accepted the fate that they were lepers and they will die lepers. Their condition at the moment took over their personality. Though they were living but they were not counted relevant among the living. They were breathing, yet no one will want to have anything reasonable to do with them. They were counted as the dead in the land of the living. The predicaments that had befallen these ten lepers, was the kind no reasonable person will ever wish on an enemy.
They knew that might be the hope they have ever sought all through their lifetime.
Amazingly they were hearing about Jesus and about His exploit of healing the sick and setting the captives free. That fateful moment, Jesus came to their neighbourhood. They could not hold themselves as what they were hearing is now a reality to them. They lifted their voice calling on the LORD Jesus Christ. Why were they calling Jesus? They understood that they are losing nothing calling His attention towards them. They knew that might be the hope they have ever sought all through their lifetime.
I can sense the tone of their voices when they set their eyes on Jesus. They could not hold their peace anymore. They understood that this could be a divine moment in their lives. And they knew they don’t need to compromise at that point so that nothing will elude them from receiving a divine encounter from the Lord Jesus. They shouted the name of Jesus to have mercy of them.
He knew their predicaments even without any detailed explanation.
On the quest to shout Jesus, they went ahead to call Him Master. Why would they call Someone they encountered for the very first time, Master. Is Jesus truly their Master? That will be a discussion for another time. The point here is that they were able to drew the attention of our LORD and Master Jesus Christ. Yes, He is full of compassion. Jesus heeded to their call. He knew their predicaments even without any detailed explanation.
13 – “And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
14 – And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.” (Luke chapter 17 verses 13 to 14)
Jesus asked them to go and show themselves to the priest. Telling them to go and show themselves to priest shows that they have link with going to church but their predicaments have eluded them from showing up to the sanctuary. They obeyed the word of the Master to go, and they were going they found out that they were healed. On the way, the Master’s Word was made manifest in their lives, but the Master instruction was to go and see the priest. They saw their healing and they thought that they are heal and no need to proceed with the Master instruction.
The One that spoke into his life and his life received transformation is He that is worthy to be his Priest
15 – “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
16 – And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.” (Luke chapter 17 verses 15 to 16)
One of them when he found out that he was healed, immediately without hesitation turned back. Why is he turning back when they were asked to go and see the priest? The man who received his healing knew that he had no other Priest than the LORD and Master Jesus that spoke into his life and it became real. He turned back to see his Priest. He went back to tell the Priest of peace that he was healed. Jesus became his Priest at that moment. The One that spoke into his life and his life received transformation is He that is worthy to be his Priest. He located Jesus and was gave Him thanks.
Conclusion:
17 – “And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
18 – There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
19 – And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” (Luke chapter 17 verses 17 to 19)
When people fail to present themselves to the Priest, they shortchange their blessings. Some things in one’s life, as God Almighty started a process in one’s life, it is one’s responsibility to keep appearing in Zion for God to perfect that which He has began. When we appear in Zion, it shows how grateful we are to God and how must we trust His leading in our lives. We don’t get whole by quitting from appearing in Zion, we get whole by appearing in Zion. Among many others, it was the Samaritan stranger who got whole. Don’t allow gratitude to be far away from you. Always give thanks to God for what He has done, for what He is about to do and for what He is yet to do.
