Giving Glory to God
“And as He entered a certain village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ And when He saw them, He said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And it came about that as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine— where are they? Was no one found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?’ And He said to him, ‘Rise, and go your way; your faith has made you well.’” Luke 17:12–19
Misery loves company. When we’re afflicted, nationality, social standing, and even religious affiliation often fall by the wayside. Here were ten men all banded together, all crying out together for mercy from the One they knew could offer it to them. All were consumed by this horrible disease. All were attempting to do something about it. All had heard about Jesus and believed He could help them. All cried out in an appeal to Jesus as Master, and all obediently followed Christ’s command to show themselves to the priests in order to receive the legal status of being “clean,” once again. All were healed physically. But here is where the banded company breaks…
While the ten men started on their way to the priests together, a flow of health coursed through their members. It left no tissue untouched, and they knew they had been completely cured. Then, suddenly, one of the ten, only one, turned around, broke company with the other nine, and headed straight back to Jesus. Showing himself to the priests could wait…praising and thanking Jesus could not. His humble gratitude toward Jesus, born out of love, needed to be exercised and released. As he returned to his Master, he fell on his face before Christ and thanked Him. Ten men healed; one man saved. What a lesson for us to learn from this lowly and despised Samaritan!
Jesus is obviously grieved by the fact that only one of the ten lepers returned to give glory to God. What is often missed is the humility of Jesus revealed in His double question: “The nine—where are they? Was no one found who turned back to give glory to God except this foreigner?” He does not even add…“and to thank me?” He is painfully concerned that only one of the nine came back to give praise to His Heavenly Father. He says nothing about Himself.
Our Most High God is “kind to the ungrateful and to the wicked” Luke 6:35. His mercies, though oftentimes referred to as “common,” are anything but…they are priceless. I think that if we were to be deprived of them, we would not refer to them as “common.” We might be ready to die! We have eyes to see the sun rise and set, health to live and move and breathe, bread to eat, clothes to wear, friends and family to enjoy, and freedom in which to live. Are these “common” blessings? Well, they were probably experienced by the nine and by the one and were in that sense “common,” but I personally don’t like the minimizing tone of the term.
What is common today is the ungrateful and irreverent attitude and behavior of the creature toward the Creator. There is a spirit of arrogant entitlement infecting the thinking of the multitudes that is based upon grievous and wicked theological and ideological error. Simply put, we often confuse mercy with justice, believing that somehow God owes us something. We often forget what we would truly deserve before a Holy God had Christ not been our propitiatory portion.
Let’s praise God for everything we receive from His gracious and generous Hand. We deserve nothing but wrath and yet, knowing that my words are being read primarily by the redeemed of the Lord, we have been graciously given all things (Romans 8:32)! The sweetest and loudest note of our praise should be in gratitude for the redeeming love of Christ towards His elect. This praise is precious to the ears of our Heavenly Father and should not be withheld or tempered by the whining of the world. He is worthy of so much more than we could ever offer up in praise or thanksgiving. Nevertheless, we should not be outdone by a poor Samaritan whose cleansing is no less miraculous than our own.
-Pastor Craig