Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to ‘ return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go, your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:11–19).
“Where are the nine?” This question has echoed throughout the ages and confronts us today.
The account of the miracle is given in a few words. Ten lepers came to Jesus, and from a distance called out with a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us.” Leprosy was and still is a most dreaded disease.
In some way it can be compared with modern-day cancer. The victims usually experienced that their bodies literally rotted away, limb by limb. A leper experienced a living death. The victims felt their helplessness to find a cure. The disease was a picture of the helplessness of the enslaved sinner. Those who were afflicted were separated from society, friends and relatives. There might be no physical contact. Imagine what this meant for spouses, parents, children, and other relatives. If in some miraculous way one was healed, he had to be examined by the priest before he might return to normal life and society. Here are ten such people. Keeping their distance, they call out loudly to Jesus for help. Curtly Jesus answers them that they should go to the priest to be examined. The implication is that they would be healed. A great miracle would take place. This also happened. We would naturally expect that each one of them would be greatly moved by the miracle each had experienced. Surely they knew that they were healed by someone much greater than themselves. Only one of them, a Samaritan, returned to Jesus to express his gratitude. He fell at the Lord’s feet and thanked Him profusely. Then Jesus said, “But where are the other nine?”
This history, applicable at all times, is especially appropriate at this time of the year, the thanksgiving season. Although in the parable we have to do with a healing, while on Thanksgiving Day we have to do with material gifts, this healing was also something physical. We cannot really separate or divide the physical from the spiritual in the life of the Christian, for all things are spiritual for the Christian, as a new creation in Christ.
We have again received an abundance of material gifts from the Lord in the past season. In general, economic conditions have improved for all of us. We have been showered with material blessings. We have so much that we have no idea what it means to have only bare needs. Did you ever wonder how we would react if the Lord would give us only what we pray for when we pray for daily bread? We may enjoy a higher standard of living than anybody has ever before enjoyed in the history of the world, and generally higher than all other people in the world today. We can’t even imagine going to bed hungry as do millions every day. The big question however is, “How do we respond to our wealth?” After the healing only one (10 %) returned to express heartfelt gratitude. The other nine (90%) apparently didn’t feel this at all. Surely they must have been extremely happy because of the healing, but happy only with and for themselves. Is this also the percentage (10%) of truly thankful people on Thanksgiving Day? Surely the percentage is higher than that, we would think. The teaching of the Lord here is that the percentage which reveals true thanksgiving is very small.
What kind of people form this ten percent minority? How do they show their faith and gratitude in daily life and during the thanksgiving season? First of all, they are people who know themselves to be sinners, unworthy of any of these good gifts. Jesus Christ is their only hope. They are also people who recognize that all that they receive come from the Lord, a crop for the farmer, a pay check for the working man, social security checks for the retired, financial returns for the businessman, or whatever they receive. They see that these gifts are given by their heavenly Father who has again been gracious to them. In response they are heartily thankful, first giving themselves to the Lord (2 Cor. 8:5). Th is gratitude they express in song, prayer, gifts of money and godly living, Thus they show their thankfulness, as the foreigner (Samaritan) also did. We further ask, what is meant by the ingratitude of the nine, the 90%? Who are those people? Where are they? Are they also church members? Probably the other nine lepers were Jews because Jesus specifically mentions that the one who was thankful was a foreigner. Proceeding from this conclusion , we may assume that the 90% are like nominal Christians, people who belong to a church. They profess to believe in God and may even formally acknowledge that all good things come from above, but in their hearts they do not know the Lord. They are not really touched by what the Lord has given them in the past season. They may resemble the Israelites in the wilderness, complaining and murmuring about what they have received, or what they did not receive. Many of them make gods of their stomachs, and all of them make gods of the mammon of the world. That’s how they live. Although they may observe Thanksgiving Day and appear to be thankful for the good they enjoy, their thanksgiving is for self. “Self’ is the center of their lives and they are happy and thankful for themselves. Responsive love and giving one’s self in gratitude, they do not know. Although on Thanksgiving Day they may attend a church service, their real thanksgiving is the big d inner, watching football games and social gatherings for enjoyment of self.
Jesus said to the one who did return, “Rise and go, your faith has made you well.” Does this imply that the nine who did not return to give thanks did not have this faith and that the 90% of today don’t have it either? The simple answer is, Yes. This man had faith in his heart, although that faith may not have had the knowledge that we, with fuller revelation, have. Through this faith he was made well. This faith al so made him return to express his heartfelt gratitude. This faith we all need, in order to be thankful from the heart. In this faith we know that we are sinners, trust only in the mercies ofChrist for forgiveness and life, and gratefully love Him. But aren’t true Christians often also like the nine lepers? Doesn’t the question, “But where are the nine” also apply to us? It surely does. Because of our sinful nature we often act like these nine healed lepers, unthankful to God for the abundance of gifts He gives us. This we also realize on Thanksgiving Day. Our faith moves us to pray for forgiveness because of our shameful lack of gratitude and to pray for the Holy Spirit to enable us to be more thankful, thus may we, like the one thankful healed leper, learn to say, “Thank you, Lord, for the showers of blessings our heavenly Fathers daily gives us. Father, give us more of this faith!”