The 10 Lepers - Go to, thy faith hath made thee whole!

After reading the story of the 10 lepers in the Book of Luke, I was amazed at the deep wisdom and symbology in that story.  I'll share just a few insights that came while reading it, first though, let's read the whole story (Luke 17:11-19)

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.

Now, let's apply this story to our individual lives:

vs 12-13. Credit to the ten lepers who at least acknowledged Christ as the Savior and someone who could heal them. There's a good chance there were more lepers, some who didn't have enough faith to even beckon to Christ. When the ten called on Christ, that was good, but not sufficient for true healing (healing beyond the leprosy). 

 - How many of us realize that we're lepers in a sense and need his help to heal us? Have we seen ourselves in that light and truly acknowledge that we alone are nothing?

vs 14. After the 10 were healed, they ran to the priests, except for one. I imagine these other nine lepers were good people. They probably acknowledged that Christ was responsible for their healing. They were probably elated to be able to see their families again. They were probably GOOD people. However, in their excitement, they went their way and didn't take time to go back and express their gratitude.

- How many of us, when we experience a blessing from heaven or an answer to prayer, simply go our way like the nine lepers? How many times has he healed us and we simply run away?

vs 15-16. The ONE leper turned around, came back, fell at Christ's feet, and gave him the glory. ONE leper returned to express his gratitude, love, and acknowledgement of his appreciation. Interestingly, this was also a Samaritan, who would have been an enemy of Christ's people (the Jews). This is the real crux of the story, Christ responded to this one with the poignant words, "Go to, thy faith hath made thee whole!". These are the same words Christ utters to Ether in Ether 1:8. This isn't just a physical cleansing, he's telling the leper that he will have a place and an inheritance with the Lord. The Lord can't lie and when a person hears those words, they KNOW they are clean from the blood and sins of this generation.

The nine experienced a wonderful and miraculous healing, but they forfeited a much greater blessing when they ran their way. The ONE who returned to acknowledge and thank the Savior was offered a healing many times greater than the other nine. He was healed physically and spiritually with the powerful words that the other nine didn't get to hear, "Go to, thy faith hath made thee whole!"

My big lessons learned are:

1. Do I (you) at least acknowledge the Lord like the 10 lepers and call out to him to be healed?

2. Do I (you) return to him to express a deep gratitude and truly realize that we are dependent on him to be healed, spiritually and physically?

3. What ACTIONS do I (you) need to take to physically go to him and kneel at his feet? Is there a habit we need to change or some behavior that I've justified that I need to adjust to physically MOVE towards him.

This is a powerful and life-changing story if we see ourselves as the lepers and try to be like the ONE.