This morning I was pondering the Gospel story of the Cleansing of the Ten Lepers:
While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “ Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And 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. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine–where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”
- Luke 17:11-19 NASB.
In light of the fact that the phrase “made well” in Greek is sozo, which literally means to save, i.e. to deliver or protect, I find this passage to be yet another soteriologically significant one.
If the lepers are taken to be types of sinful man since leprosy affects the nerves causing one to lose physical feeling in parts of the body (as one through sin can become numb to the love of Christ), then the “one found who returned” is the blessed one. He is the one who fulfilled his obligation to the Lord. He is exemplary of faith with works (James 2:14-26).
The fact that he was a Samaritan is significant in that he was “not in communion” with the established Church of that time. Though all of the men received Jesus as a Master, obeyed, and were “cleansed”, only one was willing to “be made whole” (as the older versions render it).
The way I take it, wholeness, having a common Anglo-Saxon root with holiness, is being sanctified. This goes beyond justification.
St. James the Brother of Our Lord wrote in his epistle:
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.
- James 3:13 NKJV.
Simply put, we are responsible for our actions, and chief among them is worship. Jesus came to call all of fallen humanity, but few recieve Him in faith and thanksgiving “glorifying God” and “giving thanks to Him”.
