“And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.” – Luke 17:14-16 (NIV)
They were healed as they went. Not before they went. Not when they arrived. As they went.
Ten lepers called to Jesus from a distance, because the law required them to keep their distance, and asked for mercy. Jesus did not touch them. He did not speak over them. He gave them a task: go, show yourselves to the priests. This was the action the law required after a leper had been cleansed, the process by which a healed person was examined and declared clean and restored to community. Jesus sent them to complete the post-healing protocol before the healing had visibly occurred. The healing was embedded in the obedience.
This is a form of faithfulness worth recognising distinctly from the instantaneous miracle. Sometimes God’s provision or healing arrives in the act of moving toward it rather than in the waiting for it to arrive first. The breakthrough that comes through the step of faith taken before the evidence is visible. The door that opens when you walk toward it rather than waiting for it to open while you stand still. Ten men walked toward the priests with leprosy, and arrived clean. The journey was the healing.
One of them turned back when he noticed he was healed. Just one, out of ten. He came back, praising God loudly, and threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him. And he was a Samaritan, the outsider, the one least expected to return. Jesus asked three questions that land with quiet force: were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner? The nine received the healing and continued on their way. Only one made gratitude the next thing he did after the miracle.
Think about the healings and provisions and deliverances you have received that you have walked away from without returning to give thanks. Not because you were ungrateful at the time but because gratitude was quickly succeeded by the momentum of the next thing, the next need, the next prayer, the next crisis. Jesus’s question to the nine is not angry but it is pointed: where are the others? The one who returned did not receive more blessing for returning. He received something different: an encounter with the person behind the miracle. Jesus said to him: your faith has made you well. The nine were cleansed. This one was made whole.
There are two things to receive from this story today. First: take the step toward the priest. Begin moving in the direction of obedience, trusting that the healing is in the journey. Second: when you notice you are healed, turn back. Be the one who returns. The one who returns does not just receive the miracle. They receive the Miracle-Worker.
Prayer
Father, I will go as you have said, trusting that the healing is in the obedience and not only in the visible evidence. And when I notice I am healed, I will turn back. I do not want to be one of the nine who received and moved on. I want to be the one who fell at your feet and was made whole. Thank you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
