The One Leper Who Thanked Jesus

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. The title I have for the blog is called "The One Leper Who Thanked Jesus". This story here comes from the gospel of Luke 17:11-19 where Jesus was heading towards Jerusalem and as He went, He saw ten lepers standing alone. There were nine Jewish men and one Samaritan that were in isolation. I know right? Why? It's because leprosy was extremely contagious and sores broke out all over their bodies and they had to shout to people "Unclean unclean!" They couldn't see loved ones and to make matters worse they sometimes lost body parts! Whew! Those men were terribly sick and likely felt lonely. But when they saw Jesus they from a distance cried out. "Master please help us!" I'm sure when they said that they cried from the depths of their hearts sort of what I call "desperate prayers". We've all been there right? Well Jesus was moved with compassion and though He didn't touch them He told them to show themselves to the priests! That was a ancient practice if a leper wanted to go back to community they had to go to the priests to make sure it was safe enough for them to do so. That's what Christ was telling them to do. Get this ladies the men still had leprosy when Christ told them to go but thankfully they walked on anyway. Talk about walking in faith when it looked foolish! As the men walked along gradually their sores disappeared! Wow! Yet the Bible says only one came back to thank Jesus while the rest of the men walked on. Who was the one man? A Samaritan someone that the Jews considered to be a "half breed" half Jew and half Gentile. (Remember the Samaritan woman mentioned in John 4? In our day it be biracial people half black and half white.) Don't forget Jews were very racist against Samaritan's back then which shows racism isn't new. But anyhow the Samaritan man fell down before Jesus and thanked Him. Jesus was puzzled and said. "Where are the other nine? Yet none of them came back to thank Me except this Samaritan. Go your faith has made you whole". Wow! Only one came back to thank Jesus! Man what a lesson for us today. How many times have I prayed and you ladies have prayed and how many times has God answered prayers but sometimes we forget to thank the Lord? That's why I wrote the previous blog for you ladies sake but also to show God my thankfulness. This is something all of us need to get better at. In Psalm 103 reminds us to forget not God's benefits such as God forgiving our sins , (That happened on Calvary) healed our sickness, renews our youth as eagles, crowns us with love and compassion, and satisfies our mouth with good things. (I'm sure all of us will be saying that when we eat good food on Thanksgiving holiday four days from now!) The Bible reminds us to never forget what God has done for us. I believe that's why God left this story in the Bible on record not for His sake but for our sake. We must never forget His love, salvation, provision, and His goodness in our lives. That's why I love the song "The Goodness Of God" by "Bethel" and Cece Winans a song many of you know. I pray as you ladies go about this week you as well as I remember how good God's been to us as well as us thanking God. I'll be sharing more about that during Bible study tonight for it to be a "kick off" for Thanksgiving holiday for this week so be there. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings, happy Lord's day, and have a blessed week everyone.










