Praise God with a Loud Voice

Like so much that we read in the Bible, there is a lot going on in these 8 verses in Luke.  This story only appears in Luke.  Jesus has finished his preaching in Galilee and is heading toward Jerusalem.  They are apparently in a very rural area.  The scriptures tells us they in a border region between Galilee and Samaria.  We know that Samarians and Galileans are enemies.  Ten lepers approached him keeping their distance.  In Jesus' time leprosy was thought to be a highly contagious disease with no medical cure.  Today the infection is treated with a combination of 3 antibiotics.  But In the Bible, Leprosy is often used as a metaphor for sinfulness. Lepers were ostracized from society and had to yell unclean if they were near anyone.  They were not able to be with their families or practice their trade.  They were not even able to beg in the market places, yet these ten men knew Jesus and knew he had healed a leper.  In Luke chapter 5, Jesus heals a leper by placing his hands on him.  Knowing he can heal them, the ten lepers call out to him "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us".  With no hesitation, Jesus says "Go and show yourselves to the priests."  As we learn later one of the men is a Samaritan.  Jesus must have known this.  While Samarians and Galileans both spoke Aramaic, they spoke very different dialects.  It would be like you and I speaking to a person from Australia.  Yet, Jesus tells them to "Go and show yourselves to the priests.  And as they went they were made clean."  Is Jesus telling his disciples and us that we should reach out to everyone and not just those who speak like us/ look like us/ think like us?   

 

"And as they went they were made clean".  The passage does not say they were healed or made well but that they were made clean.  The ten lepers did not have to do anything, they didn't offer special praise to Jesus or God.  We know how lepers were treated and how they must have suffered both from the disease and from being outcasts. I believe all ten were thankful to be able to return to their families and villages.  But only one was thankful enough to come back and "Praise God in a loud voice."   Do we think the other 9 are not thankful too.  Of course they are.  But, Why didn't they all come back.  To me this is human behavior we see all to often.  We pray when a loved one is sick or when we are in anguish.  But we seem to forget to pray and thank God when everything is going well and we are healthy.  In this passage in Luke, it is only now that we learn the one who returns is a Samaritan.  It is the foreigner, the hated Samaritan who returns not the fellow Galileans.  And the Samaritan praises GOD in a loud voice.  He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him.  And what was Jesus' response.  "Were not ten made clean?  But of the other 9, where are they?  Was none of them found to return and give thanks to God except this foreigner?"  Obviously Jesus is upset that all 10 didn't return and praise God but he doesn't let that overshadow the act of the Samaritan.  Jesus says to him: "Get up and go on your way.  Your faith has made you well."  Not just HEALED but WELL.  I did a little Google search and learned the Greek word used here is SOZO.  SOZO can be translated 3 ways.  It can mean "To be healed."  It can mean "To save from certain death."  And it can mean "To be born again or salvation." I am not a theologian but I would argue we should interpret SOZO here to read born again or salvation.   

 

So what do I think is happening in these 8 verses.  1st Jesus doesn't just heal the Galileans, he heals all ten and he doesn't heal them with a condition that they must come back and praise God.  Jesus heals all ten with no conditions attached.  The disciples and we should follow this example.  But I see a 2nd and possibly more important message in this story.  The Samaritan came back and praises God with a loud voice.  The scripture then tells us: Then he "Jesus" said to him "Get up and go on your way.  You faith has made you well."  Your faith has made you SOZO.  SO all ten were healed but only the Samaritan who came back and praised God in a loud voice has salvation.  Sure we can be healed but if we want to be made well/ if we want salvation we should praise God with a loud voice.   

 

Thank you for listening.