Where Are the Other Nine?

I promise that this is going to be my last posting on having a cold for awhile. Three blogs on it is enough. Misery loves company, to a point. Then I cry, and cry alone. Intriguing how proverbial adages conflict with another.

Since I have been sick for the better part of two weeks, it has been on my mind. By God's grace, I am finally feeling better. Being ill certainly has taught me the gift of health. When I am healthy, it is easy to forget that I should be grateful for being well. Nothing is a given in this sad world and sickness is a reality for many.

I was drawn to sermons about healing this past couple of weeks and one of the preachers addressed the text in Luke 17:17 where Jesus heals the ten lepers and only one returns to say thanks, and loudly at that. This enthusiastic proclamation of gratitude and appreciation is an interesting redemptive juxtaposition from what lepers had to shout when out in public in Israel/Judea of "Unclean" to those within 100 steps of them.

But, the other nine go on their way, never taking the time to thank Jesus or even send him a card.

Leprosy is truly a terrifying disease. It essentially destroys nerve sensation and that puts the body severely at risk of being injured AND not knowing it, leading thus to further damage. Dr. Paul Brand and Phillip Yancey wrote a book called Pain: The Gift the Nobody Wants detailing how pain is a gift of God, telling us something is dangerous. And, this is not just physical pain...but also includes emotional and psychological distress and etc.

Leprosy just happens to be case in point of what happens when a person no longer feels pain. For example, putting one's hand over a flame causes healthy-sensing people to recoil immediately from the heat. For a leper, he might wonder what is cooking, not realizing it is his hand.

If one was a leper in Jesus day (or today for that matter), you would either be alone a lot or in the company of other lepers...you would only be able to eat, sleep, marry, and the like, with other lepers. So, there was no escape from the horrifying shackles of the disease. It was a 24/7 reality. Add to this, the presumption that you had leprosy because of some specific sin, and God was singling you out for an especially cruel punishment.

In light of the physical, psychological, and emotional consequences of leprosy, it is truly amazing that the other 9 former lepers were so ungrateful for Jesus's healing of them. Jesus is surprised by this, so it is clear that their ingratitude was morally-deficient. A common theme in the sermons that I listened to and the biblical commentators on this incident was the word INGRATITUDE.

Hate to say it but this is a malady not just of the 9 lepers in the 1st century Palestine who got their healing and thought little of expressing appreciation to the God who wrought it. May we not be lepers of the soul where we feel little gratitude to the God who loves us.

Luke 17:17

Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shake the Dust: Anis Mojgani

Pslam 90:2 "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." I am not real certain where Anis Mojgani comes from belief-wise. Cats like him tend to be synchrestic spiritually rather than Christ-centered. Yet, this poem captures the spirit of Jesus. What this poem also needs is grace....we shake off sin and mortality and take on Christ and immortality. This is for the fat girls This is for the little brothers For the former prom queen And for the milk crate ball players This is for the school yard wimps And the childhood bullies that tormented them Shake the dust. This is for the benches and the people sitting upon them. This is for the bus drivers driving a million broken hymns And for the men who have to hold down 3 jobs, Simply to hold up their children. For the nighttime schoolers And for the midnight bike riders trying to fly Shake the dust. For the two year olds who cann...
Read more

Thomas Jefferson & Jesus

Image
I was reminded today, by a friend's post on Facebook, that it is Thomas Jefferson's birthday. So, I had a little party on my own of watching two documentaries on him through Netflix Instant. There is much I admire about Jefferson, there is much I dislike. He is polarizing figure. Besides the owning of slaves, the second most odious character flaw was his castration of the New Testament . See my slice of his slicing. Live by the razor, die by the razor. I did learn a cool new word call Amphiboligism which means ambiguity. The arrogance of Jefferson is astounding as if he had a more accurate vantage point of Jesus after 17 centuries than Jesus's own contemporaries and colleagues. In an empirical and scientific sense, he is at a considerable disadvantage in his postulations. When my wife and I visited Monticello on our Honeymoon, the most memorable moment there --besides my downing a can of Pringles all at once (in my own version of the "Pursuit of Happiness" w...
Read more