Luke 17:11-19
October 12, 2025
Do you think people are genuinely happy these days? Over the past few weeks it seems like wherever I go, whether it is a restaurant, Walmart, waiting in traffic, or simply walking on the sidewalk in a city, people do not look very happy. They look tired as they wait in line, they look frustrated as they deal with their children, some look bored, and others look very serious as they read and send messages on their phones. I realize we’re busy, we have a lot of things on our minds, our schedules keep us constantly on the go, and there is pressure to do well at work or in school. But rarely did I see people who looked genuinely happy.
I believe our churches and our homes need to be places of joy and they will be if we learn some of the secrets of joy. I think one of the secrets of a joyful spirit is understanding the graciousness of our God. This powerful, holy, awesome God, whom we worship, is at heart a gracious, generous, giving, compassionate, and merciful God who cares about you more than you care about yourself. If we can come to appreciate and understand this, and let it work its way through our lives in our thoughts, emotions, and relationships, then I think we will become more thankful people, and thankful people are often joyful people.
Our Gospel lesson for today from Luke 17 is one of those stories that helps us to understand the importance of being thankful for God’s goodness to us and that there is more to life than simply going through the motions. The story begins with Jesus entering a village in which 10 men who have leprosy stand off at a distance and shout to Jesus for help, for healing. It is significant to note that these 10 men did not come near Jesus, they stood off at a distance and shouted to Him, because in those days anyone who had leprosy was considered “unclean,” which meant not only were they not allowed to go near other human beings, for fear of spreading the disease, but they were also considered to be unworthy of God. Can imagine being told that you’re not worthy of God because of a disease?
It’s one thing not to get near others when you are sick, but imagine not only having to live outside of your community, not only having a disease in which there was no cure, but also being declared by the religious leaders of the day that this disease meant that God did not love you and was condemning you. Leprosy was a horrible, disfiguring disease in the days of Scripture and people who had it were usually considered to be already dead – they were the walking dead.
But notice Jesus’ response to these 10 men who call out to Him to have mercy on them. In verse 14 it says, “When Jesus saw them he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’” He doesn’t pray over them; He doesn’t touch them, as He had done with other people who had leprosy, and healed them instantly; instead He tells them to follow some Old Testament rules for cleansing. Going to a priest was the last step in the cleansing process. The priest did not heal anyone, rather his role was to confirm that a person had been cured and to declare that the person could return to society and live a normal life again. Therefore, I think it takes a real measure of faith for these 10 sick men not to question Jesus, but to begin their journey to see the priests without being cured, convinced though that the priests would declare them to be “clean.” And then, as they went on their way, our text says that they were miraculously healed.
All 10 lepers took Jesus’ words at face value, but only one recognized as they traveled to see the priests that his life had been transformed by the power of God. Only one realized that he had encountered the very presence of the Almighty God and decided to go back to the One who healed him to say “thank you.” Only one recognized that Jesus’ healing meant a new way of living life, not just healed skin. So that one goes to see Jesus and throws himself at His feet, returning thanks for the healing he received.
Note that Jesus commends the healed man for returning thanks and for offering praise after receiving the gift of healing by saying in verse 18, “Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” It’s one thing to be grateful when a doctor bandages a wound or gives you a prescription and says “Take this once a day and you should be healed,” or when you are hungry to thank God when you’re sitting at a table with food right in front of you. But it’s another thing to return thanks, to express gratitude when you are no longer sick, when your stomach is full, or when your needs are met.
Notice the last thing Jesus tells this healed man, in verse 19 Jesus says, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well,” meaning “Go and tell everyone what you have seen and experienced.” Life with Jesus is not one of staying put; being with Jesus always results in going. Jesus will lead us to places every day with the purpose of influencing lives by sharing His word and living His love. We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus wherever we go so people will know Him and grow in a relationship with Him.
Jesus came to this world with a mission to save us by giving His life on the cross, and in the process He called disciples to follow Him so He could teach them in order for them to go and tell others all about Him and His love. But then they would come back to Him to give thanks and to learn more; and Jesus would teach them, provide for them, and send them out again. This is the rhythm of a disciple of Jesus: Learn from Him, receive blessings from Him, and go and tell others; and then come back for more learning so they could be strengthened to go out again. And that’s exactly what we do here. We come here on Sunday to be near Jesus, to learn about Him, to be forgiven/healed of our sins, and to experience His presence in others; and then we go out and tell others so they too may know Jesus and may be forgiven/healed of their sins.
The last thing Jesus tells His disciples before He ascends into heaven is: “You are my witnesses…to the ends of the earth.” Being a witness for Jesus simply involves telling people what we know about Him. We will never know everything about Jesus or understand Him perfectly, but He does invite us into a relationship with Him where we are to trust Him completely. We all have a story to tell about the difference Jesus has made in our lives, or what brought us to this church, or the Christian relationships we have developed in this church family. We don’t have to be able to answer all of the questions people may have about Jesus. In fact, sometimes saying, “I don’t know, but let’s find out together” is the best answer you can give. People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care for them. We have all been touched by the love of Jesus, which brings us back to this place to give thanks, and I pray that people will always be able to see that in us – that we are joyful and different from our world because of Jesus.
So who are you in this story today? We all know the temptations of taking God’s blessings for granted. Many times we are like the “other 9,” in that we pray to God, asking for His help, and we get what we want from Him, but then we go back to our normal life, back to our old ways, forgetting about God even though our lives have been eternally changed. But our second lesson for today from 2 Timothy says, “If we are faithless, God remains faithful,” meaning God will still give us blessings, even when we forget about Him, because that is His nature. I can imagine that the man who returned to thank Jesus probably continued to praise Jesus for the rest of his life as his life had completely changed. I’m sure people could see by his life that he had been touched by the love of Jesus, because of the joyful life he lived.
We have been touched by the love of Christ and I pray that people will always be able to see that in us. You and I get the opportunity to go and tell others what we know about Jesus, and to share our story. Your story matters, because there are many people all around us who do not know Jesus. I also pray that as you go, you will tell others about the joy of knowing Jesus and that through your story many would come to know Jesus in the way you do – as their Savior, who always loves, always cares, and always heals.
