Luke 17:11-19
And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests.
And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): Let us mark, firstly, in this passage, how earnestly men can cry for help when they feel their need of it.
G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): Ten men with a common need lifted a cry of agony in petition.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Hereby it appeared that they were in earnest, and would not go away, nor let Christ go without a blessing.
CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Cold prayers will not seize the prize.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): We must pray with fervency, importunity, reiteration, if we would prevail with God! We must say, “I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.” The Lord loves that kind of pleading!
J. C. RYLE: How is it, again, that many true believers often pray so coldly? What is the reason that their prayers are so feeble, and wandering, and lukewarm, as they frequently are? The answer once more is very plain. Their sense of need is not so deep as it ought to be. They are not truly alive to their own weakness and helplessness, and so they do not cry fervently for mercy and grace…The conduct of the ten lepers is very instructive.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): Their cry indicates some knowledge. They knew the Lord’s name, and had dim notions of His authority, for He is addressed as Jesus and as Master. They knew that He had power to heal, and they hoped that He had “mercy,” which they might win for themselves by entreaty. There was the germ of trust in the cry forced from them by desperate need. But their conceptions of Him, and their consciousness of their own necessities, did not rise above the purely physical region, and He was nothing to them but a healer. Still, low and rude as their notions were, they did present a point of contact for Christ’s “mercy,” which is ever ready to flow into every heart that is lowly, as water will into all low levels.
H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): They had heard that the Lord Jesus healed immediately other people of all kinds of diseases. He had cleansed many lepers by a word or a touch. He had said to one, “I will; be thou clean,” and the leper was cleansed. But the Lord does not deal with everyone in the same way…So the Saviour said to these men, “Go show yourselves unto the priests,” implying that ere they reached the priest they would be cleansed. There would be no use to show themselves to the priest if they were still leprous, for in that condition there was nothing he could do for them…They knew what His words implied: they would be cleansed. And so they turned to go as He had commanded.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Whilst they were in the way, they at once found themselves entirely healed of their disease; as Christ very likely gave them reason to believe they should; whereby His power was seen in it; and it was a clear case that it was owing to Him, and not the priests, that they had their cleansing.
MATTHEW HENRY: How rich Christ is in doing good. Here was a cure by wholesale, a whole hospital healed with one word’s speaking—and but one of them returned to give thanks.
J. C. RYLE: The words that fell from our Lord’s lips upon this occasion are very solemn: “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?”
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: A tone of surprise as well as of sadness can be detected in the pathetic double questions.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): We might think it almost incredible that of the ten lepers cleansed by Christ, only one returned to give glory to God; yet observation shows it was sadly true to life.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: The nine might have said, “We are doing what the Healer told us do; to go back to Him would be disobedience.”—How like us all it is to hurry away clutching our blessings, and never cast back a thought to the giver!
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): What ingratitude is there in the human heart! We are amazed at the conduct of the ungrateful lepers. We are ready to suppose that nothing could induce us to act like them. Yet we may see in them a true picture of the world at large. How many temporal mercies have we experienced through our whole lives! What continuance of health, or deliverances from sickness! What freedom from want, or relief in the midst of it! What comfort in the society of our friends and relatives! Yet how little have we thought of Him, Who bestowed these blessings! How many spiritual mercies too have we received from God! What provision has been made for the healing of our souls! The Son of God Himself has suffered, that He might “heal us by His stripes:” and offers of pardon and salvation have been proclaimed to us in His name; yea, we have been promised a deliverance from the leprosy of sin, and have been entreated to become children and heirs of God. Are not these mercies which demand our gratitude? Yet what returns have we made to our adorable Benefactor?
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Let us learn that this complaint is brought generally against all of us, if we do not at least repay the divine favours by the duty of gratitude.
MATTHEW HENRY: Those who have received mercy from God should publish it to others, that they may praise God too, and be encouraged by their experiences to trust in Him.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): But the most remarkable feature to be noticed in this miracle, as it related to this man, is that the Lord Jesus said unto him, his faith had made him whole. How is this? The whole ten were healed by Christ: and was there then anything special in this man’s case?
MATTHEW HENRY: When he “saw that he was healed,” instead of going forward to the priest, to be by him declared clean, and so discharged from his confinement, which was all that the rest aimed at, he turned back towards Him who was the Author of his cure, Whom he wished to have the glory of it, before he received the benefit of it. He appears to have been very hearty and affectionate in his thanksgivings: “With a loud voice he glorified God,” acknowledging it to come originally from Him.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The simple reason is, Those who have much forgiven will love much, Luke 7:47.
ROBERT HAWKER: They were all healed of the leprosy of the body; but this man only of both leprosy of the soul and body. And hence the different effects. When the ten felt their cure, nine of them had all they desired, all they asked for. But in this man, grace entered his soul, and healed a far deeper and more dreadful leprosy there; and, therefore, led by that awakening grace in the heart, he had forever done with Jewish priests and legal sacrifices, and fled to Christ the Author and Finisher of his salvation. Reader! if my views be right, we see at once the effect of distinguishing grace.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): He was as earnest in his praises as he had been in his prayers…Hearty thanks must be given to God: such as cometh not from the roof of the mouth, but the root of the heart.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: A grateful heart knows that to express its gratitude is the highest duty, and is necessary for its own relief.
