Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” Luke 17:17 ESV1
Read Luke 17:11-19
Assurance is defined as full confidence; freedom from doubt; certainty.2 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). As we consider this next account, our faith may be tested, but that is a good thing. Faith that is tested and has been proven genuine, gives us all the assurance we need for this world and the next (see 1 Peter 1:7).
“On the way to Jerusalem, He was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered a village, He was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’ When He saw them He said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ And He said to him, ‘Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well’” (Luke 17:11-19).
All of these ten men suffered from an awful disease.
“Leprosy is an infectious disease that causes severe, disfiguring skin sores and nerve damage in the arms, legs, and skin areas around the body. The disease has been around since ancient times, often surrounded by terrifying, negative stigmas and tales of leprosy patients being shunned as outcasts …
Leprosy primarily affects the skin and the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord … It may also strike the eyes and the thin tissue lining the inside of the nose. The main symptom of leprosy is disfiguring skin sores, lumps, or bumps that do not go away after several weeks or months …
Complications of leprosy can include: Blindness or glaucoma, disfiguration of the face (including permanent swelling, bumps, and lumps), … kidney failure, muscle weakness that leads to claw-like hands or an inability to flex the feet, permanent damage to the inside of the nose, which can lead to nosebleeds and a chronic, stuffy nose, permanent damage to the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, including those in the arms, legs, and feet.
Nerve damage can lead to a dangerous loss of feeling. A person with leprosy-related nerve damage may not feel pain when the hands, legs, or feet are cut, burned, or otherwise injured.”3
Dealing with leprosy was serious business.
“God had given the Israelites very specific instructions on how to deal with leprosy and other skin infections (Leviticus 13). Anyone suspected of having this disease had to go to a priest for examination (Leviticus 13:2-3). If found to be infected, ‘the leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp’ (Leviticus 13:45-46). The leper then was considered utterly unclean—physically and spiritually.
[During Bible times, leprosy was] incurable by man … [T]hose with leprosy were so despised and loathed that they were not allowed to live in any community with their own people (Numbers 5:2) … A leper wasn’t allowed to come within six feet of any other human, including his own family. The disease was considered so revolting that the leper wasn’t permitted to come within 150 feet of anyone when the wind was blowing. Lepers lived in a community with other lepers until they either got better or died. This was the only way the people knew to contain the spread of the contagious forms of leprosy.”4
There were even regulations once the fortunate leper had been healed. This procedure can be found in Leviticus 14:1-32. It involved an inspection by a priest, a sacrifice, a ritual cleansing, a bath and shave, a week-long partial separation from others, another bath and shave, another sacrifice, the sprinkling of blood, and an anointing with oil. Then, and only then, were the leper’s sins atoned for and he/she was considered clean and able to go about normal activities.
So, what does all of this have to do with us and our faith?
Well, whether humans realize it or not, we have all been born with a sickness not unlike leprosy; it is called sin. None of us are naturally immune to it. Sin consumes and masters us; it inhibits our full potential, robs us of our relationships, and makes us unclean before God. Jesus came to heal us from our sin-sickness and to make us clean before God; through His death and resurrection, He restored all that was taken from us by sin. But humans, by faith, must act in response to this truth. The Bible tells us that this “grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people” (Titus 2:11). But not all will respond the same way to this Good News.
Some will reject it. Jesus “was passing along between Samaria and Galilee” (Luke 17:11), because “when the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem [where He would fulfill His purpose for coming to Earth]. And He sent messengers ahead of Him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for Him. But the people did not receive Him, because His face was set toward Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51-53).
Some, like the Samaritans in this passage, will hear the Gospel and understand it clearly, but for some reason, they will refuse to receive Him. There will be consequences for such dismissal. “For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against … [those,] who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them” (Romans 1:18-19). This wrath will include eternal punishment and separation from God, His favor, and all that is good.
Others, through faith, will understand His message and accept Him. The faith of all ten lepers should be commended. They all knew that Jesus was their only hope for healing. They humbly asked Him for His mercy. They all obeyed Jesus and went to the priests before they were even healed.
Many will have the faith to believe Jesus for the forgiveness of sin. But they will simply add Him to their lives and go on doing their own thing, asking Him for His blessing over their own plans, and going through righteous rigmarole in their own power. Some of the most alarming verses in the Bible are spoken by Jesus to such as these. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven. On that Day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and do many mighty works in Your Name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
There will be a Day when we will all stand before the judgment of Jesus Christ. Anyone who has rejected Jesus, or has put his/her faith in anything besides Jesus, will be rejected by Him. “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). The works of those who have believed will be put on trial. “Now if anyone builds on the foundation [of Jesus Christ] … each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15). Some will be saved from eternal damnation, but only by the skin of their teeth. Others will have works that will be rewarded. How does one make sure he/she will be in the rewarded category?
Some, like the one man in this account, out of gratitude for what Jesus has done for them, will live for Him. Jesus made no secret of the fact that being His true disciple involved serious sacrifice. “Calling the crowd to Him with His disciples, He said to them, ‘If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul’” (Mark 8:34-37)?
And again, “great crowds accompanied Him, and He turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple … So ,therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple’” (Luke 14:25-26 & 33). Hate and renounce are strong words. Clearly, Jesus didn’t mean that His disciples should abandon their families, or develop a strong aversion for, or hostility toward them, in order to follow Him. Elsewhere, He used equally strong words of chastisement to those who treated their family members with contempt (see Mark 7:9-13 & 1 Timothy 5:8). What Jesus meant was that He must have first priority in the life of anyone wishing to be a disciple worth rewarding. He must be the One a true disciple emulates.
These self-sacrificing disciples, worthy of reward, will stand out from the crowd. They won’t look so like the world that no one can tell they are followers of Jesus. Jesus said, “‘You will recognize them by their fruits … A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits’” (Matthew 7:16a & 18-20). He also said, “‘By this, all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another’” (John 13:35). True disciples will act like Jesus acted and will love like Jesus loved because the Spirit of Jesus will reside in them and work through them (see Romans 8:9).
If there has not been a dramatic change in your priorities after you said a prayer of salvation, perhaps you are not saved. If you are not a kinder person to everyone you encounter since you came to Jesus, you may not have received the Holy Spirit, because, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). And if, after becoming a Christian, you are more stressed out with all the “regulations,” you may have missed the Good News.
Your life probably won’t get less busy after you chose to follow Jesus, but it should become more peaceful. Jesus told His disciples, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7)
Your life likely won’t become easier after you surrender to Him, but it should become simpler. You should have a refined focus, a focus that isn’t all about you. “[You] have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer [you] who live[s], but Christ who lives in [you]. And the life [you] now live in the flesh [you] live by faith in the Son of God, who loved [you] and gave Himself for [you]” (Galatians 2:20). And you won’t be doing His work in your own strength, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
You may know Jesus, but does Jesus know you? Jesus gave Himself for you, are you willing to give yourself for Him? Jesus loves you, but are you in love with Jesus? Are you working for Jesus, or is Jesus working through you? Do you just think you are saved, or are you really saved?
I am asking myself the very same questions. And if I am correct in my interpretation of Jesus’ words, these may just be the most important questions anyone can ask him/herself. Take time with me now to come before God in prayer. Let us inquire of Him where we stand. Let us repent where necessary. Let us petition Him for help to get on the right track. God’s Word tells us, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). If we don’t already confidently know that for sure, may we soon have blessed assurance.
Blessed Assurance
By Francis (Fanny) Crosby and Phoebe Palmer Knapp
“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood
Chorus:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels, descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.”5
1 Scripture quotations marked with ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All Scriptures are taken from the ESV unless otherwise noted. To aid in understanding, I have capitalized references to God.
2https://www.dictionary.com/browse/assurance?s=t
3 https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/guide/leprosy-symptoms-treatments-history#3