139. Prayer Of The Ten Lepers.

Prayer Of The Ten Lepers. The Prayer as recorded.—Luke 17:12-14. The Lord’s Answer.—Luke 17:17-19. On the borders of Samaria or Galilee, a company of men suffering with leprosy, having heard of the fame of Jesus, and his ability to cure this hopeless disease, have come to beseech him to heal them. Lepers are among the last who are mentioned as seeking the aid of Jesus, and when his great power was spoken of by those who followed him, many said, he hath not yet healed a leper. The ten acknowledge the power of Jesus, their disease is the same, their prayer for help the same, but in the spirit of but one is that heaven-born feeling, gratitude. Christ had listened to their prayer and healed them, and sent them to their priests to obtain from them a formal attestation of their cure—to perform the rite of purification according to law. All were healed, but there is only one who returns thanks for the benefit received. Our Savior’s question as to where are the nine, maybe ought to startle the heart of every careless Christian, for there are many, very many, who have received daily and hourly mercies, and have forgotten with these nine to give thanks to God. Jesus commends the faith of the grateful-hearted man, as he falls in thankfulness at his feet. It is probable the one who returned and glorified God, alone of all of them really believed in Jesus as the Messiah, the Savior of the world. This faith in his heart caused his thanksgiving, for we are told the others went back to the temple, and it may be there returned thanks to God; but their gratitude was not the offspring of faith—the spontaneous outbreak of a Christian heart, and thanksgiving to Jesus as their immediate benefactor; else, why does the Savior commend so particularly the conduct of this one leper? It would be well for the reader to refer to the few verses following the leper’s prayer. It will more distinctly show him the difference between them, and open the heart of the one leper, in whom the “kingdom of God” was indeed set up.