The Other Nine

A couple of weeks ago Chris gave a message on gratitude (listen online). Here's the Scripture reference if you want to read it for yourself:

Bible Gateway: Luke 16:11-19

It's the story of the 10 lepers who came to Jesus to be healed. He told them to go show themselves to the priests in the temple and as they left they were healed. One of these lepers returned to Jesus to thank him and Jesus asked, "Where are the other nine?"

I wish I knew what happened to the other nine. Jesus told this one that his faith had healed him. The Bible says that they all were healed. Weren't they all healed by their faith in Jesus? The "foreigner" among them broke ranks and returned to Jesus to fall at His feet and thank him. Why didn't the other nine?

It's easy to assume that the other nine were not grateful (or at the very least, less grateful) for their healing. But what did the other nine have in common? The one that returned was identified as a Samaritan so we can probably deduce that the other nine were Jews. And if they were Jews perhaps they were more familiar with the significance of the command that Jesus gave them. They needed to go to the Temple to be declared clean and to be accepted back into Jewish society. The Samaritan was NEVER going to be accepted in Jewish society no matter what he did.

You see, the other nine did what Jesus commanded them to do and we don't know anything else about them. Under the Jewish law they needed to be declared clean before they could get close to other people much less a Rabbi like Jesus. And they had been ordered by the One who gave them their healing to do exactly that.

I'm not sure that the most important lesson in this story is about gratitude. I think it's about legalism. Nine lepers were obedient to the letter of the law and missed and opportunity to celebrate the gift they recieved in the presence of the Giver. One was more focused on Jesus than the rules imposed by religion. He was not only healed but got to experience the joy of going back to the Son of God to worship and thank Him in person.

Have you had a life-changing encounter with the Lord? Is your life full of joy because of it or, are you too focused on being a "good christian" and living according to a set of rules? Is worship something you attend out of a sense of obligation, or is it how you live your life?