"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." (Luke 17:11-19)

In this account, Jesus is now making His final journey to Jerusalem. He will travel through Galilee and Samaria probably hugging the border of each and staying out of large cities or towns. After all, He had already been rejected in both areas. Yet, He does enter one village and it has lepers.

Leviticus 13 requires that lepers live isolated, so it would seem that He went into a leper colony! This place is FULL of lepers.

Ten seek mercy. Only one is thankful. And so it is with sinners. All men are sinners. Those born of the Spirit desire mercy. Only a few of those who receive mercy show thankfulness and worship the Savior.

When the ten lepers ask for mercy, Jesus tells them to go show themselves to the priest. This is what you do when you think you are healed, but Jesus didn't heal them yet. We should act on the commandment of God even though we may not see the results yet. Sometimes the blessing of mercy comes after we obey.

As the men obeyed and went on their way to the priest, Jesus heals all of them. When they realize this, only one turns back to Jesus. The one who turned back was a Samaritan. He was unclean and a half breed! This means that the others were likely Jews and should have known better. Isn't that the case with so many children of God, even those who do attend church? They go through the process but they do not worship God in PURE thankfulness. This leaves an empty whole in their spiritual growth.

This man returned and gave God the glory while at the feet of Jesus. That’s a good place to be! There was no hint of him taking credit or wanting something more. He gave glory to God and recognized that Jesus was the only Mediator of that mercy!

The other nine were healed but only the one was "made whole."

There are many children of God who have been healed of the curse of sin but very few are "made whole." They do not worship God thankfully and therefore lack definition and fullness in their lives.

Faith is given by God and not the cause of salvation. It is the instrument whereby we can understand what God has done for us. Therefore, it just MAKES SENSE that we should use our faith to give thankful glory to God!

"O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." (Psalm 107:1)

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." (Col. 2:6-7)