Healed vs Whole

Luke 17:11-19 is now our subject of interest. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. In a certain village, he is hailed by a group of ten lepers. This village was in an area associated with Samaria and Galilee. In that regard, the writer thought it appropriate to mention that one of the ten was a Samaritan – as if the other nine were not.

All ten of them, as a group, cried out, 'master, have mercy on us'. There is nothing particularly special in this account; it is wholly a matter of human nature to call for help when in difficulty. It is human to seek out and implore the one thought to be able to render said aid. It is, as I say, human nature. How, then, can we look at this account and not include ourselves.

When we pray to God in our difficulties, we beg his mercy. Like the group of lepers crying aloud, we bring attention to our own needs and desires, asking, 'master, have mercy on me'. Many of us have some real issues to work through. We could definitely use some help. To whom do we turn? We turn to the one who has the power to help. Since, at that point, we have yet to see the effective power we seek, since we lack empirical evidence, it must be accounted a matter of hope and faith.

Those ten lepers might never have seen Jesus heal another person – they weren't exactly the social type. It was part of their stigma to stand afar off. If people wandered close to them, it was required that they loudly proclaim their disease. That made it hard to even be a beggar.

So Jesus agreed to heal them; he said to them, 'go and show yourselves to the priests'. They asked for nothing more, but turned and headed for the priests. If Jesus had told them to do back flips, they would have – that is desperation. When human nature calls out under dire circumstances, it is in the spirit of desperation. To be done with and past some of our problems, we would jump through flaming hoops.

It is important to note that when the ten lepers turned to leave, they were not yet healed. Their first steps were steps of hope and faith. It was within the parameters of the exercise of faith that they were healed. When we consider that spirit of faith upon which ten lepers acted, we must also see the concomitant spirit of obedience.

What spirit do we find ourselves in? When we hope for relief and call to God in prayer, is our spirit of hope in any way connected to a spirit of faith? Do we act upon our faith? Obviously, there is no Jesus standing before us in the flesh. There is no corporeal master to instruct us. Yet, we have at our disposal literal volumes of instruction. Do we act on our hope and faith? Do we seek the instructions we need from the Bible?

It is true that thousands upon thousands turn to God in prayer. It is also true that many of us, like the ten lepers, receive an answer to our desperate pleas. Like the nine, we keep plugging along in the same direction. I'm not saying we are wrong to continue forward if it is in the spirit of obedience. But, let us examine a case of disobedience.

Ten men asked for help. Ten men received instruction. Ten men moved forward in obedience. One man turned back. On the way to show himself to the priests, one man saw that his body had been healed. It is safe to assume that the other nine did, as well. What did the other nine men do? If they continued forward in obedience, they showed themselves healed to the priests. What if one or two of the men, in their excitement, instead ran back to their families and lives? Would that have completed the spirit of faith that healed them?

In this scenario of healing, the spirit is vital. The spirit of faith belongs with the spirit of hope. The spirit of hope stems from the spirit of desperation. The spirit of obedience must, therefore, be seen as inseparable from the other spirits. This is human nature. When I say 'spirit', the reader should know that I mean 'mind'. The mind of desperation leads to hope and faith and, yes, obedience.

So, what about the Samaritan? What was on his mind? Certainly, he did not complete his march to the priests, as instructed. Instead, he did just the opposite. Why? Had he been healed of his disease by the local MD, it would still have been his duty to show himself to the priests. Jesus told the lepers nothing special. They would have had to do that, regardless.

Yet, the spirit is vital. Jesus gave them ordinary instructions. They obeyed. The spirits of obedience, faith, hope, and desperation come as a package deal. They are all part and parcel of human nature. They belong together.

There is, however, one spirit we have yet to deal with in this study. As a spirit, it is just as connected to faith as hope or obedience. It is the spirit of thanksgiving. The Samaritan who turned back turned back in the spirit of overwhelming joy and humble thanksgiving. He felt that Jesus and God deserved something personal from him.

How often are we humbled by the answer to a prayer? How often do we turn back to give personal and real thanksgiving? How often do we see the person who was instrumental in our succor as more than just a person? There is something very important in the spirit of thanksgiving that we must absolutely take note of. When the Samaritan threw himself on his face and thanked Jesus personally, Jesus himself equated the act with giving glory to God. You have to get it; the two are the same.

The spirit of thanksgiving and the spirit of giving glory to God are the same. That does not only apply to Jesus, otherwise, his message and work could not have continued through his disciples. Anyone who saw an apostle of Jesus as 'just another fallible person', closed himself off from the message and work of Christ. The spirit of dismissing just another fallible person negates the avenue through which the spirit works. It sets you outside the loop so that whatever mind you have – be it desperation, hope, obedience, thanksgiving – they are all disconnected from the source of spiritual power which provides the spirit of faith that heals. At that point, don't even bother.

When the Samaritan gave thanks to Jesus for the healing which his own faith delivered, Jesus said this: “Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” Jesus did not say that the man's faith had healed him, that is altogether different. He was healed along the way with the other nine.

The concept of wholeness, especially that of spiritual wholeness, speaks of a completeness whereby all the necessary parts and connections are in their proper places. The Samaritan completed that spiritual circuit in a way the other nine did not. To give no more than an off-handed or perfunctory “thanks” just isn't enough to complete the circuit. To be whole, one must take it to the personal level.

No matter whether the answer comes to you via Jesus or a follower, or even the Bible, if you do not practice real thanksgiving, and thus, giving glory to God, you are not whole.