Beautiful Word Devotional #342

“Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”

Luke 17:18

Jesus healed ten lepers, Dr. Luke reported in his gospel account of the Savior’s life. Jesus was nearing Samaria when the lepers shouted after him, asking him to have mercy on them. Who knows how long they had lived with this terrible condition, where nerves are so damaged that lepers no longer feel pain. And that inability to feel pain results in all sorts of injuries, and leper colonies were full of people who had lost fingers, toes, and even limbs. And, yes, lepers were forced to live apart from society with other lepers.

Jesus heard their cry for mercy and simply sent them to the priests for the requisite declaration of healing. As they went, all ten were healed, yet only one returned to thank Jesus. And he was a Samaritan, a half-breed Jew hated by Israel. No one thanked Jesus “except this foreigner.”

This healed Samaritan shows us that everyone is included in Jesus’ kingdom—and that those of us in the kingdom should live lives of gratitude.

Lord, you have healed me of much and blessed me with much. Thank you, amen.