Introduction – the obvious question
What happened to the other nine?
Sometimes when you read a passage of scripture there is a most obvious question there that isn't answered in the passage. What happened to the other nine? We like our stories to be cut and dried, with all the loose ends tied up, but this isn't Harry Potter, this is real life. Why hasn't Luke finished the story. He says that he has carefully recorded all that is going on. Well most probably because he doesn't know the answer any more than we do, or perhaps because it is not relevant to the story he is telling. They went off to show themselves to the priest and didn't return. We can only speculate on what they did next, maybe they were certified as clean and went home to their families and lived happily ever after.
Before we attempt to answer the question in more detail, lets make sure we have a better understanding of what's going on....
Geography & Chronography
Jesus is wandering about on the borders between Gallille and Samaria. Heading in a generally southerly direction, but not necessarily by the most direct route. [Show Map]. This section of Luke's narratives is made up of parables and stories that Jesus used to teach his followers. Then in Luke 19 we have the start of the Easter story, with the Triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
Lepers & Leprosy
Leprosy covered at least 7 types of skin diseases, but the Jewish people knew that the disease was easily transmittable to others, so they restricted those who had the disease to a fixed distance, and forced them to make themselves known to those they came near to. Can you imagine having to announce yourself as “unclean” as you see someone approaching you? The rules for lepers are in Leviticus 13 & 14, and contain a very detail diagnostic scheme. These lepers obeyed the rules. Healing from leprosy was very rare.
Matthew, Mark and Luke record the story of the healing of a leper Matthew 8:1-3
“When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. I am willing, he said. Be clean! Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.”
There are two other healings of Lepers in scripture:
Miriam – Aaron's wife – caught leprosy because she and Aaron disobeyed God. They expected God to speak through them as he did through Moses. She was excluded from the camp for 7 days, and then allowed back – so presumably cured. Numbers 12.
Naaman Healed of Leprosy - 2 Kings 5. He was a highly respected commander, but also a foreigner – he worked for the King of Aram. They had a Jewish slave who introduced them to the prophet in Israel. Elisha told Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan, which he eventually did. Then he was cured. After that he went back to Elisha to thank him, and make a gift to him, but Elisha refused the gift, so Naaman took soil from Israel, and promised to make all his sacrifices only the Lord.
Lepers have no income, they are unable to work – even if they could work without injuring themselves, they would not be allowed to, for fear of infecting someone else, so they have to rely on the kindness of others. Typically they would be supported by their families, who would bring them food on a regular basis. The could of course also beg. Here they have joined together in a small group, perhaps hoping that that would receive more that way. They were hated, not just because of the disease and the terrible effects it has, but also because it was seen as a punishment from God.
I wonder what they expected from Jesus. They had most certainly heard of him and the miracles he performed. They may have heard of the previous healing, so, perhaps they expected to be healed, or perhaps they just expected that he would provide them with food for a while.
Leprosy now
Leprosy, which we now call Hansen's disease, can be healed, although it is still not a simple process. In the 1940's the first useful drug was found, but by the 1960's the disease was already showing resistance to the drug. It was not until 1981 that the modern treatment regime began to be used. Based on three drugs used together the disease can be overcome. In 1997 the time that the drugs had to be taken was reduced from two years to one year. India has the greatest number of cases, with Brazil second and Myanmar third.
Samaritans & Lepers
Samaritans were always considered outsiders. After the defeat of the Northern kingdom by Assyria (2King 17), the population intermarried with their conquerors, and as a result the Judeans had considered that they were the only true Jews. It would have been very rare for a Samaritan to be accepted by a group of Jews. As they are all unclean, and being punished by God, they have somehow put aside their differences and are now cooperating. It is likely though that the Samaritan, (or possibly Samaritans) was still at the bottom of the pecking order, and in some ways still an outsider.
Note that they were healed (made clean) as they obeyed Jesus' command. Here they are not asked to have faith, just to obey.
We cannot tell the time frame of the return of the leper. There is nothing that says it was immediate, or even that it was not a longish time. There would have been plenty of priests around for them to show themselves to.
Thanks
Thank you Letters
[Mike's 18th letter] I wonder what you're like when it comes to writing thank you letters? This is the one that Jo helped Mike create for the things he received on his 18th birthday. Perhaps you find it a joy and a pleasure. I know that some of you do, because on various occasions we have received some marvellous letters. Perhaps like me, though, you find it a bit of a chore. I can remember being sat at the kitchen table when I was a child, and forced to write them. It was my duty to thank anyone who had given me anything for either my birthday or Christmas. To a young boy it was the ideal way to ruin a school holiday. I was sat at the kitchen table so that my mother could keep a very close eye on me – to be sure I was actually writing, and not doing anything else. I never knew what to write beyond “thank you for the ... whatever”, but you can't write a letter that short – or so I was told. So the chore went on twice a year, every year, throughout my whole child hood. Its not that I wasn't thankful, just that I wasn't particularly good at writing, and certainly not at saying the same thing in 10 different ways – just in case my Aunts and Uncles shared the letters – a very unlikely event I'm sure.
duty of thanks
Within my family it was seen as a duty, when you received something to thank the person who gave it to you. This is more than just polite, and usually meant more than just saying “Thanks” as you received whatever it was. It seems that in the passage before us today, that Jesus also expects that there will be some sort of thanks.
duty vs gratitude
So why do we thank people? What is it about showing our gratitude that is so important? Do we make our thanks known because being thankful is a natural reaction, or ...?
thanks and your view of the giver
It would seem that your thanks say something about your view of yourself and of the giver. Going back to my childhood again, I remember on one birthday, being given a pen-knife. I can also remember the slight shock in my parents voice when they saw what I'd been given. There were a few hushed conversations, and I was allowed to keep the gift, with some very strong warnings about using it responsibly. I was very pleased to receive it. There's something about the assumptions of maturity that go with giving that sort of gift, and it something that at that age I would never have been allowed to buy for myself. I held my older cousins parents in a different light after that.
This story illustrates one of the most important things about thanks – that we are acknowledging that the gift we are given is something that we could not have acquired for our selves. Now you must make allowances for auntie Maud's jumper, or the regular gift of socks at Christmas, that you've had for the last twenty years. Thy are not quite what I'm trying to get at.
When I received that pen-knife it was something I wanted (but not something I had asked for, or even thought about asking for). I could not have got it any other way. I was therefore dependant on other people to take a step forward in my life, to take on a new responsibility – owning a knife. No doubt the thank you letter was just as hard, but I hope the thanks came through.
Being thankful changes your view of the giver. The fact that you have received something, you could not otherwise have had somehow leaves you in-debt to the giver.
Who do we owe a duty of thanks to
I have a list of people here who you may have cause to be thankful to, as I go through the list see if you can remember a particular person in each category.
Parents – for their love and support at all times during childhood
Other Family members
Teachers – perhaps one or two more than the others, and not only the professional ones.
Bosses (the one who offered you the job you now have)
Close Friends
Doctors and medical staff
And of course there are other categories and other people I have not covered.
God / Jesus
Advantages of Being Thankful
Being thankful leads us to humility because it give us a better understanding of our rightful abilities, and helps to put them into the context of those of the others around us. I can stand here and talk to you, but I could not lead worship, I can neither sing, nor play an instrument, and I am thankful for those who can and do
A world without thanks
In a world without thanks we would all be like ungrateful teenagers, or grumbling old men and women because we couldn't get what we wanted.
Results of Thankfulness
Naaman's thankfulness changed his lifestyle, and his life forever. Ours thankfulness may not be so dramatic, but it will also change us, just that little bit..
My Thanks – my acceptance speech.
Now seems to be an appropriate time for for me to say my thanks to a few people. Thanks to all those who have supported me through the very log time that it has taken for me to finally get here.
Jo, and the children, especially Elizabeth, who has recently been a great help.
Warner
Paul Hinckley
Gavin & Fran – for the first attempt
The church – various people who are too many to list.....
My Tutors, the selectors, and other leaders of the courses
Last but not least – Jesus – for seeing me through
What happened to the other nine?
So I had better return to the original question before you think I've forgotten about it altogether.
What happened to the other nine?
Lets have a closer look at the words Jesus used.
V 14 – cleansed, is a word that means clean in the ritual sense, it is the word the priest will use to certify that they no longer have leprosy. It is also used for physical cleaning, and for moral purity.
v19 – well has the sense of “to make whole “. It is the word that is some time use to describe freedom from sin.
So the answer to my question depends upon our view of God. Jesus sounds pretty annoyed in the passage, and if you believe that He is angry enough, the maybe their leprosy would return.
I believe they were given the gift of being cleansed as an act of grace by Jesus. Once they are cleansed they have their new life and are free to do with it as they please. If they want to go back to their families and pick up their lives where they left off, so be it. If they are thankful, and turn back and recognise the gift and the giver, then there are some much more exciting possibilities.
