Luke 17:11-19 (NLT)
As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.
One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.”
Among my favorite stories in the Gospels are those in which Jesus healed lepers. Leprosy, like our addictions, is a disease that ravages the body, mind, and soul of its afflicted. It painfully eats away the flesh and tissue of the body, destroys the psychological fabric of the mind, and ultimately makes the individual unclean and disallowed them, in those days, from the place of worship (think church building). It also forced them into isolation, away from their families and causing them to lose everything else they held dear.( Sound familiar?) Just the fact that Jesus talked to them was radical and blasphemous; him actually healing them by touching them was unfathomable. And yet he did, time and time again.
One time, he even healed an entire group of lepers all at once.( Makes you think of the shelter). Once healed, away they ran, each forgetting the source of their healing as quick as we forget those who help us along our journey. All but one of them that is. Once he noticed he had been made whole, one turned around, sought Jesus out, and thanked him not only for touching his body but his soul as well. He praised God with a loud voice, indicating not only his joy and gratitude but his enthusiasm in following Christ. And because of this, Jesus told him his faith had made him completely whole. What encouraging words!
Unfortunately, too often in recovery, we witness partial healings. We see people sober up from alcohol, clean up from drugs, get yearly AA and NA chips and good jobs, even
graduate programs, only to fall down immediately or shortly thereafter. I tend to believe this happens because we get only partially healed. We may be free from the physical aspects of our addiction- even stay sober for 50 years- but we are never fully delivered because we fail to recognize, or give glory to, The God who loves us enough to heal us. We stop short. Think we had something to do with it. We are satisfied with holding the full cup of water but never drinking long and deep of its contents. And what a tragedy! Let us find hope and healing. And a heart of gratitude. Only then will we find healing, complete and absolute.
Discussion Questions:
1. How are our addictions like leprosy?
2. What made the man who returned to thank Jesus different from the other nine?
3. Where do you fall in relation to the story, the Thankful One or the Not-so-thankful Nine?
4. How does it make you feel that Jesus would not only talk to you, but touch you?
