Summary of my sermon, based on Luke 17:11-19. Preached at Greenhills Christian Fellowship Toronto on Sunday, 28 June 2026.
The Importance of Praise and Thanksgiving
As we continue our sermon series on Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, it is important to remember that this path is not merely a physical trek from Galilee to the cross; it is a journey of fate. Jesus is moving toward his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, all while preparing his disciples for the time when he would be physically absent from them.
Along this journey, Jesus passes through the border of Samaria and Galilee. This is significant because Jews at that time generally avoided Samaria, often taking circuitous routes along the Jordan River to bypass the region entirely. The tension was both racial and religious; Samaritans were seen as “half-Jews” who practiced religious syncretism, worshipping Yahweh alongside foreign idols. Even those who maintained a semblance of the Jewish faith were viewed with suspicion due to theological differences, such as their focus on Mount Gerizim and adherence only to the Pentateuch. Yet, Jesus chooses to go directly through this marginalized territory.
Radical Compassion on the Margins
As he enters a village, Jesus is met by ten lepers standing at a distance. Leprosy in the ancient world was a devastating, contagious condition that resulted in permanent social and spiritual isolation. According to the laws in Leviticus 13, those afflicted were required to live outside the camp and cry out, “Unclean, unclean.” Their isolation was absolute; they were quite literally on the margins of society.
The presence of ten lepers in one small village suggests a pandemic-level crisis for that community. Yet, Jesus chooses to enter this very place. This demonstrates his radical compassion for those in need—a compassion that his followers are called to mirror. As 1 John 3:17–18 challenges us: “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
We are called to be involved in the ministry of mercy. While not all are called to be missionaries in the slums of Manila or India, all believers are called to cultivate an intimate understanding of the needs of others. This goes beyond general prayer; it involves actively learning about the needs of specific missionaries and agencies, and personally participating in the work of God’s kingdom.
The Miracle and the Response
When the ten lepers cry out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us,” Jesus notices them and gives an seemingly anticlimactic command: “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” In Leviticus 14, this process was the prescribed way for someone healed of leprosy to be declared clean and restored to society. Jesus was effectively telling them, “You are going to be healed.”
Sure enough, as they went, they were cleansed. Yet, the main point of this passage appears in verses 15–18. Only one, a Samaritan, turned back, praising God with a loud voice and falling at Jesus’ feet to give thanks. Jesus responds, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
The Problem of Ingratitude
The nine who did not return were not necessarily ungrateful in their hearts, but they failed to express that gratitude. This failure highlights two major issues in the human heart. First, it betrays a tendency to take blessings for granted, often fueled by the modern obsession with comparison and the “greener grass” of social media. We live in a land of unprecedented abundance, yet many remain trapped in a cycle of melancholy and discontent.
Second, the lack of gratitude betrays a misunderstanding of the source of our blessings. It is easy to attribute our provisions to our own labor or circumstances rather than to God. Romans 1:21 provides a sobering perspective on this: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Failing to give thanks is equated with failing to honor God as God.
The Deeper Blessing of Salvation
All ten lepers were physically healed, but to the one who returned, Jesus said, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” While God provides general blessings to all, the deeper blessing of salvation is found only in Christ.
Praise and thanksgiving are matters of faith. We praise God not just for the material provisions of this life, but because we are people saved by grace. As Colossians 3:16–17 instructs, we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, “singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Everything we do in word or deed should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
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