Only One

Where Are the Other Nine?

^{Luke 17:12-19}

¹² And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:¹³ And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.¹⁴ And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.¹⁵ And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,¹⁶ And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.¹⁷ And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?¹⁸ There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.¹⁹ And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Have you ever wanted to lose weight by exercising and counting calories but you didn’t want to do it alone? A friend says she wants to do it to and even says she is enrolled at the same gym as you. But it seems like every time you try to make plans with her to join you at the gym she makes excuses? So you either go alone or make an excuse yourself? I mean, who likes to tackle things on their own right?

But you realize pretty quickly that if you are serious about accomplishing your goal in losing weight, your going to have to be okay with doing it alone.

Those who are serious about accomplishing whatever task they want completed are the ones who make it happen. You have to want it badly.

Which brings me back to the subject of this one leper who turned back when he realized he was healed and with gratitude gave glory to the one that made it happen for him. Did he know he was going to end up having more than a healing? I don’t think so. Didn’t he realized he was the only one who turned around after realizing he was healed of leprosy? Did he think at all that maybe he should stay with everyone else.

In verse 14 Jesus had instructed them all to go show themselves to the priests. You cannot leave the leper colony until you passed inspection so to speak. So he is suppose to show himself to the priest right? He did!Only he did not know it. You might be thinking, Uh, no, he ran back to Jesus. Doesn’t say in scripture that he actually made it to the priest. But he did make it to a priest. Let me show you.

^{Hebrews 7:11-19 (actually read ALL of Hebrews 7)}

¹¹ So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron? ¹² And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. ¹³ For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as priests.¹⁴ What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.

Jesus Is like Melchizedek

“You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

¹⁵ This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared. ¹⁶ Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. ¹⁷ And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied, ¹⁸ Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. ¹⁹ For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

So Jesus was the priest of ALL priests! And because he ran back to this priest – he was able to go beyond checking if he was healed from leprosy. Jesus made sure he was not only healed but made whole! do you know what that means? That means there were no effects from the leprosy still showing on his body or lingering mentally in his mind. Did he lose a finger because of the leprosy? BAM! It’s back! How about emotionally and mentally? YUP! Mind wiped clean of all it went through and is healthy again!

He was the only one that was made whole. The other nine kept on going albeit healed but never made whole. And all because this one leper decided to stop and return. And Jesus expected ALL of them to have come back to him. All of them!

Jesus is still expecting it today. You accept him as your Saviour and receive his wonderful gift – the Holy Spirit. And you get baptized in his name. Then what?

I will tell you what. Run to the high priest (Jesus) and humble yourself and fall at his feet and allow him to make you whole. From all that you went through while you were in your own leper colony in this world that can be so cruel.

You might have heard that you don’t have to do a thing. You made the greatest decision of your life and you are saved and don’t worry about a thing. All the while you are going to church still struggling with things that you don’t want to discuss because your a Christian and all is right with the world. But is it?

Out of ten only ONE was brave enough to run back to Jesus. Only one was grateful and truly loved Jesus for what he did and for who he is.

Put the brakes on. Everyone else wants to keep going let them. Run back to Jesus and fall at his feet. Let him set you free from all the effects still on you from what you went through in your past. Be THAT one!