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A Story of the 9
There were 10 men each with the same illness. 10 men so afflicted they had to live separately from their family, friends, and fellow man. These men lived in isolation and could not come near other people without warning them because they were so contagious.
The men had leprosy. Anyone infected with leprosy knew it was chronic and could not be cured.
Leprosy also had a serious stigma attached to it, which made their affliction worse due to the emotional impact it carried.
They Needed a Miracle
These 10 men gathered together not only because they shared the same burden but because they could get together to talk, comfort each other and share life. But it wasn’t much of a life. There was no intimacy with their wife or sitting down to dinner with their family. These men were not able to read to their children or tuck them in bed at night. And their families, if these men had them, didn’t have the comfort, protection and financial support of their husbands and fathers.
They needed a miracle to be able to resume their lives. Perhaps hope for a miracle was the only thing that brought them together on this day.
Their Hope
A Man was coming through their village and this Man’s reputation preceded Him. It was well-known that He healed everyone who asked. The 10 had also heard this same Man had fed thousands in the wilderness and while they didn’t need food, they did need a miracle. It was clear this Man was a Man of miracles.
As the Man entered their village, they stood at a distance and raised their voices asking for His mercy of healing. When He gave them directions for their healing, they left Him, following His instructions.
Along the way, each of the 10 men were healed of their leprosy. Their hope of a miracle came true. And it was a miracle. Their condition was truly incurable, yet here they stood, healed and whole once more, able to resume their lives.
But What of the 9?
One of the 10 returned to the Man, bowing down, worshipping, and giving glory to God with a loud voice. He knew where his miracle had come from. The weight of this one man’s illness had finally been lifted and he could not contain the gratitude he felt for the One who had accomplished it.
But what of the 9?
The 9 went about their way. Presumably, they went back to their families and the lives they had before their illness, but we will never know.
When the one returned, giving glory to God, the Man said, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” By this, we know that this one man continued in his healing because Jesus Christ confessed, he was healed.
Miracle of Healing
But what of the 9? We will never know. We cannot know if the 9 continued in their healing or returned to their families once and for all, because they counted their miracle as nothing and walked away.
These 9 men who had lived so long in isolation could not find it in themselves to walk the distance back to the Man they had asked for a miracle. Their miracle of healing was not random, they had asked for it, supposedly with a heart of faith. But where was their faith now?
Not from This World
And what about you? Have you seen a miracle? A miracle is divine in nature and comes from only One Man, the living God of the universe.
If you have had a miracle, did you thank the only living God for it?
If you haven’t had a miracle, would you believe it if you saw it?
A miracle goes against every law in this natural world because it is not from this world. Miracles are from the world we don’t see and therefore are governed by the rules of that world. We may not understand those rules because we don’t yet live in the world we don’t see, but we can believe.
By This Faith
It is this belief, that we call faith. And it is by this faith that we believe in Jesus Christ who gave His life willingly on a cross. And it is by believing that Jesus Christ died on a cross for our sins that has restored the life God intended for us.
Won’t you believe today? Pick up a bible and start reading the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These tell of the life of Jesus Christ. When you are done reading the gospels, then continue reading to the end of the book. You won’t be disappointed.
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Ten Lepers Cleansed
Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, 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.
So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:11-19