Luke 17:11-19 Probably one of the worst curses of Jesus' day was to contract leprosy. The one who had this dreaded disease had to separate himself from his family and friends, even from all of society. The only ones he could have fellowship with were other lepers like himself. If they communicated with anyone it had to from a distance. They weren't even allowed to live inside the city. This group that met Jesus, ten in number, called out to Jesus at the city limits. They, no doubt, must have heard how Jesus was able to heal people with dreaded diseases, even leprosy. Jesus called back to them, "Go show yourselves to the priest!" In going to the priest, the priest would pronounce them either clean (healed) or unclean, meaning they still had leprosy. It must have been in the obedience of going that the healing took place. One of them when he noticed that he was healed, returned to Jesus to give God praise. There was only one thing that was worse than having leprosy, and that was being a Samaritan with leprosy. The one that returned was a Samaritan! There are some things to be learned from this account. Jesus is concerned about the outcast and the rejects. A Jew would never have time for a Samaritan, especially one with that "L" disease - Jesus did. You will never fall into a class of people that Jesus won't hear when you call out to Him. In calling out to Him there is a demand put on the caller and that is to respond in faith and obedience to what He asks him to do. When Jesus healed, He often asked people to do something as an expression of faith, e.g., "show yourself to the priest."; "Go wash in the pool of Siloam."; "Stretch forth your hand." etc. In the process of this obedience of faith the miracle took place. Not really a lot different than asking for a sandwich and being told that it is in the refrigerator, help yourself. Two things are required - the sandwich needs to be there and we need to reach out and get it. It works the same way when we receive from God.

Healing Comes in Obedience