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.

This story speaks v-o-l-u-m-e-s. In it we see that Jesus healed a total of "10" lepers, but there was only one who returned.

While on his way to show himself to the religious establishment of his day, the one "X" leper did two things....

verse 15) when he realized that he had been healed of his leprocy he ran back and he glorified God with a loud voice....
(Have we run back to Him and glorified Him loudly before men as well upon our recognition of what He's done??)

verse 16) and he fell down on his face at Jesus' feet, giving Him praise and thanks.
(Have we fallen down at His feet, remaining to give Him thanks and praise upon our recognition of who He is??)

The other nine that Jesus cleansed were "Jews" of his own nationality, while the one who returned was a stranger, a lowly "Samaritan" no less.

So what happened to the other nine?
Well they may have been healed of their leprosy before men, allright, but not necessarily of their spiritual leprosy before God! I even wonder how many of them (if any) ended up showing themselves to the priests after they were cleansed of their leprosy along the way??

What it does prove is how "Gracious" God is to everyone - the thankful as well as the thankless! But because only "one" x-leper returned in recognition to give Him thanks and glory shows me that the other 9 lepers were only interested in getting their own needs, or "outward circumstances" taken care of, and once taken care of, they soon forgot about the One who cleansed them. The proof? "They never returned to Him to thank Him!!"...

"Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?"

Note Jesus' words to the sole leper who did return...

"Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole."

Note the word, "Whole". Not just the body; nor just the soul; nor just the spirit, but the WHOLE man: body, soul and spirit! He was made "WHOLE", both inside and out!

What had happened to this sole leper Ezekial long ago put into words...
"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." Ezekial 36:26

This leper was saved and he knew it. He knew it because his complete faith in Jesus had made him whole, and he realized what had occurred! Upon his recognition of this and of who Jesus was and what He did, he could not help but to RUN back to Jesus as fast as he could, fall at His feet and loudly give Him glory, praise and thanks.

Until we are changed within, we are the real lepers!!! Until Jesus cleans and heals us we are all "unclean" inside towards God. We need a new heart and a right spirit put within us in order to be cleansed and worship and thank God in the proper way... with the understanding, yes, but also IN the Spirit too... the way God is and the way He deserves to be praised!

I just love this story! I certainly can and do relate to it, of the time when I was cured of my spiritual leprosy how I ran back and laid at His feet and kissed them, loudly praising and thanking Him over and over again for healing the likes of me. The leprosy of the "Eyes" being the first to become cured, and we are made to see the real beauty in the Son of God and through Him, the Father, and weap... weap, not just so much for what God has done, but at how truly beautiful and awesomely wonderful He truly is.

This is the kind of "Work" that God does: A "Spiritual Work" - a Work of Grace in the soul that dispells the darkness so that we are able to see who it is that healed us. The other nine lepers never "saw" who it was who healed them (for if they did "see" they would have run back as well), but the tenth leper did and he acted accordingly, and all to the glory of God!

So, to you who are "saved" and know exactly what I mean, I say go on continually giving glory and thanks to God unceasingly.

However, to those of you who never heard Him or saw the true beauty hidden in Jesus Christ, I can only pray that you are drawn to cry out to Him and be cleansed as well. Then; like the lone leper, upon recognition of your being cleansed, you run to Him and kiss His feet giving Him all of the glory and the praise and the thanks that He so wonderfully and gloriously deserves.

In doing so you will have fulfilled the first and great commandment of our Lord...

Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment." Matthew 22:37-38