NOTES for Luk 17:1-19
One detail in the story of the ten lepers is interesting: the Lord sends the lepers to fulfill what is written in the Law concerning leprosy and its healing, to go and show themselves to the priests. As Jews who revered the Law, nine of them could not return quickly to thank Jesus if they first obeyed the legal commandment and only then gave free rein to their feelings. Why, then, is the Lord more pleased not with them but with the tenth, a Samaritan, a half-pagan who did not dare approach the Jewish Teacher? Perhaps what matters more to Him is not formal gratitude expressed in the temple sacrifice that a healed leper had to offer, but living gratitude that comes from the heart and overcomes every legalistic barrier... We all know how important it is to thank God, but do we do so from an inner impulse, or do we piously go to offer Him yet another “thanksgiving” sacrifice?