Read Luke 17:11-19. Following the raising of Lazarus from the dead, Jesus retreated from Jerusalem, avoiding conflict with the religious leaders for the time being. But since the Passover was near, He began His journey back to this city where He would be betrayed and die. This encounter with the ten lepers is difficult to place chronologically and might easily have occurred on an earlier trip to Jerusalem. It is included, however, on this trip. On His way, He is met by a group of lepers. These were outcasts from society, and the group was probably composed of both Jews and at least one Samaritan. Note that Jesus tells them to go to the priests. If these were only Samaritans, He likely would not have commanded them to do this. Jesus also notes that only one returned, the foreigner, implying that some of the others, at least, were not foreigners but Jewish.
1. What was their request?
To have mercy on them
2. What did Jesus tell them to do?
To go show themselves to the priests
3. What was the significance of this command?
When one was cured of leprosy, it was necessary to be certified clean by the priest and offer a special sacrifice. This implied they would be healed.
4. When were they healed?
Not while they stood looking at Jesus but as they went on their way.
5. How many returned to Jesus?
Just one
6. What did Jesus ask when this one returned to thank Him?
That was there no one else who would give God glory, but this one foreigner?
Read Luke 18:1-14. The questions asked by the Pharisees, our Lord’s answer and His discourses to the disciples might well have occurred at various times. Luke places them here since they are all related to the subject of the coming Kingdom. Jesus gives His disciples who are looking for the Kingdom two parables about prayer. He probably does this because He knows in the coming days, they will need to pray often and long, with seemingly no answers.
7. What answer did Jesus give to the Pharisees as to when the Kingdom of God was coming?
It would not come with visible signs.
8. What do you think He meant by this?
There are several things He was probably referring to. One, the Kingdom would come first by His death and resurrection and by faith in Him. It would be established by faith in the hearts of the people before being established by Him upon the earth. Then, second, when it did come, it would be suddenly without warning.
9. What did Jesus tell His disciples that must happen first before the Kingdom comes?
He must suffer and die.
10. Jesus compares the coming of the Kingdom (The visible outward coming) with two other periods in history. What are they?
a. Like the days of Noah
b. Like the days of Sodom
11. What is Jesus trying to tell His disciples with these two comparisons?
It will be sudden and unexpected in wicked times.
12. What do you think He means when He says one will be taken and one left?
One will be taken in judgment, the other left to enter the kingdom.
13. Summarize the two parables.
a. The Unrighteous Judge: this judge did not fear God or respect men. Yet he answered this poor widow simply to keep her from bothering him. How much more will God, who is righteous, answer His own who call to Him night and day?
b. The Self-righteous Pharisee: He prayed to God in his pride, thanking God he was not sinful like others. There was a tax collector, who in his humility would not even look up, but prayed for God’s mercy. This man was forgiven, not the Pharisee.
The Applications:
What are the applications of these passages to our lives today? Identify as many as you are able.
1. It is very interesting that Jesus told the group of lepers to go to the priest for the necessary cleansing but did not immediately heal them. Was this a testing of their faith? Possibly. If they believed our Lord, they would go and do what they were instructed to do; if they did not believe, they would ignore what our Lord instructed them. All of them did obey and were healed. What if one of them did not believe; what if this one refused to go? Would this one have been healed? While we cannot answer these “what if” questions, I suspect that there would have been no healing taking place. The group was healed as they believed and obeyed the instructions of our Lord. So also we, when we come to our heavenly Father with our requests, ought to believe and obey. Often when a crisis strikes, we may pour out our hearts in prayer, but we stop doing everything else. Instead of stopping, we need to continue on in our lives obeying our Lord from day to day as we walk with Him. And as we go, often we will find that we are healed.
Sometimes, however, healing or the answers to our prayers might not come immediately, but on the journey to wherever it is that our Lord is directing us to go. These men were healed relatively quickly, all things considered, but often the journey we are on is a much longer one than a trip to see the priest. On these longer journeys, the interval between going and arriving may be much longer, and the time that passes before we realize that our prayer has been answered may be much greater. The crux of the matter, however, is to trust the one that has sent us. He will do what He will do in His own good and perfect time.
2. It is essential to remember to give Him the praise and thanks when we find that He has answered our prayers. Of the ten that were healed, only one was grateful enough to turn around and personally thank our Lord. It may not have been, and probably was not, that they were not grateful. After realizing they had been healed, I expect these men were so excited and elated at the fact they were no longer lepers that the only thought on their minds was to get to the priest and be certified as clean so that they could rejoin society and their families. They were so caught up in themselves they forgot to be thankful.
Hezekiah illustrates how important it is to give thanks to the Lord for His answers to prayer. In 2 Kings chapter 20, we read how God healed Hezekiah from a mortal illness. Later he entertains emissaries from Babylon, then a province of Assyria, showing them all the great things of his kingdom. God judges him harshly for this. The reason for this judgment is not stated here but is in 2 Chronicles 32:24-25. “In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill; and he prayed to the LORD, and the LORD spoke to him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.” Are we careful to give a return for the benefits God has given us? Do we give Him the credit for what He has done and how He has answered our prayers or, do we, as Hezekiah, take the credit ourselves? Perhaps this may be a reason why God has answered fewer of our requests than we wish!
3. This parable is, I think, often misunderstood. Some understand this to be teaching that we must be persistent in prayer or God will not hear us and that the more we repeat a prayer, the better chance there will be that God will answer. This parable does not teach that at all. The parable is not comparing this unrighteous judge with our heavenly Father but is contrasting our Father with this evil judge. God will hear us, even when it seems that He does not. This judge, who did not care at all about this poor woman, only answered her because she kept at it, irritating him to no end. Our Father is not at all like this wicked judge; He truly cares for His children. If the wicked judge answered just to shut this woman up, think of how much more our Father will answer His children whom He loves.
This is not to say it does not teach that we must be persistent and not give up. For indeed, it does teach this. We must continue in prayer even when we see no answers. We must not think He has not heard or does not care. He is not at all like the unrighteous judge who only answered because the woman would not go away.
4. We need to realize our sinfulness and not persist in our pride. None of us are acceptable in our own right before God. For those of us who have known the Lord for many years and have read and studied the Word of God, who have taught Sunday Schools and preached sermons, who have counseled others and shared the gospel, it is often easy to think we have attained some spiritual level a notch above the common man. This is a diabolical lie, yet one all too easy to casually accept without even realizing it. We must remember that we are still on this side of the resurrection or the rapture. We, while we have the new nature, still have the old as well, and it is our choice which one we serve. Being human, we too often serve ourselves.
None of us can come to our God apart from the gift of forgiveness and the grace of God. None of us, even at our best, can even approach our God in and of ourselves. We, too, as with the vilest dregs of humanity that we can conceive, must beat upon our breast and say to our Father, “Be merciful to me, the sinner.”