The Prepper Broadcasting Network - 2025.10.13 - Reliance - The Tenth Leper w/ Steven Menking

Episode Date: October 19, 2025

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On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee, and as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now, he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered,

We're not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God, except this foreigner? And he said to him, Rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well. Lord, thank you for your word.

Thank you for your miraculous healing power. Thank you for the call that you have placed on our lives. Thank you for the example that you have set for us. Thank you for your mercies that are new every morning. Thank you for the new life, the new birth, and the promises for all eternity that are true and faithful and will never pass away. Thank you, God, for your justice, your mercy, your peace, your joy, your love. Thank you for your adoption. Thank you for calling us into your family, into your love.

your kingdom. Thank you for your goodness, your tenderness. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for abiding with us, for leading us, for guiding us, for teaching us, for opening our eyes. Lord, would you help us, Jesus? Would you help us to have hearts full of gratitude and thanksgiving? Would you help us to be rightly oriented towards you with a posture of humility, of love, of gratefulness, and of blessing. God, we want to see your name glorified. We want to see your kingdom expanded. We want to see your will accomplished.

Lord, help us to know what it is that each and every one of us need to do in order to further the goals of your Holy Spirit. Let your word be rooted deep within us. that we would have wisdom and discernment from you, God, about how to handle the situations that we face in our lives. Bless this time. Use it to speak to us, to strengthen us, to equip us, to give us guidance, and to allow us to be fed by your word.

In Jesus' name, amen. I'm going to read this scripture again from Luke chapter 17. This is verses 11 through 19, and there's a very specific decision that the lepers make. And I want us to spend some time unpacking the complexity of that decision, and I'm going to draw an analogy that will, admittedly, be a little bit clunky, but that may help elucidate this. And then I want to suggest that there is a very clear dynamic that we would be wise to avoid when it comes to these sort of situations. So again, reading from Luke chapter 17 versus 11 through 19, on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. and as he entered a village he was met by ten lepers

who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying Jesus, master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourselves to the priests, and as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them when he saw that he was healed, turned

back, praising God with a loud voice and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, We're not ten cleansed? Where are they Nine. Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, Rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well. Let's go step by step and provide a little bit of context here. So on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus is passing along between Samaria and

Galilee. So we know he's in the northern parts of Israel, where there is likely to be this mixing of Samaritans and Northern Israelites and the tribe of Judah and those in the South. Now, when he's entering the village, he obviously wasn't met directly by 10 lepers because those lepers stood at a distance, because they would have been ceremonially unclean and not allowed to participate in the village and polite society and everything else like that. But they, having some expectation, having heard of Jesus's exploits, they lifted up their voices, calling out to him in a gesture of faith. And we know that at other points in the ministry of Jesus, when the blind and the lame, when people call out to Jesus, demonstrating their willingness to be exposed, their willingness to be vulnerable, their willingness to be humble. whenever someone cries out to Jesus in the Gospels, he answers. He has mercy. He shows them

his power. And he takes it as an indication of their faith. So they call out Jesus, master, have mercy on us. And Jesus saw them. And what does he say to them? He says, go and show yourselves to the priests. Now, in context, the lepers presumably would have taken this to mean that he had pronounced a blessing of healing over them because he certainly being an observant Jew would not have told them in a leprous state to go and show themselves to the priest because that would have made the priest ceremonially unclean. Instead, they were to go and present offering and purification so that they could show the proof that they had been healed and to bring them back into right fellowship. Now, interestingly enough,

One of these lepers is a Samaritan, and we don't know the exact circumstances, but this Samaritan wasn't singled out with a different command. He said, go and show yourselves to the priest, presumably one command for all of them. And you don't hear them grumbling or being confused about the instruction. It seems as if they all just go immediately. Now, again, Luke's narrative can't contain every single beat, every single. single pattern, every single thought. So just because there is no commentary about the lepers and their response to Jesus, other than them obviously going, because they went on their way, it is not necessarily a proper use of the argument from silence to say that, yeah, there's

nothing else there. So what could their reactions have been? They could have been confused, they could have doubted, but you just don't get that sense. You get the sense from the passage that that is not the point of friction. That is not the point of the teaching. The lepers go on their way, and that is in obedience. They clearly have some expectation of Jesus because they called out to him. Maybe there was one among the ten who was really convinced, really truly convinced in his heart, or their heart, that Jesus would provide this healing. Maybe some of them didn't have quite the same level of conviction, but we're not here to parse that.

What we're here to do is we're showing that they obeyed, and it seems like they obeyed directly. Jesus gave the command, and they went. And as they went, they were cleansed. Now, I wonder, how far did they go? did they start to worry or have a conversation? If they were on their way to the priests, was it a long set of travel that they had to do?

Or was it short? Because if it was, let's call it, a half-day's journey and they were setting out on foot and a couple hours had gone by and nothing happened, I wonder if the thought would have been, well, was this really the right thing to do? I mean, we're going to go in and it's going to be a problem.

we're still unclean, all of these different thoughts can end up going through your head. Even right after the word has been spoken over your life. And brothers and sisters, as we think about this dynamic, now we can begin to potentially see some parallels in our own lives when we say, all right, Jesus has spoken something over our lives that we are saved, that we should go forth. And as the pacing of our lives continues, we could very quickly begin to wonder, well, is this really the right thing? Is this what I'm supposed to do? Rather than resting upon the word and the faithfulness of the one who gave it, we can oftentimes begin to grumble about timing, begin to doubt, begin to doubt, begin

to mull things over and even convince ourselves of the very opposite. Maybe it's now not obedient to go. Maybe we shouldn't go. When in fact, we hadn't heard that from Jesus. We hadn't heard that from the Holy Spirit. We have succumbed to a fiery dart or a rogue thought. Now, in this situation, we see that they do actually experience a miraculous cleansing. And I don't know about you, but I would hope.

that if I were going from a leprous state to a cleansed state, that that would be cause for rejoicing. And I have a sneaking suspicion. Again, we're interpolating this here. So this is not part of the scriptural tradition. But if you can try to imagine this scene, the 10 walking together on their way to the priest, maybe some of them have been grumbling about if this is the right thing to do or not.

We don't know. It could have been that they were 50 paces away when they were healed and that it was relatively instantaneous. Although in that kind of situation, it would have been a little bit strange for only one to turn back. If they were still within earshot, you would have imagined that all of them would have taken that detour back to Jesus to show their appreciation. So I think we have to imagine that the lepers are far, that they are a long way off. like out of earshot where it would have been inconvenient to go back and you can imagine them maybe still 100% full of faith and dedicated to it but maybe some doubt is starting to creep in and then they're cleansed I wonder what the situation would have been like if one of them

was cleansed first and then the others a little bit after that's a complexity that we're not going to bother to spend a ton of time with here because again we're we're in the hypotheticals and I want to make sure that we get through the anecdote here so that we can develop some application for our own lives. Hopefully, some of you are beginning to see where I'm going here. And when we think about this dynamic, they're cleansed. Everyone is grateful. I don't think there would have been a leper among them

who would have said, oh, well, whatever, that was just a coincidence. Or, oh, bummer, I'm free, I'm cleansed and I'm healed for my leprosy. That's probably not what happened. So what is, and this is the central question that I want to ask, why does only one go back? Clearly, the lepers cried out to Jesus, even if some of them were not the ringleader, so to speak, even if some of them might have been a little bit hesitant to do so for whatever reason, They were all cleansed.

They were all cleansed as a result. They all obeyed the instruction to go on their way to show themselves to the priest. But maybe here is the deciding factor because when the one Samaritan leper turns back and gives Jesus thanks, Jesus seems indignant at the others and he ascribes a special blessing of faith to the Samaritan, to the one leper who returned. So what was the conversation like where they split off? Surely it wasn't just people all scattering and running in different directions. There's probably a time of stupefaction and just being overwhelmed by the nature of the change in their bodies and their physical circumstances.

There's probably a period where they're just completely awestruck by the mighty work of God. that has been apparent in their lives, but then what does the conversation look like before they split up? Well, can you imagine the perfectly rational, appropriate line of reasoning that would lead nine to go in one direction and one to go back?

What would make them continue rather than to show gratitude, rather than to go back and show the gratitude directly? Well, can you think of it? It should, it's striking. me as just being imminently obvious that the people might say something to the effect of this is an unbelievable miracle. The one who performed it clearly has immense power, if not literally is the Messiah.

But regardless of the level of the content of their belief about Jesus, they would say he He did a miracle, and he told us, go and show yourselves to the priests. That's what Jesus said to do. Shouldn't we continue to obey him and follow his command? Now, the one who went back to Jesus might be seen from the perspective of the other nine as being disobedient to Jesus' command. Right? One might say, hey, he told us. He told us to go and show yourselves to the priest.

That's what we're supposed to do. That's what he said to do. Shouldn't we do it? Shouldn't we do it right here, right now, right away? Instead of even going back? It's been a long time. Like, we've walked for several miles. He's probably gone.

If you go back, you might not encounter him. You might not find him. You might not see him. And then you'll be late. It'll be different. You'll be disobedient. Just come with us. Come.

Let's follow his instruction. Come. Let's go show ourselves to the priests. But the Samaritan, maybe because he is not in the same kind of tradition of saying, well, let's really focused on the priestly. He'd say, this is an experience with the divine. I am overcome by the need to return to give thanks for this murals. miracle, even at the risk of doing so potentially in contravention to the command of the one who performed the miracle himself. So if you were one of the ten, because we would always read this

and say, of course I would have gone back, would you? Where is the principle here? It's a tricky one to parse, right? It's getting a little bit, a little bit more challenging. And I don't want to press my hypothetical situation, this reading into the text for doctrine. That would not be appropriate. It would not be appropriate for me to take this because it's not what's explicitly taught. What's explicitly taught is the narrative and the importance of gratitude. It's Jesus's reaction that, of course, is incredibly profound and incredibly interesting. He provides this blessing to the Samaritan, showing this expansion of where his miracles can apply, that they're not just in the most insular way for a certain group of people, but they're foreshadowed as being

for all in fulfillment of the prophecy that the Messiah would bless all of the nations through Abraham's seed. There are many important things going on here. But if the nine, who continued on, who didn't go back to Jesus, are being obedient to his original command. Why does Jesus appear indignant and saying, where are the nine? Jesus didn't command them. When you are healed, come back and show me gratitude and then go on your way. But by the same token, Jesus didn't say, go and show yourselves to the priest right now, immediately as soon as you can with urgency and don't stop to do anything else, right?

So how do we interpret this? What does it mean? How does this apply to our own lives? And I think that the most important thing that we can take away is that when we see God being active in our lives in a special, powerful, mighty, glorious way, that even if that intervention comes with a command to action, the command to action does not contradict or contravene the need for us to be grateful and gratitude being our proper response.

The Bible in the New Testament, elsewhere, describes us in addition to rejoicing forevermore and praying without ceasing. We should give thanks in everything. We should give thanks in everything. It's through Jesus that we give our thanks to God. God who forgave us, God who healed us, God who redeemed us. We should abound in thanksgiving. The will of God in Christ Jesus includes giving thanks in all circumstances. And so this narrative in the gospel can prefigure it. And to God be the glory, with Christ risen and ascended and the Holy Spirit in dwelling us,

we don't have to worry about going back here or there to relocate Jesus in some physical place. We can express our own gratitude right here where we are because the Holy Spirit is with us. so now we are talking about from our discipleship perspective a heart posture whenever we are given a command or an instruction by the Lord and oftentimes these come out of the word of God itself our first reaction should be yes and there should be an accompanying gratitude that we can hear from God at all in this way, that we've been blessed to be called, blessed to have access to these things. It's enough to put us into a posture of saying, who am I that you are mindful of me? We don't have anything that we've done to deserve those kind of spiritual benefits.

That says ask, ask anything. Bring your requests with Thanksgiving. Shouldn't we? Mustn't we? And here's where I think the strongest connection can come. Oftentimes, in ministry, in our own lives, in religious organization, and anything else like this. When we see God moving, when we see a command, there can be such an impetus to action, even an impetus to action out of a desire to be obedient to the Lord, that we neglect

the step of gratitude. And it's not as if God is trying to trick us to say, oh, it should go without saying. It should go without saying that you should thank me. That's not God's attitude towards us. But has God not revealed enough of his character through this account? Through this account and through the remainder of the scriptures for us to say that gratitude and thanksgiving and giving glory to God should be a permanent state of affairs, should be an ongoing, posture of our hearts? I think that's a fair thing to say. So if God has given us a command to go and do something, to go accomplish something, to go and accomplish a vision, it doesn't override the general instruction that we have to be grateful. It doesn't mean set gratitude

aside because there's no time for that. And I do wonder in this story, it's not as a if Jesus revoked his miracle on the nine. It doesn't seem that way. It's not like other instances. I guess the clearest comparison would be in the Old Testament when Neiman, the leper of high standing, comes to the prophet and is cleansed of his leprosy. And then Gahezy, the servant to the prophet, goes out and uses the opportunity to hustle some silver and garments, I think, if I'm remembering that correctly. And then the leprosy attaches to him. But, you know, Naiman wasn't punished for that. And these other lepers, the nine who didn't return, it doesn't seem like they are off the track or something has been reversed.

but the one who did return received an additional, a special blessing. Giving praise to God is an additional level of obedience. And we know throughout Scripture that God desires a contrite, repentant, loving, grateful heart. over and above sacrifice. So we need to be obedient to all of God's commands. But if we're in ministry and we receive direction from the Lord and we just go and we skip over the steps of gratitude, if we skip over that scriptural instruction, then we're missing out. We're missing out on a special blessing, a deepening of the relationship.

Yes, we need to be about action. We need to move forward. We need to accomplish things for the sake of the kingdom. But gratitude towards God establishes and maintains and deepens that relationship that will allow us to achieve the things that he has called us to do. So in our families, in our ministries, in our jobs, in our lives, in any area, when we see God moving, when we receive guidance and direction and instruction, could we be grateful? Could we start our prayers with an attitude of Thanksgiving? could we express our gratitude for what God has done as a default measure? Would that put us in a better position to serve?

Can we be like that one leper who even given the command saying, my top priority right now is to give thanks to God? And I will go and I will do every single. thing that he says, I don't want to doubt his word, I don't want to disobey his commands, but I must. I am compelled. There is something within me that will not be settled until I express my gratitude to the one who rescued me, to the one who healed me, to the one who saved me, to the one who is my all and all, to my Lord and Savior. And shouldn't that, brothers and sisters, be the cry of our hearts as well? Should it be a good.

we have that approach of persistent gratitude, I argue that we should. I think that we should, even amidst times where action is called for when God is on the move, when we should be doing things, let us take a moment to be grateful, to be grateful for all that God has done, to be grateful for who he is, and to be grateful that he is for us. So, Lord, we thank you, we bless you, and we praise you, declaring that you are holy and righteous and true and good. And we want to thank you, Lord. We want to thank you for who you are, for what you have done for us, and for your word, which

instructs us and guides us. Lord, help us to have a clearer picture of what it means for us to balance your instructions for action with the overriding and super abundant appropriateness of being grateful to you help us to not let anything stand in the way of us fulfilling your instructions and your leading and help us always to be grateful help us to find that exact type of relationship that honors you properly and that you are are ready to bless, the same way that you blessed this leper who turned around. Lord, we were all in the same state spiritually, whether with that kind of dramatic physical

ailment or malady or otherwise, we were all spiritual lepers. And it was you who touched us, who declared that we are clean by the power of your blood. It is your righteousness and by your sacrifice that we are saved. and it's by placing our faith in you that we can be born again. And we are grateful for that, Jesus, that you have made a way for us to be restored, for us to be made whole, for us to be cleansed from the sin that so easily besets us, Lord. You have put it as far as the east is from the west. God, you are good, and we thank you for it.

Help us to know the lesson and the moral of this narrative in scripture, and help us to apply it properly and successfully to our own lives and our own families and our own ministries. Lord, don't let it be said about us that we didn't measure up in terms of gratitude. You are worthy of thanks, are worthy of praise, are worthy of honor, worthy of everything, worthy of our all. Everything we have is from you. and we bring it back to you with Thanksgiving and with an appeal, Lord, that you would be glorified

and magnified in our lives. We love you, Jesus. We bless you. Help us to be that one. Help us to be grateful, appropriately so. In your precious name, we pray. Amen.