It had been years since he last embraced his wife.  His kids had grown up while he was away; not remembering what it was like to have a father.  No one dared to come close or even talk to him.  He was a leper. 

He remembered clearly the day when he finally admitted the white spots and rotting smell were not going to go away.  He had known for several weeks that something was wrong.  He could not feel anything in his right hand and the cut he had received instead of healing, festered and progressively got worse.  He finally faced the fact that he had… leprosy!  “Anything but leprosy!”  The methodical and irreversible deterioration of his nerves which would lead ultimately to the loss of his fingers and toes, the hideous sores that would deform his face and body, blindness and a long time later… his death.

But even worse than the smell of decomposing flesh, and the constant weariness lest he injure himself and not know it, was the isolation!  "Unclean, Unclean!" he was forced to shout anytime healthy people approached.  He was constrained to live with his own kind in the wilderness, begging for whatever they could get.  Ten of them living, if that's what you want to call it, together, watching each other slowly become more and more deformed.

He was even looked down upon by the other nine.  They were Jews and he was a… Samaritan.  He was rejected by the rejected. He lived without love, without joy, without the comfort of any human touch! They lived together. Yet they lived alone. They lived without hope.

Until one day, they heard rumors of a teacher from Nazareth who, it was claimed, could and even had healed lepers.  They also heard Jesus of Nazareth was passing by a village near them.  Quickly they went to attempt to find this Jesus.  "Could he really heal?  Could this be the chance which they all had feared even to hope?  Was there something to this or just another opportunity to have their dreams dashed?

At a distance they recognized him, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"  There was a moment.  Jesus saw him standing with the other nine.  His smile- no one smiled at lepers - and words were startling, "Go show yourselves to the priests." What? Go show yourselves to the priests.  No hocus pocus?  No condescending lectures about not sinning any more?   No request for payment?  No, nothing but, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As if they were already healed?  They were supposed to go get checked by the priests?

As he began to go do as instructed, he watched in fascination as his shriveled fingers began redeveloping, the useless nubs began to form full strong fingers! For the first time in years he actually felt the tingling of nerves as the pain of new growth shot up his arms.  He revealed in the joy of that real pain.  And then he felt for the sores on his face and with his new fingers.  He could actually feel the smoothness of pure healthy and wholesome skin.  He could contain his joy no longer!  The refreshing of his skin burst worth in loud and exuberant praises to God!  “Hallelujah!  I'm Clean!  Praise God in the Highest!  The hopeless has happened!  The incurable is clean! The leprosy is gone!”

With this rush of emotion he returned to Jesus and threw himself at his feet.  In an outpouring of pure appreciation, that only the truly despondent can express, this one ex-leper thanked Jesus.  But Jesus didn’t say you are welcome. He greeted this gratitude with a question.

Luke 17:17-18  Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?  Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"

This is the account of the healing of ten lepers found in Luke 17.  But I want to take it further.  Let's assume this Samaritan former leper takes Jesus' question literally.  “Well, where are the other nine?  Why didn't they come back?  Perhaps they weren't healed?   Surely, they were thankful.  Why didn’t the rest my little band of rejects come back and praise God, like I did?”  So he takes Jesus question upon himself as a quest. He was going to answer Jesus’ question.

Throughout the long and lonely days spend in exile, the ten had often sat around and talked.  Inevitably, the conversation would turn to where they lived; the family they had left behind; their homes, their jobs, their former lives.  Almost the only thing they talked about was what had been taken from them.  So it was no problem to locate the homes of the other nine.

THE FORGETFUL LEPER
Our purified Samaritan hesitated before knocking on the first door. What would it be like to see him… healed?  He may not even want to talk to him. “After all I am a reminder of those terrible years.”  As he knocked on the roughly cut wooden door he experienced pain in his knuckles and smiled with satisfaction. The door opened almost immediately and the shock of the rejuvenated face of the former leper momentarily left him speechless.  The surprise was also mirrored on the other’s face.

"Come in, Come in! I never expected to see you again.  But you are welcome to join or party!" As he talked the Samaritan could see past the man in the door to what was apparently a celebration.  The joy of having their father, husband and friend back was more than enough reason for their festivity! 

Finding his tongue, the Samaritan asked the question, "Obviously you are healed, why didn’t you go back and thank the Lord?"

"Well, hmmm, I guess I just forgot. I knew there was something I should have done.  I was so excited, and I wanted to see my family, it just slipped my mind!"

The Samaritan ex-leper then takes out a small notebook and writes, "He forgot to come and thank the Lord." 

THE ANGRY LEPER
As he left the house, with the party in full swing, on his way to the next person on his list, he happened upon one of the nine coming down the street. "Greetings", he called to his former associate, "Isn't it excellent we are healed!  No longer do we have to cry out, Unclean.  Listen, why didn't you go back and thank the Lord?"

"Why should I? I deserved to be healed.  After all it was God who let me get leprosy and took away all those years.  Why then should I thank him for healing me? It is still not fair. Is God going to give back all that time I missed with my family?  They don’t even remember me.  It is hardly something to be thankful for!"

He takes out his notebook and jots down, "He is too angry to be thankful."

THE BUSY LEPER
Passing through the market place he sees the third of the nine.  He is busily buying food, rushing from place to place, obviously in a hurry.

"Hey, isn't it great?"

"Don't have time to talk now.  I've got too much to do. I have to make up for all that time wasted as a leper.  There is so much to do to catch up on.  I'll talk later!"

 "Wait, I just have one question..."

 "No time", as he turns to leave, he says over his shoulder, "We'll do lunch."

As the notebook comes out again, the answer is pretty obvious, "He is too busy to thank God!"

THE SELF PITYING LEPER
As our investigator leaves the market place he sees another of the cleansed lepers sitting on the curb.  His head is held in his hands and he sees a tear squeeze out from his tightly closed eyes. 

"What's wrong?  Obviously you are healed, your skin is pure and you are no longer a leper?  Why are you crying?"

"What good is an old ex-leper any how?  My family is gone. There is no one left who cares.  No one will even talk to me because they don't really believe I'm clean.  There is still nothing for me."

"Is that why you didn't return to thank the Lord?"

"How can a good for nothing bum like me ever express my gratitude?  Besides it doesn't make any difference to me whether I am a leper or not."

So our Samaritan takes out his notebook and writes, "He is too full of self-pity to thank the Lord.”

THE PROCRASTINATING LEPER
As he knocks on the door of the 5th of the nine, he thinks, "It is hard for me to understand, we've all been healed and yet they are so ungrateful. I wonder what his excuse is going to be?"

He hears a "Come in the door's not locked."  So, he carefully enters the house, stepping over dirty clothes and junk and looks around to see a home that desperately needs some attention. As he comes into the same room with his once fellow leper he asks him point blank, "Why didn't you go back and thank the Savior?"

"I'm going to just as soon as I get a chance.  First, I'm going to go see the Priest, like he said. Then, after I buy some new clothes, I'll hunt him up and thank him.  Maybe I'll just send him a thank you card."

As he leaves, he records, "He intends to."

THE PROUD LEPER
He recognizes the next house long before he actually gets to the door.  It is a huge mansion with a fancy gate and hedges and flowers along the walk. It is just like the leper's description; a description if he heard once, he heard a thousand times.  He tells the servant at the door who he is.  He is left on the steps to wait and after a long while his previous companion appears and asks what he wants.

“I just want to ask why you did not return to thank the Lord?"

"I never thank anyone.  I do everything for myself and always take care of myself.  I have no need to thank him or anyone else.  After all I didn't ask him to heal me.  You were the ones acting like idiots hollering and begging, not I."

As the door closes quickly in his face he inscribes in his notebook the following, "He is too proud to be thankful."

THE LET SOMEONE ELSE DO IT LEPER
As our hero moves to the next address he thinks that there is only three more to chase down.  “Then I will go back and report what I have found to Jesus.” 

After the greetings and the stories are told he asks the question. "I thought you did it for all of us. I saw you turn to go back so I just assumed you would thank him for all of us.  You did, didn't you?"

In his notebook goes, "He lets others do his thanking for him."

THE SKEPTICAL LEPER
As he runs into the next-to-last one the reason for his negligence is quite puzzling to the Samaritan. "I'm not sure that he really healed me.  I had noticed before some of the spots on my hand looked better.  After all I wasn't as bad off as the rest of you.  Did you notice that he sent us away before we were healed?  If he were really going to do it, don't you think he would have touched us or said a prayer or something? I’m a bit suspicious of all such religious healers.“

So the comment in the notebook is one word; skeptical.

THE JUDGING LEPER
Finally he locates the last one and repeats his question for the ninth time.  "Why didn’t you return to thank the master?"

"Why should I?  He did it for himself; the glory hog.  He is just like all the others.  He does something he says is for you, then he expects you to fall all over yourself thanking him.  He just did it to impress everyone anyway.   No one is that good.  He's just a show off on some ego trip!  He doesn’t deserve to be thanked."

In shock he writes in his notebook, "He is too critical to be thankful.”

At the end of this rather discouraging trip into human psychology, the Samaritan returns to find Jesus.  "I've talked to the other nine. I have found out why each of them did not return to thank you." 

But before he can read the reasons from the notebook, Jesus interrupts him, "I already know why.  They were all too wrapped up in themselves to give thanks!"

As our thankful Samaritan looks carefully at his notes he checks down the list of nine reasons; forgetful, angry, busy, self-pitying, procrastinating, proud, let someone else do it, skeptical, and critical.  He nods and says, “You are right, Jesus.  All nine of them are too selfish!”  Then Jesus says to the grateful one, words which we need to hear.

Luke 17:19 "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

Now here is the interesting part.  The leper has already been healed of leprosy. Why does Jesus say, “Your faith has made you well?”  The word well can also be translated saved. I think Jesus actually says, “Your faith has saved you.” His faith expressed in gratitude has brought him salvation.  There were ten healed that day.  But only one was saved. 

Several weeks ago I made the statement, “Humility is the ticket into the Eternal Banquet.” For us to be able to spend eternity enjoying the presence of Jesus at the great party in the sky there must be humility.  Let me tweak that statement, “Humility, expressed in gratitude, is the ticket to salvation.”

As I look back over the nine excuses for not thanking Jesus, I discover a couple that apply to me.  Most of us are not angry, proud, skeptical, or judgmental.  Most of us are sincerely thankful for all the blessings God has given to us. Am I right?  Maybe a, “Thank you, Lord!” would be appropriate.  Speaking for myself, I find I am forgetful, busy, and maybe a little self-pitying to be as expressive as I should be.  How do I become more like the one and less like the nine?

I think I have a solution.  I have discovered something that will help. I have gone to great lengths and uncalculated expenses to bring to you Thank You Gems.  Each of these gems has the ability to cause you to be thankful.

Take one of these Thank You Gems and place it in a pocket or in a place you will see through out this week and let it perform magic.   Each time you see,  or think about your gem, express your thanksgiving for one thing.  Then the next time you are aware of the gem, think of something different to be thankful.  And each time after speak, out loud if appropriate, your appreciation for something new.  Its magic will help you express your gratitude like the One leper who was saved, for the ticket to the big banquet is humility expressed in gratitude.