The Strand Study Bible

LUKE

LUKE

1676

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

17:18 This word ( stranger ) is the Greek word DOOοJHQK9 ( allogenes ) and means, “ of another ( allos ) race ( genos ) of people ”; it therefore refers to a Gentile. Of the ten lepers, this stranger (Samaritan) was the only Gentile. According to the context, the other nine lepers were Jews. How is it that only the despised Samaritan came back to thank Jesus for the healing? Were there not ten cleansed? Sadly, gratitude is even rarer than faith. There are three reasons why people fail to be grateful: 1. They’re selfish (Lk 12:13-15) You can spot an ungrateful selfish person a mile away –they always “pitch a fit” whenever they fail to get what they want. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in a speech he gave at Madison Square Garden on October 31, 1936, notes: I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master. 5 What FDR meant was, until you’re ready to “face” your selfishness, you’ll never “master” your selfishness. 2. They’re self-absorbed (Lk 17:18) The reason the nine Jewish ex-lepers failed to return to say thank you is because they were more interested in what they could get than what they got. What they wanted was relief. What they got was a miracle. Which means, they were more interested in the healing than they were the Healer. They were self-absorbed . All they could think of was themselves. Despite all our problems, God is still the problem solver. Let us not become so self-absorbed that we fail to see the forest for the trees. 3. They’re self-righteous (Lk 3:7-8) One of the reasons why people are ungrateful is because they think they deserve what they get because of who they are. Why say thank you for something I already deserve? 17:19 Did not the " faith " of the other nine make them whole as well? Why is it that those who grow up under the truth don’t always appreciate it like they should?

1 Phillips, John. Exploring the Gospel of Luke . Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2005. Print. 2 De Haan II, M.R. What Is True Forgiveness? , Grand Rapids, MI, RBC Ministries, 1988, 2000. Print. 3 Lewis, C.S. The Business of Heaven , San Diego, CA, Harcourt, 1984. Print. 4 David Livingston quote (Public Domain) 5 Bartlett, John. Familiar Quotations . 16. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1992. Print.