Scripture reading: Luke 17:11-19

Sometimes work becomes so overwhelming that we begin to treat our clients as though we are doing them a favour, when in reality we have been placed there to serve them. Perhaps that explains why one client returned to thank me for simply doing my job.

I had not done anything extraordinary. I listened to her complaints, examined her, ordered a few laboratory tests to review later, and discussed what her condition might be—just as I had done for many others that day. Yet sometime later she returned simply to say, “Thank you.”

Perhaps she appreciated the care she received, care she might not have been used to. But even if such care was expected, why hadn’t the others said thank you?

In today’s Scripture, Jesus passes between Samaria and Galilee and enters a village where ten lepers meet Him. Standing at a distance, they cry out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” These men were helpless and hopeless. Their disease not only ravaged their bodies but also made them outcasts from society. Separated from family, community, and worship, their lives were marked by isolation and suffering.

Moved by their plea, Jesus healed them and instructed them to go and show themselves to the priests, as required by the Law of Moses (Leviticus 13–14). The priests would examine them and declare them clean so they could return to society.

Overjoyed, the ten men hurried off. But one stopped and turned back. While the others continued ahead, this man returned, “praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks” (Luke 17:15–16).

Even more striking, the one who returned was a Samaritan, a people many Jews despised. Jesus remarked with surprise that although ten had been healed, only one returned to give thanks and glorify God.

Do you see yourself in the grateful leper, or among the nine who never returned?

We often pray to ask God for what we need, and rightly so. Jesus encouraged us to ask the Father (Matthew 7:7–11). Yet we frequently move from one request to another without pausing to thank Him for what He has already done.

The fact that you are alive today, that you are healthy, that you were able to eat, or that you woke up this morning is not accidental. These are all expressions of the grace and mercy of God. Yet when we begin to treat such blessings as expected, gratitude quietly fades.

Jesus did not withhold healing from the nine who failed to thank Him, but He did highlight their lack of gratitude (Luke 17:18). All ten were physically healed, yet His final words to the Samaritan suggest something more: “Rise and go; your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19).

It seems this man received more than physical cleansing: he experienced spiritual wholeness.

When we pause to acknowledge the Giver and not just the gifts, we honour the Lord and experience the deeper blessing that grows from a grateful heart.

Let us pray

1. Pray, thanking God for all he has done for you – the good and the not-so-good. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 says, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Pray that God will give you a heart that remembers to thank Him for His daily mercies and blessings.
2. Pray that the Lord will open your eyes to recognise His hand in both the big and the ordinary provisions of life, that He will guard your heart from becoming like the nine lepers who received blessings but never returned to give thanks.
3. Ask that your words, attitudes, and actions will continually honour God for what He has done in your life.
4. Pray that your faith in Christ will lead not only to receiving His gifts, but to a deeper relationship with Him and true spiritual wholeness.

Amen.

Thank you for joining us for today’s encouragement. If this message blessed you, kindly share it with someone who may also be encouraged by it.

Until next time, stay blessed.