Only One Turned Back

Now one of them when he saw that he was healed, turned back glorifying God..
Luke 10:15

The world has very few pure atheists. Most of us stand at a distance seeking what we can get from God. In the Gospel of Luke there is a story of 10 leprous men who stood at a distance seeking healing. These men were ceremonially defiled and legally required to stand at a distance and live outside the village. Their lives were marked by lack of relationship. Yet in front of them was the creator God who sought a relationship. They cried out " Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!". Jesus healed them. They got what they sought – healing. They did not seek a relationship. They were quick to go back to their daily lives. Only one turned back and thanked and lived.

Many of God's blessings are available to all of us indiscriminately. God even heals whether we thank him or not. There is much agitation and wringing of hands in the Psalms because of God's indiscriminate blessings. What would happen in this life if only those with relationship would be healed? Would it change anything? No, because the human heart does not naturally seek a relationship. The one leper turned back and gave glory to God and sought a relationship with him. The leper who turned back was a Samaritan. He was an outcast, a foreigner, a pagan. And yet, he was the only one who Jesus said was "made well".

We naturally associate healing with some act of faith on our part and to some degree that is true. The 10 lepers had faith to be healed but only one had faith to be made well. I don't want to be healed, I want to be made well..