I Continued to Heal the Sick

Meditations based on readings from

The Story of My Life As Told by Jesus Christ

November 14, 2019

I Continued to Heal the Sick

Page 193

Luke 17:11-19

Jesus does not give us much information about the ten lepers. At least one was a Samaritan. All ten moved away from Jesus, as Jesus instructed them. All ten were healed in the process of their obedience. Only one, the Samaritan, turned and went back to Jesus. I suspect we can draw all sorts of inferences from this episode, but at the very least we can affirm that as followers of Jesus, we “give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).

Because Jesus gives us so few details, I don’t think he wants us diverting our attention to the nine, trying to explain why they didn’t return. It is the attitude of gratitude of the tenth man that Jesus wants to permeate our souls. I have been helped in my attitude of gratitude by the simplicity of many of the Jewish prayers. As an example, at the end of the Sabbath, the Jewish ritual of Havdalah makes a transition from the holiness of the Sabbath to the return of the work week. The ritual includes wine, spices and a candle. The prayers include:

“Blessed are You Adonai our God,

King of the universe,

Creator of the fruit of the vine;

Creator of the different spices;

Creator of the fire's light;

who separates the holy and the profane,

the light and dark,

Israel and the other nations,

 the seventh day

and the six days of the week;

My Takeaway: Life is a gift. Life in Christ is the supreme gift. When we are walking hand in hand with our Blessed Redeemer, with child-like delight, our hearts are transformed to always find occasion to sing,

“Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise him, all creatures here below;

Praise him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen.”

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.