Luke 17:11-19 PBS

Observation
First Thoughts:
• Lepers were desperate to be healed.
• The healing was quick.
• Was Jesus disappointed that the others did not return back.
• Jesus sees Samaritans and Jews in the same way.
• The Samaritan was able to go to the Temple because Jesus asked him to
• Jesus can heal leprosy
• We should be thankful for God’s blessings
• Implicit Obedience.

Literary Form: Narrative

Imagination:
What can I see?
• Jesus and Disciples walking
• Disciples chatting
• Soldiers (Because Border)
• Disciples afraid
• Excited People
• Jesus waiting for the people to come back.
• Jesus disappointment
• Disciples amazed
• Samaritan Praising God
• Muddy Road
• Tired sweating
• Healed Leper at the Feet of Jesus
What can I touch?
• The leper after healing to check if his sores are really gone.

What can I smell?

• Unwashed stinking sores of leper.
What can I taste?
What can I hear?
• Leper begging with Jesus. If you are willing be clean.
• Jesus saying I am willing be clean
• Jesus warning the leper not to tell anyone
• Leper talking about his healing and Jesus commending
• Surprise noises of disciples.

Persons:
Jesus On the way to Jerusalem.
Passing between Samaria and Galilee.
Entered village
Met by 10 lepers
Lepers did not come to Jesus. They just shouted.
He was called as Master by the lepers.
He saw them.
He spoke to them
 Told the lepers to show themselves to the priests.
Thanked by the healed leper
He asked 3 questions
Expected them to return back
Jesus commended the faith of the leper.
10 lepers Met Jesus at the boarder of Samaria and Galilee.
Did not approach Jesus but shouted.
Called Jesus as Master.
Begged for mercy
Asked to go to priests
Immediately they obeyed
They were cleansed
Not with Jesus after the healing
Did not give glory to God
Priests Lepers were asked to go the priests
Samaritan He was in the company of lepers and one of the 10
Outside the village
Met Jesus
Did not go near but shouted at loud voice.
Called Jesus as Master
Begged for Mercy
Asked to go to the priests
Immediately obeyed along with the others
Noticed his healing
Returned
Shouted with loud voice
Gave glory to God.
Fell face down at Jesus feet
Thanked Jesus
He was a Samaritan
Jesus asked him 3 questions
He was asked to go on his way.
His faith has saved him
God Given glory by the leper
Jesus expected that all lepers would return and give glory to God

Places:
Jerusalem Jesus was travelling to Jerusalem.
Samaria Southern part in the map. Samaritans lived there
Galilee Northern part. Jews lived there
Village Somewhere on the border
At a distance Lepers stood at a distance and did not approach Jesus. They are restricted. Not
supposed to come near normal people. They are supposed to shout leper
“leper”.
Feet of Jesus The leper fell at Jesus feet after getting healed.
On your way Leper was not asked to follow but to go

Pronouns:
11. His- Jesus
12. He- Jesus
12. him- Jesus
13. us- lepers
14. He- Jesus
14. He- Jesus
14. they- lepers
14. they- lepers
15.One of them- lepers
15. he saw- leper
15. he was healed- leper
16. he threw himself- leper
16. thanked him- Jesus
16. he- leper Samaritan
19. He said- Jesus
19.him- leper
19. you- leper

Actions:
Verb Who Receiver Tense Voice Where Motive Result Imperative Your
Comments if
any
Travelled Jesus Present Active Along Met the No He was going
the lepers to Jerusalem
border for Crucifixion
Going Jesus Present Active To a Lepers met No
village him.
Met 10 men Met Present Active Outside To get They were No Jesus can heal
who had Jesus the healing healed lepers
leprosy village from
Jesus
Stood 10 men Away Present Active At a They They had to No They followed
with from distance were not shout and the law
leprosy Jesus supposed ask for pity
to touch
anyone
Called 10 men Jesus Present Active Outside Have No Showed their
with the faith that trust in Jesus
leprosy village Jess can
heal
Saw Jesus Lepers Present Active Outside He had No They could get
the pity his attention
village
said Jesus Lepers Present Active Outside He had No He spoke to
the pity them
village
Go Jesus Lepers Present Active Into the Jesus Command Yes Their hope is
village gave a getting fulfilled
where solution
Preists
were
there
Show Lepers Priests Present Active In the It was a Yes Jesus was
village law that expecting
or they obedience
 Temple should before the
show to healing.
the priests
Went Lepers Preist Present Active In the They They No
village were in showed
or need of obedience
Temple healing.
Ready to
do
anything
Cleansed Lepers Present Active On the Jesus They were No Jesus is
way to cleansed cleansed. powerful to
the them Got their heal leprosy
Priests result
Saw One Himself Present Active His Noticed the No Understood the
Leper body healing Power of Jesus
Healed Leper Present Active In his No
body
Came Leper Jesus Present Active Jesus To thank Appreciated no He was a
was Jesus by Jesus thankful man
probabl
y still
outside
waiting
for them
to return
abck
Praising Leper Jesus Present Active Outside In a loud Realised No Thankfulness
the city voice. Jesus is
Very very God.
thankful
Threw Leper Jesus Present Active At Jesus To be Show his No It is genuine
feet grateful deepest
thanks and
worship.
Thanked Leper Jesus Present Active From So Felt No HE was a
the grateful indebted thankful man
bottom
of his
heart
Asked Jesus Leper Present Active Outside He was HE asked 3 No He is worthy of
the expecting rhetorical our thanks
village the other questions
lepers to
be
grateful
Cleansed 10 Past Passive On the Rhetorical Yes is the No They should
lepers way to Question. answer have realised
show to Obvious like the
Priests Yes is the Samaritan
answer leper
Returned Lepers By Jesus Past Active Back to To give No is the No They should
were Jesus praise to answer have returned
expected God
to return
Give 9 Lepers Praise to Past Active At Jesus Not Proved as No Giving praise
God feet thankful unthankful to God is good
Said Jesus Leper Present Active At the Jesus Leper was No
place responds appreciated
where
they met
Rise Leper Jesus Present Active Up on Jesus Leper was Yes
his feet wants him lifted up
rom the to enjoy
feet of his
Jesus
Go Jesus Leper Present Active To the To show To be a Yes Witness is
village to the witness. To important
priests. let people
see
Made Faith Leper Past Passive In his Faith pays Faith No
body rewarded

Repeated words: His 1(Jesus), Jesus 4 (Jesus), he 3(Jesus), him 2 (Jesus), us(10 lepers), They2 (10 lepers),
ten lepers 2, he 4 (Samaritan leper), himself(Samaritan leper), Foreigner(Samaritan Leper), him (Samaritan
leper), you( leper), praising God 2, Loud voice2, Go2,
Time words:
Now, As he was going, When he saw them, as they went, when he saw he was healed.
Connecting words: Now, on, along, between, and, As, into, and, when, and, when, and, and, then.
Unknown words:
Leprosy
Samaritan
Figures of Speech:
Author, Audience, purpose and context:
Author: Luke, physician, Wrote in high Greek, companion of Paul
Audience: Theophilus, Roman, Targeted to Gentiles,
Purpose- : To help new believers who have received some instruction about Jesus to gain a more stable and
orderly understanding of His words and actions, especially how He fulfilled the OT prophecies and to
explain Christianity is not a threat to Romans. Jesus is portrayed then as “The Son of God.”
Context: Christians were suffering under Romans. Probably Paul was prisoned.
Structure and Divisions:

1. Preface (Luke 1:1-4)

2. Groundwork for ministry (Luke 1:5-4:13)
3. Ministry in Galilee (Luke 4:14-9:50)
4. Ministry on the way to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-19:27)
5. Ministry in Jerusalem (Luke 19:28-24:53)

Atmosphere:
The lepers were desperate to get healed.
The disciples were curious to know what Jesus would do
He was surprised at their ingratitude

Fact finding questions:

Who?
What?
Where?
When?
How?
Why?

Interpretation
Rule 1: Interpret literally.
There are no figures of speech in this passage
Rule 2 Literary Context
• Your faith has saved you. Your faith has made you well. The word used is SESOKEN
the same word used in John 3:17. It is 53 times translated as saved. Acts 2:21-
Whoever calls on the name of Jesus will be saved.
• This incident happened during the last journey of Jesus to Jerusalem. 9:51 He started
his journey. 13:22 Ministry on the way to Galilee. 17:11, 18:31, 18:35, 19:1 , 18:28.
Luke included this passage to show that Jesus is Son of God . His miracles are
outstanding. The discussion between the Samaritan leper and Jesus was happening
because Jesus was very upset that other 9 lepers saw God’s power but did not get
saved. Jesus healed the lepers in the process of teaching the disciples about the
kingdom of God and was talking about faith and thankfulness. The above conversation
shows that servants need not be thanked but gratitude should be shown to the Master.
Here in this passage He shows that Jesus is God and He deserves gratitude. Jesus uses
this episode as an illustration of the above conversation. Luke includes it to better
explain and show the contrast between a servant and God Himself. If we remove this
passage we cannot understand that Jesus was evidentially showing that He is God
Rule 3: History & Culture
• Luke 17:12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a] met him. They
stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they
went, they were cleansed.
• Why did they shout?
• why did he ask them to go to priests?
• Leprosy. Contagious from others. Bacterial infection. Treated as a curse from God.
Painless skin infection so the body parts are eaten up. The nerves become dead. Pale
patches over the body specially limbs. Face gets disfigured. They are living dead.
• Samaritan- It is a city in Israel. Israel was taken as captives by Assyrians but few
Samaritans remained back in Samaria and married the Assyrians who were placed in
that land. So Samaritans were always considered half- Jew and half- Gentile. They
became enemies. They also opposed when Nehemiah returned from Babylon and built
the temple

Rule 4: Other scripture and Theological consistency.

 This passage do not contradict any of the other passages of the Bible. Jesus is always
powerful and loving to care for the needs of people.
Other parallel passages if any
Interpretation of the Passage
Verse Interpretation
11 Jesus was travelling towards Jerusalem. It was his final journey and he was
going to take cross for the redemption of humankind. ( It started in Chp. 9 and
he will reach Jerusalem in Chp 19). In this journey, he was travelling along the
border between Samaria and Galilee. Galilee is in the north and Samaria is in
the south. Samaritans were the outcast. Yet Jesus chose to be nearer to them.
We do not know exactly which place but Jesus was entering a village.
12 As he was entering, He met 10 people. They were lepers. They our social
outcasts. They are not allowed to enter the village. There was a notion that if
you sin, you get leprosy. They lose the love of their family members. They
would be going through so much of emotional pain. They must have been in
physical pain because of open wounds. They must be smelling bad and
looking ugly with their dirty clothes. The severity of the disease would have
been different for different people. But all were lepers.
13 The lepers raised their voice and loudly called Jesus but did not come near
him. This was because they were outcast. They were not allowed to live in the
villages as leprosy is a contagious disease. The old testament mosaic law tells
them they were supposed to be outcast. Leviticus 13:45-46. Though they had
to be at a distance they considered that he can help. Jesus is approachable even
to the outcast. They said “Master have pity on us”. They called him Master
probably because they already knew that Jesus was healing people and he is
capable of doing it for them. They begged for mercy. Maybe they already
believed that he is capable of healing. They showed their trust in Jesus.
14 Jesus saw them. Jesus gave them his attention. He saw them and spoke to
them. He told them to go and show themselves to the priests. Though he was
capable of healing them instantly just like he did other healings, he did not do
that. Priests were the spiritual mediators between God and man. They were
supposed to be pronounce any leper as clean. Unless they verify and declare, it
is not valid and they are not allowed to go into the village. We do not know
why Jesus asked them to go the priests. Though a leper was not allowed into
the temple ( if they were there) or into the village because they had leprosy,
the 10 lepers obeyed Jesus. This shows that they really believed they had faith
in the words of Jesus. Just as they believed ,they were cleansed. They were
totally cleansed. They all were healed. Jesus is indeed powerful. He is indeed
God. Their faith in Jesus paid them off.
15 One of them returned back. He realised that the power of Jesus has worked in
his body and he wanted to thank him. Realising the power of Jesus is
 important. He started praising God in a loud voice. He had a healed voice
which is probably more louder than the one with which he asked Jesus to have
pity on him. He could not contain himself when he saw his body healed. He
ran back to Jesus because he wanted to thank the Healer. He could not step
further towards priests, without saying thank you to Jesus.
16 He came back and fell at Jesus’s feet. This shows that he understood not just
Jesus’s power of healing but that Jesus is superior and in fact God. That is why
he falls at Jesus’s feet which shows that he was worshipped. No Jew or
Samaritan falls at others feet. They fall at the feat of God only. He knew that
only God can do such a healing. So he worshipped. He was a Samaritan. He
was an outcast from the Jewish community. They were not supposed to go to
Jerusalem. Just like how Samaritan woman encountered Jesus, the leper knew
that Jesus is God and He should be worshipped. He would not be accepted by
the Jews but Jesus allowed him to touch his feet. Jesus accepted the leper and
his worship.
17,18 Jesus was astonished at the fact that the other nine did not come. He asks 3
rhetorical questions. Were not all 10 cleansed? He knew they were. Where are
the other nine? He was pointing out that they were not grateful. Has no one
returned to give praise to God except this foreigner? Jesus knew that this leper
who returned was a Samaritan. He knows us in and out. Jesus also equals
himself with God when he made this statement. He was indirectly saying He is
God.
19 Though Jesus was unhappy with the others 9 lepers who did not come back, he
was not lost in his emotions that he ignored the one who came. He spoke to
him and said “Rise and go, your faith has saved you”. Jesus points out that
faith is required for salvation. There were 10 lepers who were healed but only
one was appreciated by God for his heart of gratitude. A new life started for all
10 of them socially, but one of them started new-life with God.

Application
(This application is of a boy named Akshay. He is a born-again believer and attends Bible studies in the
campus. He comes from a village in Telangana. He is doing his Btech in Hyderabad. His family is going
through severe financial problems as his father is paralyzed and not able to earn for the family. He is
struggling with his studies. He knows that he is not able manage his time well because of the Instagram
reels that he often sees).

Teaching / Rebuke
1. What are the truths of the text that I must know and believe?
o Jesus is an approachable God. He cares and gives complete solutions to my problems.
o He knows my situation. Financial problem, dad’s health etc. I can go and ask Him.
o Jesus can heal my father.
o I should be grateful and express my gratitude for the blessings I have.
2. Why are they important to me?
 o I am a needy human. Me and my family are stuck in the shame that society is dumping on
us because of our status. But Jesus can help.
o My financial problems are very severe. Only Jesus can give me solution. My situation is hopeless
because I am not good at studies. I cannot have a bright future.

3. What wrong views I have which are opposed by the text?

o I can feel self-sufficient. I can look for some practical ways of solving the problem without
asking for God’s help. I feel that not everything needs to be thanked for.
o How can I thank God when I lack so many things?
4. How will these truths help me?
o They can make me more dependent on God and increase my relationship with him.
o I can impress my Lord more
5. What might stop me from believing this?
o The level of dad’s pain is real in front of my eyes. I question if God will heal him at all?
o Others handled similar problems in a different way.
o Everybody else enjoys the same blessings as I do but they are ok without acknowledging or
thanking God.
Training/ Correction:
1. What behaviour is called for?
o Running to Him and not searching for solutions outside Christ.
o Implicit obedience to show my belief. I need to get out of Instagram. When God’s tells me, I
should not look for excuses but truly resolve to come out of it.
o Possessing and expressing my true gratitude
2. What wrong behaviour need to be corrected?
o Not noticing or being complacent about things I get from God.
o I need to get back to studies. I’m wasting my time in Instagram. I should stop it.
3. What sins or omissions should I confess and leave? Thoughts attitude level
o I should pray regularly for my dad. I should be close to fellowship so that I will depend on
God more and not look for solutions outside Him.
o God will anyway meet my needs even if I don’t recognise Him and thank him.
4. What would justify a clear conscience in regard to the text?
o Jesus is God. I will not deny it. But I should behave my faith. So, I should ask him to keep me
clean in my thoughts and set right my situations both in me and in my family.
5. How can I be oversensitive on this matter and how can I improve my sensitivity?
o If these problems are a warning from God about my commitment to Him, I will constantly
keep a check over it.
o Take time to think and go to God and be thankful for meeting my needs. I can have a diary
of thanks so that I will not miss thanking him as much as I can.
Testing/Convicting:
1. Does the text suggest tests against which we should measure ourselves?
o How often do I pray for my dad’s health and financial situation
o How many times or time do I spend on Instagram.
 o How much do I talk to God either for telling my needs or to thank Him.
2. Can I come up with tests which are not in the explicitly stated in the text
3. What are the new practices I can add to myself?
o I will always be with my believing friends. I will consciously share with my mentor about my
Instagram struggle.
o I will delete my Instagram account.
o Getting a thanks diary.
o I will send a thumbs up to my mentor after I pray for my situation.
4. What motivations and incentives can I give myself?
o I can tell my mentor that I will run to God alone, quit my instagram account and always
thank him. I will ask him to give me toffees every time I remember to thank God.
5. Where will this show up in my everyday life?
o My interaction with my friends and others at home. I will have to play more songs so that it
will help me remember.
o My face should be joyful.
Encouraging/ Exhorting:
1. What encouragements are given?
o Jesus commends us for our knowing Him, depending on Him, our obedience and
thankfulness
2. How does this text spur me ?
o I want to love him more and depend on Him alone.
3. What exhortations are given?
o Faith matters.
4. How does it challenge me?
o I will definitely take it as a challenge to pray and get out of my Instagram problem. I will
keep my zeal to run to Him always.
o I will study hard to help in financial matters of the family.
o To have a happy face all the time and rejoice for every blessing that God is giving me.
5. What ambitions/deep desire should this cultivate or inhibit?
o He is my Lord and I will love Him in depending on Him alone and thanking Him
o I will pray more.
o I will be serious with my sin of Instagram