There has been a lot of focus on gratitude recently and one thing kept coming up. In Luke 17 we are told that the leper who returned to glorify God was a Samaritan. I thought that this has many applications but one is greater than the others. Samaritans were apostate, inbred, covenant breakers, who claimed to worship Jehovah, but did not follow any of the true ordinance of the people of God. They were despised above all Gentiles, because they were apostate. Yet this man was the one who returned to glorify God. Point 1. Sometimes a bad situation can help turn us into a great person, if we have the right attitude. Point 2. Things are not always as they appear. Good people can come from bad ground. Point 3. If he was the one who returned and it is among other things a parable what does that say about the good members of the church? If the one who returned was the apostate covenant breaker then are we really any better off, if it was his faith that made him whole. Professing to follow Christ and belong to His church is noble however without the simple things the great things will never be enough. We must allow others room and opportunity to return to Christ, and we must be striving to always return to Christ. Are we not all like sheep who have gone astray? I love the fact that he emphasizes that it was a Samaritan who returned. It is a soft rebuke to those who do not return to give thanks and glorify God, as well as to those who would rebuke the sinner from coming into the fellowship of the saints. We must make sure that we are the Samaritan who returns. If not we are numbered among the nine.
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