When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.
As Jesus was heading toward Jerusalem and his appointment with the cross, he encountered ten men who had leprosy. They were outcasts from society, living miserable existences. And they cried out to him to have mercy on them.
And Jesus did. But he did not simply heal them. He told them to go and show themselves to the priests. This was in accordance with Leviticus 13, where a diseased person was instructed to show himself to a priest after the disease was cured. But when Jesus told them to go, that had not happened yet.
But as they went, they found they were cured—their skin was clear. The implication is that they would not have been healed if they had not first gone. Their healing was in response to their obedience to Jesus’ instruction.
One of these men, when he saw that he was cured, turned around and came back, fell at Jesus’ feet, and gave thanks. And Jesus said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19). It may be that Jesus was only affirming what had already taken place, that his faith in heading toward the priest before his healing, had led to that healing. And that was certainly true.
But I believe that Jesus was referring to an even greater healing. This despised Samaritan and outcast found, not only physical healing, but spiritual healing as well. As he fell at Jesus’ feet, he was made whole in body and in spirit.
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