The Leper

One of my favorite pieces of art is this painting of the ten lepers from Luke 17. In the story, Jesus heals ten lepers, but only one returns to give thanks. This painting makes that moment feel almost tangible. Nine lepers rush back toward the lives they’ve missed, eager to be cleared by the priests and finally move on. But something about what has just happened stops the one leper in his tracks before he can step back into the hustle and bustle of life. I’m sure the other nine were grateful to be healed. I’m sure they were thankful to Jesus for what He had done. But only this one came back to express it. Why? What made him return?

The answer is tucked into verse 16: “Now he was a Samaritan.”

It’s no coincidence that the one who returned was the outsider - the one everyone else avoided, the one who never would have expected to be healed, the one most stunned that grace had come for him. The gospel reminds us that we’re all outsiders God has brought in. And the moment we forget that, the moment we begin thinking of ourselves as insiders who somehow earned our place, is the moment our spirit of thanksgiving begins to fade.

God has welcomed the outsiders to eat at His table. And that is something so beautifully profound, it may stop you dead in your tracks to return and give thanks. Not just today but every day.

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” - Psalm 100:4

Happy Thanksgiving!