Well, we might have once been offended when someone whom we did something nice to never came back to show appreciation, to be sincere, it hurts a lot and guess what, we are studying something similar to this heart aching prodigy.



The story of the Ten lepers is one of the mostly infamous stories in Christ ministry probably because this story can only be found in the Gospel of Luke.

But as we study along in this article, we will see that there is something we couldn't figure out in this story.



In the book of Luke 17:11-19 ,we read that Ten lepers where healed by Christ, well, is there something more to that?



First, let's know the meaning of the disease that causes people to be "lepers".



Dr Colin Tidy, in his Article "Patient guidelines" explains that, : "Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by an obligate intracellular bacillus Mycobacterium leprae."



He goes thus to explain it, : "Although rarely seen in the UK, leprosy is one of the most common causes of peripheral neuropathy worldwide. The first descriptions of leprosy are from India around 600 BC. In the fourth century, the disease was imported into Europe, where its incidence peaked in the 13th century. Armauer Hansen discovered M. leprae in Norway in 1873. It was the first bacillus to be associated with human disease."(Reviewed by Dr Helen Huins, 21 may 2014, meets patients guidelines).



This Diseases is also known as "Hansen's disease"



One article on the Internet, Global citizen states it that,: "One of the biggest myths with leprosy is that it's a “flesh-eating disease” because of its appearance. In reality, the disease causes skin lesions and sensory loss so the person affected no longer feels pain in their extremities that are affected."(copied).



So what we should know is that Leprosy is not a flesh eating disease, but the bacteria that causes the disease attacks the nerves in the skin and makes it look cracked and sometimes leprosy patients can be seen with half fingers and toes or no toes and fingers at all.



Back to the story of the Ten lepers, when Jesus was passing by, the leprosy stricken men shouted, : “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"(Verse 13, NASB Bible)

Well Jesus out of compassion told them , : “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed"(Verse 14 NASB Bible)



We should notice that the verse states that, "as they were going, they were CLEANSED"

They haven't even gotten to the priest before the miracle took place in their lives but when one of the lepers noticed that he was healed, he came back to thank Jesus.

But Jesus who saw the appreciative attitude of this man did something more for him, let's see what Jesus did : "And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

So Jesus answered and said, “were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”(NKJV Bible verse 15-17).



Let's notice how the KJV quotes verse 17, : "And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole."



What did Christ mean by "your faith has made you WHOLE"



Well, the answer is that, when the Ten lepers were on their way to the priest, they were cleansed even before they had gotten there, this means that the bacteria that causes leprosy has been killed off in the bodies of these men but this did not change the effect of the current damages caused during the course of the illness.



Part of their bodies would have fallen off, their fingers would have been eaten up or fallen off so as their toes but they were not more infected with the disease.



But the one man who came back to appreciate Jesus got something better, Jesus statement, : "Your faith has made you WHOLE" means that this man will be restored back to full health and well being, he will grow back the missing parts of his body loss to the leprosy, he would regenerate his fingers back and also his toes.



This can be more and properly understood when reading the Amplified version of the Bible, this verse states, : "And He said to him, Get up and go on your way. Your faith (your trust and confidence that spring from your belief in God) has restored you to health." .



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Well what we can pick out from this story is that we can earn more when we appreciate people for what they do for us, even though we don't earn more, as Christians we should have an appreciative attitude because we ought to give thanks always for what God do for us, as the Psalmist King David says, : " O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good!"(Psalm 136:1)



Someone who does not have the attitude of the leper who came back to appreciate Jesus simply cannot obey the words of the Psalmist concerning giving thanks. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good!