Praise First... Praise Last... Praise Always [4-26-26]

April 26, 2026

Luke 17:11-19

“Praise First…Praise Last…Praise Always”

First, a thing or two about leprosy.

In Jesus’ day, leprosy was not a good thing. Even today, leprosy is not a good thing. But at least it’s treatable. And containable. And curable. Not so in Jesus’ day. Lepers were outcasts. They were isolated. It was often thought of as punishment from God. It was an outward sign of your horribly sinful life. You did not get over it or recover from it.

Did you know that our neighbors to the north, Canada, have a program called Medical Assistance in Dying, or “MAID”? Lovely, right? Very Orwellian. The more you learn about it, the more it makes your skin crawl. Well, those ghouls would have had a field day 2,000 years ago. The only way out they would have offered lepers was medically assisted suicide. Such compassion.

If anyone needed mercy, it was a leper.

Here’s what we now know about leprosy. In general terms:

Leprosy is contagious, but only through prolonged, close contact with an untreated person over many months. It is not spread by casual contact like shaking hands, sitting together, or sexual activity. It is curable with antibiotics.

Here are some specifics:

How it Spreads: It is thought to spread via droplets from the nose and mouth during close, repeated contact with someone who has not yet started treatment.

Low Contagion Risk: It is not highly contagious. Most people who come into contact with someone with leprosy do not develop the disease.

Treatment Stops Transmission: Once treatment begins, the person with leprosy is generally no longer contagious.

Long Incubation Period: Symptoms may take 4 to 8 years to appear after exposure.

Not Highly Infectious: Family members living with an untreated person are at the highest risk, but it is still relatively low.

Animal Transmission: In some cases, leprosy can be caught from handling armadillos in the southern United States.

It has taken thousands of years to learn this information. Can you imagine all of the misinformation accepted as fact when it came to such a horrific disease? Keep your distance if you were a leper. Social outcasts.

Here’s the most interesting medical factoid about leprosy. It was once believed that it caused skin to rot/blister/decay and body parts to fall off. You can imagine how horrible it was to have leprosy. And you totally wanted to avoid anybody with it. But what is now known is the disease deadens nerves, getting rid of feeling or sensation. You scrape your foot, can’t feel it, goes untreated, becomes infected, and the rest is history. Leprosy spiraled into one health crisis after another. With no end in sight.

Which brings us to the desperate situation ten lepers find themselves is:

On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria

and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Luke 17:11-19

Even as he sets his face for Jerusalem and the cross of his suffering, Jesus remains focused on grace and mercy. Here’s the first thing you might want to write down:

JESUS DISPLAYS COMPASSION, SYMPATHY, AND POWER.

And while I’m getting ahead of myself, notice what Luke doesn’t tell us.

Sometimes we find little nuggets of gospel truth in what doesn’t happen.

While one leper returns to thank Jesus, what about the other nine? They haven’t given thanks. Jesus knows that. But guess what? They remain healed. I find it instructive that Jesus does not send the leprosy back. Even though they don’t do what the one healed leper does, they remain free of the disease. Grace and mercy. That’s the gospel.

Even when you’re at your worse, Jesus is always at his best. Amen?

That truth is especially tied in with what we saw in the previous verses. Remember what Jesus said back in verse six:

“If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

The beautiful thing here is, Jesus isn’t criticizing anyone for having a small amount of faith or not enough faith. He’s saying…and it is so encouraging… Jesus is saying that even a small amount of faith is more than enough.

Another way to look at it is we don’t have to be super faith warriors in

order to have a saving, fulfilling, life-giving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Like the old Negro Spiritual proclaims:

If you cannot preach like Peter,

if you cannot pray like Paul,

you can tell the love of Jesus

and say, "He died for all."

We don’t have to be perfect. All we have to be is who God is calling and equipping us to be. For the bigger picture of where God is taking us, here’s something else you might want to write down:

HOLINESS IS NOT THE WAY TO JESUS…JESUS IS THE WAY TO HOLINESS.

Back to the sufficiency of even a little bit of faith. The lepers stand at a distance. They are far enough away they have to raise their voices. Following as this does from verse six, even with a meager, basic faith in Jesus as a healer, they call out to him. And notice the stunning thing. It is the absolute understatement of the miracle. No loud incantations. No thunderbolts and lightning. No loud crashing symbols. What doesn’t Jesus say? Jesus doesn’t even say, “Be healed.” The whole moment is void of

histrionics. Jesus simply says, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

Boom…healed. How glorious is that? How encouraging is that for us? Jesus

is always working in our lives. No matter what you experience or go

through in life, as a follower of Jesus Christ, he is always working in your life. In big ways and little, Jesus is working in your life.

All ten lepers believed Jesus could heal them. All ten trusted Jesus. So they all did as he said. They presented themselves to the priests. I don’t doubt for a moment that all ten were filled with joy. I’m not going to make any assumptions about the nine who didn’t return to praise God beyond what Jesus points out. Jesus doesn’t dwell on it, so neither should we. Jesus chose to heal them. That’s all we need to know about the nine.

Important side-note. Just as Jesus moves on from the nine who don’t return, neither should we let unappreciative people bother us or throw us off balance. Who cares what others think or say or don’t say? We just keep on being the people God created and called us to be. To paraphrase what I shared several weeks ago:

“IF AN INSULT SHATTERS YOU AND A COMPLIMENT INFLATES YOUR EGO, THEN YOUR MIND ISN’T REALLY YOURS – YOU’VE BECOME A SLAVE TO ANYONE WHO OPENS THEIR MOUTH.”

Jesus moves on, and so should we. Yet how many times do we get hung up on the critic? How many times do we lose sleep because of negative attention? How many times do we second-guess ourselves when we don’t get the recognition we think we deserve? That is faulty thinking. Be mindful of what you have…of what God has waiting up ahead for you.

As we move on to the one leper of who returned to give thanks, here’s something good to remember:

“You can’t be grateful and anxious at the same time. When anxiety takes hold, look for gratitude.”

We love the gratitude of the tenth leper. Going one step further, Jesus

sends him on his way with an affirmation of his faith. Who wouldn’t want to hear that? It echoes the parable Jesus told in Matthew 25:

“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over

a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your

master.”

It also harkens back to Luke 2:20:

“And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all

they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

That is a wonderful bookend. The beginning and ending of Jesus’ earthly life is marked with praise. It’s more important for the tenth leper to praise Jesus than to get his healing notarized by a priest.

Finally, in this encounter, Jesus moves us beyond miracles to salvation. The word rendered, made you well, from verse nineteen, is from the root “to save.” Jesus transitions us from thinking about physical cleansing to a saving relationship to God through him. Jesus has given him what his soul really needs. Salvation. Salvation.

I love what Tim Tebow wrote after his father died last week:

“Heaven ushered in a hero of the faith last night as my Dad was welcomed home!

Many will say sorry for your loss but the truth is he’s not lost, we know exactly where he is.

He’s home.

Forever!

I asked him last week what he looked forward to most about heave, and he simply said, ‘Jesus.’

He couldn’t wait to see Jesus face to face.

Praise God that his wait is over.

Death is swallowed up in victory.

He’s healed and whole now.

So we don’t mourn as those with no hope.”

Praise God we all have loved ones, who were followers of Jesus Christ, about whom we affirmed that after they died.

For the tenth leper, healing leads to a deeper relationship with God. It’s

horrible when some people only want a relationship from God when they

want or need something from Him. And then, once they get it, like the other nine, they move on. Be like the one who returned. As we read in Job 1:21:

“Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return.

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name

of the Lord.”

May we always say that. As we allow Jesus to shape us, gratitude pours from our lives. How good it is to be numbered with the one who returns to give Jesus thanks.

And together, the thankful people of Covenant Church say:

SOLI DEO GLORIA…

To the Glory of God Alone