Luke 17:11-19
Ten Healed of Leprosy
11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
Matthew 7:13-14
The Narrow and Wide Gates
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Some of what Jesus says is tough for me to read, not because it is true, but I understand how difficult is is to follow our the Perfect One who came to earth...It is very difficult to follow One so good...Many times Jesus reminds us how easy it is to be on earth, do our earthly things and sometimes forget about heaven...We want and desire something, then we get it, and we go on with our earthly lives...The ten men who had leprosy were all healed...But only one out of ten came back and thanked Jesus...That one was not even a Jew...One out of ten is a few...And this man was a foreigner, a Samaritan...Jesus is reminding us, encouraging us to do the right things, while we are on earth...We can get so caught up in our lives, our families, our jobs, our day to day lives and forget about the important things...He was trying to get His message to the nation of Israel...Yes, our LORD was speaking to Israel, and they were being reminded about the narrow path and how easily it is to forget and reject the true treasures of life...
Our LORD has great love and great mercy...He is full of grace...Like the Israeli people we need to be reminded by Him with tough words that few are listening to His words and following the narrow gate...We cannot forget the words He has spoken just because they are tough...We need to take pause and realize what the important things are and throw ourselves at His feet and thank Him and ask Him for mercy, because we are sinners...