Louder Still

A common strategy among protestors is to speak louder than their opponents. Sadly, sometimes, some people use this strategy in debates, drowning the opponents’ arguments. But imagine someone’s painful shout drowned by his shouts of gladness and praise to God! That’s the story we have next.  

Jesus ministered in the northern region of Galilee and headed to Jerusalem through the land in between, the Samaria. As he entered one of the Samarian villages, ten men with leprosy saw him (Luke 17:12). Standing away from him—as they were unholy—and shouted to Jesus saying,

“Jesus, commander (epistata), have mercy on us.” (17:13)*

They got his attention, and Jesus saw them. He told them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” As they did, they were healed.

The story could have ended there, and everyone would have been happy. But one of the ten who were healed saw that he was healed and returned to Jesus with a louder (mega) voice, praising God (17:15). He fell face down at his feet, thanking him. He was a Samaritan, whereas the other lepers were Hebrews—Galileans or Judeans staying in Samaria.  

Hearing his loud voice of praise and seeing his humble posture of thankfulness, Jesus asked,

“Weren’t ten lepers healed? Where are the other nine? Have they not returned to give glory to God except this man from another race? (17:18)

With those words, he said to him,

“Get up and go. Your faith has saved you.” (17:19)

In this story, Luke highlights seeing and shouting. The ten lepers saw Jesus and shouted for him to show mercy to them. Jesus saw them and told them to go and show themselves to the priest. Seeing he was healed, the one Samaritan came back and shouted louder, praising God and thanking Jesus. The emphasis, however, was on the Samaritan’s mega shout. His shouts of praise drowned his former shout of sorrow, seeking healing. Sadly, the other nine didn’t have the same response or reaction.

Often, we diligently pray for help. When God answers, we are thankful, but briefly. Soon, we tend to forget. Instead, we should be like the Samaritan leper—our shouts of praise should drown our shots of sorrow! God has given us so many blessings!

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*This word,epistata, was a military term for a leader. It occurs only in the Gospel of Luke and in the mouth of his disciples, except for this passage (5:5; 8:24, 45; 9:33, 49).