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It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met him. They kept their distance but raised their voices, calling out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Taking a good look at them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” They went, and while still on their way, became clean. One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. He kneeled at Jesus’ feet, so grateful. He couldn’t thank him enough—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus said, “Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?” Then he said to him, “Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you.” Luke 17:11-19 MSG

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall go out to the outside of the camp. Thus the priest shall look, and if the infection of leprosy has been healed in the leper, then the priest shall give orders …… Leviticus 14:1-4 NASB

Jesus said to the ten lepers, “Go, show yourselves to the priests”. They turned and started to go, their wounds still festering, their sores still dripping, their conditions unchanged but they went. They were nowhere near what they wanted to be – healed, but they kept going. They were in no fit state to appear before the priests, but they had a word; “Go, show yourselves to the priests” and so they went. And as they were going, they were cleansed. Miracles do happen on the way.

While on the way to their destination, the thing that would qualify them for the next level took place. The pronouncement of cleansing by one priest ahead of the presentation of the cleansed leper before another. The Law of Moses was very detailed and clear about the condition of leprosy, how it was identified, what happened to the person identified as a leper and how such person was cleansed.

In Leviticus 14, the prescription is given as to how the leper is to be cleansed following his healing. The leper having been brought to the priest, the priest shall go outside the camp and look and if the infection of leprosy has been healed ……… Jesus was met by 10 lepers who were no doubt living outside the camp as prescribed by the law. Jesus, whom Hebrews 4:14 refers to, as our great high priest responding their cries for mercy, took a look at these lepers – and if the infection has been healed the priest shall give orders – Jesus seeing they had already been healed gave orders to them to commence their ceremonial cleansing. In the natural, when Jesus spoke it seemed they were still the same, lepers, but God (the Son) who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did, saw the lepers in their healed state.

I love the way The Message Bible puts Romans 4:17 “Abraham was first named “father” and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do.”

As a result of Jesus what saw He spoke. Go, show yourselves to the priests. Jesus could see what the 10 lepers could not yet see or experience. On account of what Jesus said, they moved and went. On the way, the healing Jesus saw became their reality.  Jesus spoke a language of faith. Faith is described in Hebrews 11:1 as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Currently, I’m in the process with some situations. I know what I would like to happen at the end of each process – a wholeness or completeness that is presently lacking. It takes faith to trust God in the process, to see Him at work in the way, when the way He is working is not a way you are familiar with. On the outside, things look very much the same, but God who sees the end from the beginning has given you a word. Take that word and keep going. He sees what you and I cannot. Miracles happen because He says so. And He says so because of what He has seen. He has seen good about you and I and He has spoken good of us. Miracles still happen, sometimes, they happen on the way.

 

Thanks for reading

Emi x