There’s an
adage that says, “Seeing is believing.” Usually, we like to express belief
after we’ve seen evidence that something is true or has been accomplished. But
it does not work that way with God.
For example,
one day, as Jesus went through a Samaritan village, ten lepers pleaded with Him
to heal them of their leprosy (see Luke 17:11-13). Jesus’ response was a bit
unusual; He said to them: “Go show yourselves to the priests” (V 14). Was that
all He could say? One would expect Jesus to actually pronounce healing on them
before sending them off to the priests, but He didn’t.
But why did
He send them to the priests anyway? The priests had the responsibility of
examining and diagnosing lepers, or individuals with serious skin diseases.
Based on the priests’ findings, an individual was pronounced either
ceremonially clean or unclean, which determined whether there would be a time
of quarantine to prevent spread, or if the leper could return to the camp to
get on with life (see the protocol, Leviticus 13).
The lepers
might have wondered why Jesus didn’t pronounce healing on them before sending
them off, but they didn’t question Him; they obeyed, and started on the trip to
the priests. It was on their way to the priests that they actually received
their healing, as the account says: “And as they went, they were cleansed of
their leprosy” (V 14). In other words, they still had the leprosy when they
left, so why would they head for the priests when they still had the disease?
I’ll say, faith!!
What an
amazing lesson: they didn’t wait for the evidence of healing before believing.
They believed, trusted, and obeyed Jesus, and then the evidence followed. May
God help us cultivate this kind of faith: faith that is not based on proof, but
on the Word of God. May we believe before we see.
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