Luke 17:14 Commentary and Bible Study

But let’s think about the strange way in which he did it. When he saw them, he said unto them, ‘go show yourselves unto the priests. Well, the priests couldn't heal them, but what they could do is certify their healing. In the Book of Leviticus, chapters 13 and 14, the rules for handling this terrible disease are laid down. And this was one of the rules: that in the unlikely event of somebody getting better, somebody recovering, or if somehow there was this total burnout which meant that the disease had run its course, this is what they had to do. They had to go to the priest who would examine them and apply the various techniques and procedures in order to establish that they really were better. Because only the priest could restore them to full social life, plug them once again into the community, and certify them as healed. So it was only when you were better, or you thought you were better, you went to the priest in order to be reinstated into normal life. Then you could live with your family again; you could work again; you could worship in the synagogue again.That is what the Lord Jesus Christ meant when he said, ‘Go shew yourselves unto the priests.’ They were still lepers, unhealed, but he was saying, ‘If you go and show yourself to the priest, on the way you will be healed.’ They had to exercise faith in him and believe that he could heal them, or else they would not go. These lepers must have looked at each other and thought, ‘What is he telling us to do? He is telling us to go to the priest as though we are better, but he hasn't done anything yet.’ They probably reasoned among themselves, ‘Yes, but if he has told us to do it, we had better do it; that is our only hope. We don't understand it; we don't know what is going to happen, but we had better do as he says.’So they obeyed him, and as they went – we don't know at what point: whether they just started, or whether they were halfway there – suddenly they realised they were healed. They realised that they were changed. ‘Why, I'm no longer sore. I have got energy and strength. I haven't felt like this in ages. I can hear, my voice is stronger; my affliction seems to be gone.’ They looked at each other and could see they were healed. They feel each other. The sores, the dryness has gone. You can imagine the tremendous excitement as they realise that amazingly they have been transformed, and all the scars and the pain and any disfigurements have vanished. As they grasp the differences that have come about, immediately their minds are racing. What am I going to do? I will run to the priest; I will be able to go back to my family; I will be able to mix in the community once again; I will be able to do the things I used to do. Life suddenly opens up again, a new future, new opportunities, new fellowship and relationships and friendships. So it is likely that they literally ran to where they would find the nearest functioning priest, where they could get these formularies carried out by which they could be formally declared clean.