What does Luke 17:18 mean?
Ten lepers ask Jesus to heal them. He tells them to show themselves to the priests. Only the priests can officially declare a leper physically healed and ceremonially clean (Leviticus 13—14). As the ten go, they realize they are cleansed. One, a Samaritan, returns to Jesus, falling at His feet, and loudly praising God. Jesus responds to the crowd, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?" (Luke 17:12–17).Jesus isn't looking for personal praise. He wants all ten to return and recognize the mercy God the Father has given them through Jesus. Certainly, the other nine can praise God in other places at other times, but there's something important about recognizing God's grace in the moment among witnesses.
Jesus calls the Samaritan a "foreigner." The Septuagint uses the Greek for "foreigner" to mean "pagan" or "heathen." Several of Josephus' writings note that the word is used to prohibit non-Jews from entering the Jewish part of the temple. Samaritans are descended from the mix of Jews the Assyrians left in the northern kingdom of Israel and the Gentiles the Assyrians moved in. Their religion is a mix of Judaism, idolatry that Jeroboam created after splitting the ten tribes away from Judah, and whatever the other Assyrian captives brought in (1 Kings 12:25–33; 2 Kings 17). The Jews despise both their genetic and religious syncretism (John 4:9; 8:48).
The story takes place either in or near enough to Samaria that the man would feel relatively at home (Luke 17:11). The situation, however, is foreign to the man. Jesus is the Messiah to the Jews. He has come primarily for the Jews (Matthew 15:24). He sent the ten men to the Jewish priests to be declared clean. The Law that governs the disposition of leprosy is the Mosaic law—the Jewish law (Leviticus 13—14). And the God this man is praising is the Jewish God.
Expecting no answers to His questions, Jesus commends the Samaritan's faith (Luke 17:19). He not only praises God, but he also recognizes that God is working through Jesus. This is something the Pharisees, experts in the Jewish law, cannot understand (Luke 17:20–21).
