THE CODE 60 NOVEMBER 2025 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition In America we once set aside a special day each year for the express purpose of offering thanks to God for His many blessings upon us and upon our nation. We called it Thanksgiving Day. Oh, we still have that day on the calendar, but along the way its original purpose seems to have been completely overshadowed. This special holiday has become synonymous with parades and pumpkin pies, football games and food. Fewer and fewer of us pause to offer heartfelt thanks to God for His many blessings and great faithfulness. One day, near the end of Christ's time on this earth, He was walking to Jerusalem when He encountered ten lepers in a colony to themselves. They began to lift their voices and call to Him for mercy. He stopped, spoke words of healing over them, and sent them off to the priest for confirmation of their wholeness. All ten had been healed, and nine of them immediately rushed home to their families. Only one of the ten men returned to thank Jesus, and He asked the healed leper-and us-a poignant and penetrating question: "Were there not ten cleansed?... Where are the nine?" (Luke 17:17). With this simple question our Lord identified three actions that enable us to live life to the fullest. We should get up; this is a step of fortitude. We should get out, a step reflecting our attitude. Finally, we should get back, an action that reveals our gratitude. Get up! If we don't get up, we might miss the Master. The Bible records that these isolated lepers got up, "lifted up their voices and said, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!'" (Luke 17:13). Do you get the picture? The Mosaic Law required lepers to isolate themselves from other people. They were forbidden to get within six feet of anyone — and if the wind was blowing, they could not be within fifty yards of other people. Should anyone be inadvertently approaching, a leper was to shout, "Unclean, unclean!" Leprosy was a hideous disease slowly eating away the flesh, erasing facial features first, then killing the extremities. The appearance of the leprous was ghastly; their odor, nauseating; and their death, long, slow, agonizing and lonely. All ten men in our story desperately wanted to be healed and live as part of their families. So when Jesus passed by, they showed great fortitude: they got up and called to Him for mercy. The lepers didn't need justice; they cried out for mercy. Perhaps as you read these words, you, too, are sitting beside a road. Perhaps Jesus has passed by time and again, but you never got up and called to Him. Be encouraged by these lepers to get up. If you don't, you might miss the Master. Get out! If we don't get out, we might miss the miracle. Not only did these ten lepers get up, they got out. They obeyed Christ when He told them to go “show yourselves to the priests" (Luke 17: 14). After the lepers were healed, the law required them to show themselves to a priest. When Jesus spoke these words, however, the ten men were still suffering from leprosy, still covered with sores, still forbidden to get too close to uninfected people. But what an altitude of faith these ten displayed: when Jesus said, "Go,” they went - and "as they went, they were cleansed" (v. 14). The language of the New Testament at this point is key: "As they went, they were cleansed" is in the passive voice, leaving no doubt that it was God, and God alone, who performed this miracle and healed them. All ten of them were healed as, in obedience to Jesus, they headed to the temple and the priests. All they had was the word of Christ. All they had was the promise of God's word. Yet they walked in faith and obedience. Before every miraculous work God does, He moves us to the point where all we have is His promise, but that is really all we need. This is the faith life: "as they went." The lepers not only got up, but they got out, an act that revealed their attitude of faith. Had they not done so, they would have missed the miracle. Get back! If we don't, we might miss the moment. These ten men were lepers who called upon Jesus for mercy, stepped out in faith and were healed. They all got up, and they all got out. But at this point the similarity ends. Imagine standing with them on that road. Jesus healed them! Looking at one another, they were amazed and overjoyed. They jumped up and down and hugged one another. Then one said, “I haven't seen my wife in months" - and he ran down the road toward home as fast as he could. Another shouted, "I have never held my newborn son!" And he too was off and running. Still another said, “I haven't been in my shop in almost a year." One by one, the healed men were gone. Nine of them were gone; one stood alone. Those nine were never heard from again. They got up... they got out... but they failed to get back. The man who stood alone in the road also had a family and a business. But something was more pressing. He felt compelled to get back to Jesus, his Healer. Perhaps you are on a similar road today. You were in crisis, you called out to God for mercy, and you stepped out in faith. But when the blessing of His answer came, you - like the nine - did not get back to Him with gratitude. And when you didn't, you missed the moment, a very important moment. Note that the Bible simply says, "And one of them... returned" (Luke 17:15). One of them! We are never told his name. He is among that vast throng of people who live beautiful lives of faithfulness and gratitude, whose devotion to God is evident in worthwhile and often anonymous acts. We do not know this leper's name, but he is shouting to us today, "Get back to Jesus! Be grateful! Give thanks! If you don't, you will miss an amazing moment with your Lord." When the leper again stood before Jesus, our Lord asked him three rhetorical questions designed to prompt personal reflection: "Were there not ten cleansed?" Yes! "Where are the nine?" He wasn't asking a question as much as He was making an observation. Then He asked, "Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" (vv. 17-18). An alarming number of people who have been healed and blessed by Jesus may find themselves in the company of the nine. Then Jesus said to this one, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well" (v. 19). Consider now the important message communicated in this drama: the God of the universe wants our thanks. That's why the writer of Hebrews calls us to “continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Hebrews 13:15-16). Taken from The Jesus Code by O.S. Hawkins. Copyright © 2014 by Dr. O.S. Hawkins. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. O. S. Hawkins is the Legacy Pastor of First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale, chancellor of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and President Emeritus of GuideStone. He has served pastorates, including the First Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, for more than 25 years. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, he has a BBA from Texas Christian University and his MDiv and Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. For almost a quarter of a century, he served as president of GuideStone Financial Resources, with assets under management of $20 billion, serving 250,000 pastors, church staff members, missionaries, doctors, university professors, and other workers in various Christian organizations with their investment, retirement and benefit service needs. He is the author of more than 40 books and regularly speaks to business groups and churches nationwide. All of the author’s royalties and proceeds from the Code series support Mission:Dignity. You can learn more about Mission:Dignity by visiting MissionDignity.org. - Dr. O.S. Hawkins - Chancellor, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Where Are the Nine? PARMA, ITALY - The fresco Jesus healing the ten lepers in byzantine iconic style in Baptistery probably by Grisopolo from 13. cent.
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