Meeting The Tenth Leper
Besides Jesus, who’s the first person you want to meet in heaven?
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and that person could be your mother, your father who graduated to Glory a long time ago. Could be your spouse who has gone on ahead to heaven before you. Or the first person you might want to meet could be the Apostle Paul, King David, Esther or Daniel or Hannah. I have one girlfriend who came to Christ after several messy relationships, and she wants to meet the woman at the well. You know, some people who impulsively keep putting their foot in their mouth, they can’t wait to meet Peter; they really identify with him. Yep, Jesus is no doubt the first person we will all want to see in heaven, but after a few thousand years of one-on-one time with the Savior, there is someone special that I am hankering to meet, and I’ve been so doing for a long time. And it’s the tenth leper.
You know the story from Luke chapter 17, but let me recount it. When Jesus was traveling through Samaria, he met 10 men who had leprosy. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When Jesus saw them, he told them to go to the priests and they would be cleansed. Sure enough, they all were, but one of the lepers, after he was healed, he came back – and it says in Luke that he was “praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.” And for that, the Lord commended him.
Now, I can identify with that tenth leper. Like him, I have a disability. Maybe not leprosy, but quadriplegia. And like him, I have often – more times than I can truly count – I have called out countless times, yes, even loudly, “Oh, Jesus, have mercy, have compassion on me; help me! I need you, Jesus!” And as many times as I have called out, Jesus has answered. He’s shown me mercy and He’s given me help. Sometimes, it’s help with a practical need, like with pain; other times, He gives me help through His courage or ability to persevere. Whichever, like that tenth leper, I am always quick to return to the Lord, and praise Him, as it says in Luke 17. I praise Him with a loud voice. In my mind, I throw myself, as it were, at His feet and I thank Him. “Thank you, Jesus! What would I do without you?!” I feel just like that tenth leper.
So, you can see why I am looking forward to meeting him in heaven. Because there’s gonna be a believer I identify with! Together the tenth leper and I are gonna hold hands, jump up and down and recount in a loud voice, with great gratitude, how wonderfully compassionate Jesus was all those many years on earth – and will be so for all of eternity.
And you know what? Almost the exact same thing happens whenever Ken Tada and I serve on a Wheels for the World team. We meet the poorest of the poor; we meet disabled people who are treated like lepers, and they come to us asking for help. And when we give them a wheelchair and a Bible, when we embrace them and show them God’s love in a tangible way, these are always the ones who say thank you. They praise God, yes, often in a loud voice and with tears. And like the tenth leper, all that gratitude really turns up the wattage on God’s glory. So, please would you join me in praying for our Wheels for the World teams that are serving the outcast this month in Guatemala, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic. And if you’d like to take part in this gift of gratitude, serve with Wheels for the World by helping us collect wheelchairs in your community. Get all the details at joniradio.org
© Joni and Friends
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