Leprosy has a well-documented history in the writings of the ancients. Of course, the Old Testament offers a thorough discourse on the purification laws of the Israelites (see Leviticus 13 and 14), but many other sources also record descriptions of the severity of the disease. The historian Josephus, recalling the history of the Jews, states, “And for the lepers, [Moses] suffered them not to come into the city at all, nor to live with any others, as if they were in effect dead persons.” The church father Gregory of Nyssa refers to those infected as a “terrible… spectacle of men who are living corpses.” The celebrated Greek physician Aretaeus describes how leprous family members would be exiled to the desert or mountains in the hope that they would soon perish. Therefore, leprosy was essentially a death sentence.

Jesus, however, is able to break the sentence of death and alienation—both in a physical and spiritual sense. It is, in fact, for this very reason that He came. He alone performed miracles that none but the Son of God could do, proving His Lordship, as is the case with the ten lepers He healed in Luke 17. When John the Baptist was imprisoned, he inquired of Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3). Jesus’ reply to this question has always struck me. He chooses not to answer in a straightforward manner but rather to appeal to the effects of His work—which is, perhaps, a more enduring affirmation to counter persistent doubt. He says, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them” (Mt. 11:4-5).

This week, as you reflect on the story of the ten lepers, know that Jesus is “the one who is to come” and has demonstrated this by His miraculous power—both then and now.