Jesus came into a small town, and ten men met Him there. They did not come close to Him, because they all had leprosy. But the men shouted, “Jesus! Master! Please help us!” When Jesus saw the men, He said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” While the ten men were going to the priests, they were healed. (Luke 17:10-20) 

Relative to faith many use phrases such as “blind faith” and “leap in the dark” to imply that faith is ungrounded. Mortimer Adler, an American philosopher, wrote, “I suspect that most of the individuals who have religious faith are content with blind faith.” This is not the perspective of the Bible. Let’s follow the  story above .

Leprosy was the most dreaded disease of ancient times not unlike AIDS in the early 80’s. It was a disease of separation. Increasing amounts of flesh would separate from ones skeleton. Though proven false, the sickness was believed to be “caught” via touch. So, in addition to fleshly separation lepers also experienced emotional, relational and spiritual separation. They were and still are known as the “untouchables!”

From a distance ten lepers approached Jesus, pleading for help. As He had done previously one might have expected Jesus to touch the men and pronounce healing. Not so this time. Rather, Jesus uttered this command: “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” In the Jewish culture of that day the priests were the only ones who could declare one “leprosy free.” So, Jesus’ word was common sense. More significantly, however, the command required faith. Before they experienced any healing the ten had to begin walking Uncleansed, breaking enormous religious and cultural behavioral standards as they walked. However, “as they were walking” they were healed!

Obviously, their faith was neither blind nor dark! It was founded on and grounded in the WORD of God: “Go and show…!”

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God and the Word was God. God created everything through Him. The Word gave life to everything that was created. The Word became a human being and lived among us. (John 1:1-4, 14)

Question: how much power is there in all that IS (think Einstein / E=mc²)? The Foundation of Faith is the Person who created all that IS! His name is  JESUS!

An old hymn, How Firm a Foundation, captures the essence of this post: