My wife Karen was pregnant with our second child in 2001, when she developed a tremendous pain in her hip and her back. Something was seriously wrong. She went to a chiropractor, and the chiropractor said “Oh well, clearly the diagnosis is sciatica. Sciatica is very common in pregnant women. What that means is that the weight of the child changes your posture, so there is more pressure on the nerve endings of your hip joint. With several treatments, I will have you taken care of.”

Many treatments later, my wife was still in tremendous pain. She went to a physical therapist, and he said “Oh yeah, I see this kind of thing with pregnant women. You have different posture now because of the weight on your front and the muscles around your hip joint have gotten out of whack. We need to do some physical therapy to retrain the muscles, get things lined up nicely, and then you’ll feel great.”

After many treatments in weeks of therapy, my wife Karen was still in the same pain as before. In addition, she had now given birth to the baby and supposedly, the cause of that pain should have been gone; yet, it was as bad as ever. A little more desperate now, my wife went to a Chinese acupuncturist and herbal doctor. The Chinese herbal doctor said to her, “Oh well, you see with pregnant women, they build up a lot of what we call “damp heat.” Too much of this damp heat has somehow lodged itself in your hip joint and you need to treat that damp heat. With some acupuncture and a strict regimen of herbal remedies I will have you feeling great in no time.”

You can guess what I’m going to say, right? After many treatments and too many needles stuck in her body, my wife was back where she had begun. Remember that this pain had gone on for months. My wife was trying to take care of a brand new baby, she was in constant pain, and she could barely climb up the stairs to our apartment. She had to lie down all the time just to cope with the pain.

Finally out of desperation she went to see Dr. Sarnoff. I had read a book several years before called Healing Back Pain by Dr. John Sarnoff. He is a medical doctor who specializes in psychosomatic medicine. My wife went to Dr. Sarnoff, more out of desperation than faith at this point. The medical doctor examined her hip and her back; then he sat her down and said, “Karen, I have examined you carefully. I want you to know that there is nothing physically wrong with your hip or back.” He went on. “I know you are in a lot of pain and the pain is real. I am not denying the pain. What I am wondering is if somehow your mind has perhaps taken some ugly emotions you did not want to deal with, and manifested those emotions in the form of pain in your body. Karen, I want you to take a leap of faith. I want you to go home and resume business as usual. I want you to move about as if there is nothing wrong with your body.” A leap of faith….

Karen came home and (out of desperation or out of faith) she went ahead and made that leap. She started to move as if there was nothing wrong. She experienced less pain than she expected, and she grew in confidence. She chose to believe that there was nothing wrong with her body. The pain began to subside almost immediately, which was her first relief in months. Then Karen and I got down on our knees and thanked God for answering our prayers.

It was soon after praying that a kind of fog lifted from Karen’s eyes and she noticed something she had never noticed before. The day that her sciatica had set in was the day before we were scheduled to leave on vacation with her father and stepmother. Karen’s relations with her dad and step-mom have not always been very smooth. She started to think, “Hmmm…maybe I had some anger, fear, or anxiety—something nasty that I did not want to deal with consciously. Perhaps it just kind of welled up in my body and somehow manifested itself in terms of this pain.”

Karen came to believe that God had answered her prayers and dropped the right person in front of her with the right words at the right time. She was able to realize there was something going on with her mind/body connection. These days, whenever Karen has an ache or some kind of ailment, she thinks, “Okay, what might be going on in my head here? What might I be upset or angry about that could be manifesting itself in this way?”

I want you to know that my wife’s life has been transformed by that leap of faith she took in going home and resuming her normal activity. She now has a tool she can use in her life going forward. Her faith has made her well, and continues to make her well.

“Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.” That is Jesus’ response when suddenly ten lepers come near him on his way to Jerusalem in Luke 17:11-19. They say, “Lord have mercy on us. Heal us.” However, Jesus does something strange; he does not wave a magic wand to heal them on the spot. Instead he says, “Go and show yourselves to a priest.” You see, back then when someone had a contagious disease, the only way they could prevent it from spreading to the whole community was that the priest would declare them unclean. They were no longer allowed to mix with the community. It was kind of an old fashioned “quarantine system” that was run by the priests. So when Jesus says, “Go and show yourselves to a priest,” the implication is that by the time you get there, you will be healed. The ten lepers took a leap of faith. They didn’t stand there and say, “I am not healed, why would I go?” They just went.

On the way to the priest, they were cleansed. One Samaritan (a “foreigner” or outsider) disobeyed Jesus’ orders. He went back praising God with a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. Jesus said, “Hey, I thought there were ten of you. How come there is only one here, and a Samaritan to boot!” He then turns to the Samaritan says, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

What is Jesus teaching us here? I see two things. You may recall that old, cynical cliché, “Oh, I’ll believe that when I see it. I am not going to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. I want to see it first, and then I’ll believe it.” I think Jesus is saying, “You’ll see it when you believe it. If you can believe it—if you can take that leap of faith, then you will see it.” I think about those ten lepers, who did not wait around until they were healed before going to see the priest like I probably would have done. Instead, out of desperation or out of faith, they depart right away; and on the way all ten of them are healed. You will see it when you believe it. I think that leap of faith can happen in our lives, too.

Here is the second thing we can learn from this Gospel. God is offering us more than a one-shot deal. The interesting thing is that all those nine lepers really did was to follow Jesus’ orders. They were on their way to go find a priest. The Samaritan disobeys Jesus, and yet somehow he ends up being the hero of this story. What’s up with that?

I think that those lepers were probably ill for a long time. They had an ugly illness; they were cut off from their community. It had to be difficult. They probably went to many different doctors and faith healers who might be able to heal them, so that they could return to their communities. Finally, they hit pay dirt; they found the man called Jesus who actually might be able to heal them. They probably went home to their families and said, “Ah, that Jesus guy, I tell you if you’ve got any ailments, any problems, he’s the one who can heal you. He’s got the magic touch.” Yet notice that those nine lepers end up with a one-shot deal. They were always looking for healing outside themselves. They always are looking for an “other”—that other person to heal them. If they ever get sick again or have another big problem, they had better hope Jesus is still around to do the job for them. Notice the words, “do the job for them.”

Notice that our little disobedient Samaritan hero turns back, praising God in a loud voice and falls at Jesus’ feet. Jesus points this out. “Hah, I have a Samaritan here on his knees praising God with a loud voice.” Jesus repeats that phrase. Then he says, “Stand up, and away you go. Your faith has made you well.” Although it is not explained in the passage, somehow our faith plays an important role in our healing. We don’t know how it works in conjunction with God’s power, but we know that for some reason Jesus is insistent that the Samaritan’s faith has made him well.

How does this story apply to our lives? What can we take away that will make a difference in our lives today? One insight we can take away is that there is great benefit in praising God with a loud voice. Look what it did for that Samaritan. Look at how he came back praising with a loud voice, showing gratitude. Somehow, through that gratitude he got an insight—he got a spiritual bonus.

The other nine went away thinking what a great one-shot deal they had received. However, this Samaritan knows that somehow by the Grace of God, his own faith has made him well. Going forward in his life now, he has a new spiritual tool to heal himself! He knows that he can use his faith, and somehow that is going to get mixed up with God’s power. The next time he needs to, he can take that leap of faith again, and again his faith will make him well. Of course, he does not become immortal. God decides if we are to be physically healed or not. But as for spiritual healing, this Samaritan has taken a leap of faith and his life will never be the same.

Which brings me to a key question. Where in your life do you need to take a leap of faith? What is the trouble in your life? What is the ailment from which you suffer, for which you need to take a leap of faith? I think of the Samaritan, and of my wife, Karen. I am convinced that if you will take that leap of faith, your faith also can make you well.

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