The Good News and the Bad NewsSample

Sōzō: Example 3

Today is the third and last story where we will look at the word sōzō. We turn now to Luke 17:11-19 to read the story of the 10 lepers. You may want to read the story before we go on.

Now we will focus on verse 19.

And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

This time we can see that the word "well" is sōzō in the Greek. Like the bleeding woman we read about yesterday, this man’s faith has made him well physically but also has saved him. But hang on a second, weren’t there ten lepers? Jesus is only speaking to one here.

All ten lepers had been healed and made well, so why does Jesus say this to the one who came back to say thanks? "Your faith has saved you."

This is huge! The other nine lepers got healed physically, but only one was saved. The one who took the time to come back and say thanks. I’m sure the other nine were ecstatic to be healed, but they missed out on an eternally important thing.

Is there a connection between being grateful and being saved? I’ll let you ponder that, but all I can say is that I am grateful for the gift of salvation we are all offered. Did I mention it was free?

It is up to you as to what word you write on your hand today.