The passage
      v11. The healing took place on ("midst" AV., Gk. "between") "the borderlands of Samaria and Galilee", NEB. Luke has retained the geographical notes that went with this story while continuing with his overall theme of Jesus journeying to Jerusalem.
      v12-13. As Jesus is heading toward a village, he is spied by "ten men suffering from a virulent skin-disease", NJB, probably leprosy. The men are obviously gathered well away from the village. When they see Jesus they begin to shout out to him for mercy, for healing; they see in Jesus their only hope, and on him they rest. That is, they have faith in Jesus.
      v14. Jesus tells them to have their condition inspected by the priests. This is proper practice, for they cannot return to their community and participate in its religious and cultural life unless they are declared free of their skin disease. Jesus actually tells them to go before they are actually healed, but as they head off, they are "cleansed". The command to "go" may be a test of faith, but is most likely just a practical directive; they have already expressed faith in asking.
      v15-16. Out of the ten, the Samaritan, the hated outcast, is the only one to return to Jesus and worship him. The point is not that faith without thanksgiving is powerless to save. This would make thanksgiving a work which our salvation would depend on it. Nor is the point of the story that we should always be thankful when confronted with God's grace; of course we should, but this is not the point of the incident. The Samaritan's response simply illustrates a saving faith, a faith that rests wholly on Jesus for salvation. Faith in Jesus, for God's eternal acceptance, is the one necessary act of obedience required of broken humanity. The Pharisees always argued that law-obedience is the way to maintain and advance a person's standing with God, but in this little story a "foreigner" reminds us that God makes only one demand of us, faith in Jesus.
      v17-19. Jesus observes that the only one to return to him and give God thanks and praise is a "foreigner", an outcast of Israel. His faith has saved him ("saved" is better than "made well").

A thankful faith
      I remember taking a school Bible lesson on this passage. The prepared lesson took the standard moralizing line. I was to instruct the children that like the Samaritan, we must be thankful for the blessings God gives us. If we want to be Jesus' friend we must be willing to come to him with a thankful heart. I wonder if a demand to be thankful could imply that salvation depends on thankfulness. Could a child make this link? In the end, the weight of this type of moral demand must inevitably condemn, even condemn the simple heart of a child. I fear such moralizing has led many a "little one" astray.
      Be thankful! We should be thankful to God, for we have much to be thankful about, but linking thankfulness with a saving faith is dangerous, to say the least. By doing that we imply that faith, by itself, is not enough to save.
      The thanks and praise of the Samaritan was a natural response to the free and undeserved mercy of God which was his in Christ, just for the asking. He didn't earn the kindness of God. He just asked for it and it was freely given. He knew he couldn't earn it, he was an outcast, a Samaritan. So, having accepted God's grace, thanks and praise was his natural response.
      Yet, the thankfulness of the Samaritan is not the point of the story. The point of the story lies in the return of the Samaritan to Jesus, yes, a return to give thanks, but in particular, a return to Jesus. The story teaches a simple truth, faith saves us, or as Jesus said to the Samaritan, "your faith has saved you", but what type of faith? What type of faith can say to a mulberry tree, "be uprooted and planted in the sea" and it would obey us? Yes, a mustard seed faith, full of doubts, questions, hesitation, but still, what type of faith? Is it a thankful faith? No, not at all! The story of the thankful Samaritan makes the point that a saving faith is a faith in Jesus. How simple is that?
      The living God offers us the gift of eternity. This gift is ours for the asking. All we have to do is ask Jesus; trust Jesus for salvation.

v11
      kai egeneto "now" - it came to pass. "Now it happened", Moffatt.
      en tw/ poreuesqai (poreuomai) pres. inf. "on [his] way [to Jerusalem]" - in/on to go. The articular infinitive with the preposition "in/on" forming a temporal clause expressing contemporaneous time. Note again how Luke underlines the journey theme, of messiah moving inexorably toward Jerusalem and his enthronement. "When Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem", Barclay.
      autoV "Jesus" - he. The singular personal pronoun obviously refers to Jesus, but it is possible that the disciples were with him, so "at that time Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Jerusalem, and he ....."
      dia meson + gen. "along the border" - through middle = between. Possibly as NIV or "through the border lands of ..." A "broad sense" is intended rather than a specific geographical location, Bock.

v12
      eisercomenou (eisercomai) pres. part. gen. "as [he] was entering" - entering. Genitive absolute participle forming a temporal clause. The present tense is durative so Jesus is in the process of entering, therefore not "on entering", Moffatt, since the lepers would not be in or at the entry of the village, but rather "as he was approaching a village", Phillips.
      aphnthsan (apantaw) aor. "met" - approached, met, encountered. Obviously not "met" as Jesus only sees them in v14, but rather "approached him", "came toward him", TH.
      porrwqen adv. "at a distance" - from afar. The lepers, or properly "ten men suffering from a virulent skin disease", NJB, (the word "leprosy" was used for numerous skin diseases), followed the custom of the time and kept their distance.

v13
      autoi "-" - they. The position is emphatic.
      hran fwnhn "[called out] in a loud voice" - lifted up voice [saying]. They "shouted", Barclay.
      Ihsou epistata "Jesus, master" - A term normally used by disciples.
      elehson (eleew) aor. imp. "have pity on [us]" - have mercy on. The aorist expressing urgency. Probably nothing more than a request for aid, to show compassion. A person begging for alms would say much the same.

v14
      idwn (eidon) aor. part. "when he saw" - seeing. The participle serving to form a temporal clause. The Greek implies that Jesus had not noticed them until they had shouted out; "directly he saw them", Plummer.
      poreuqenteV (poreuomai) aor. pas. part. "go" - having gone. An attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the main verb "show", so as usual, treated as a finite verb, and here as an imperative; "go and show ..." Interestingly, Jesus asks them to go and show themselves to the priests before they are healed. Normally a person's skin disease would have improved before they went to the priests to have their condition assessed, and to then be allowed to return to the wider community. Is Jesus prompting a faith act? At any rate, they all head off.
      toiV iJereusin (uV ewV) "priests" - Marshall suggests that the plural of priests implies that the lepers were a mixed group of Jews and Samaritans and that each would need to go to their own priest. A rather long bow!!! The "plural is because there were ten lepers", Stein.
      en tw/ uJpagein (uJpagw) pres. inf. "as they went" - in/on to go away. The articular infinitive with the preposition forming a temporal clause expressing contemporaneous time; "while they were on their way", REB.
      ekaqarisqhsan (kaqarizw) aor. pas. "they were cleansed" - They had not gone far before they were healed of their leprosy. Note the parallel with the healing of Naaman, 2King.5:10. Is Luke hinting at a parallel here?

v15
      idwn (eidon) aor. par. "when he saw" - having seen. Temporal participle as NIV. "Seen", in the sense of having seen that he was now healed, rather than gaining spiritual insight.
      oJti "that" - Here explanatory, "namely that he was healed."
      uJpestreyen (uJpostrefw) aor. "came back" - he returned. Of course, he could have continued on his way and praised God at the temple, but in all likelihood, the story serves to make the point that the faith that saves is a faith in Jesus. So, his return to Jesus serves to refocus on the one who saves, and thus, the one who is the proper focus of saving faith.
      doxazwn (doxazw) pres. part. "praising [God]" - glorifying, praising. The participle is modal, expressing the manner in which he "came back."
      meta + gen. "with" - Here instrumental.

v16
      epi proswpon "-" - [he fell] on face [beside the feet of him]. The language is descriptive of a prostrate position where a person stretches out with their face on the ground, a proper position to take when confronted by a theophany. Taking up this "worship" position at Jesus' feet further emphasizes that Jesus is the proper focus of faith. He "fell on his face before Jesus and thanked him", Phillips.
      eucaristwn (eucaristw) pres. part. "and thanked [him]" - thanking. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the main verb "fell", so NIV. As noted in the introduction, some argue that gratitude is a necessary accompaniment to saving faith. Such a view is contrary to scripture.
      autoV hn SamarithV "he was a Samaritan" - Is there some point to the identification of this particular leper? The story certainly doesn't set up a Jew / Samaritan dichotomy, but the context may. Jesus' confrontation with the Pharisees and their law-righteousness in chapter 16, sets up chapter 17 and its identification of the one law that gives life, namely, faith. So, righteous Jews certainly fail to obey this law, but a Samaritan does. Such prefigures the movement of the gospel from Jew to Samaritan, to god-fearer and finally, to Gentile. Luke/Acts develops this theme.

v17
      ouci "[were] not [all ten cleansed]?" - This negation implies a positive answer to the question.
      pou "where" - The position is emphatic, "the nine, where are they?"

v18
      Usually treated as a question, although the syntax implies that it is a statement. "It seems that no one has come back to give praise to God except this foreigner", NJB.
      ouc euJreqhsan (euJriskw) aor. pas. "was no one found" - they were not found, discovered. The clause, which is the apodosis of a conditional sentence, needs the subject supplied, so "Except this foreigner, none (no certain persons) were found."
      uJpostreyanteV (uJpostrefw) aor. part. "to return" - The participle is complementary, complementing the thought of the main verb "found", often translated as an infinitive, so NIV. The verb "find", here with the participle "having returned", together takes the sense "appeared / returned", "none of them ....... have come back", Rieu.
      dounai (didwmi) aor. inf. "to give [praise]" - The infinitive is verbal expressing purpose, "in order to give praise."
      oJ allogenhV "foreigner" - Hapax legomenon, once only use in the NT. Interestingly, the leper, who returned to Jesus, is not quite a foreigner, rather a half-cast Jew. The word was used for non Jews on the keep-out sign at the temple. Again, the point may be that this man, who would normally be bared from the religious life of Israel, has a better understanding of how a person stand's approved before God than a righteous Pharisee, see v16.