However, the time for the Passover of 33 C.E. is drawing near, and soon Jesus is on the move again. He travels through Samaria and up into Galilee. This is his last visit to this area prior to his death. While in Galilee, likely he and his disciples join others who are on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. They take the route through the district of Perea, east of the Jordan River.

Early in the trip, while Jesus is entering a village either in Samaria or in Galilee, he is met by ten men who have leprosy. This terrible disease gradually eats away a person’s body parts​—his fingers, his toes, his ears, his nose, and his lips. To safeguard others from being infected, God’s Law says regarding a leper: “He should cover over the mustache and call out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ All the days that the plague is in him he will be unclean. . . . He should dwell isolated.”

The ten lepers observe the Law’s restrictions for lepers and remain a long way off from Jesus. Yet, they cry out with loud voices: “Jesus, Instructor, have mercy on us!”

Seeing them in the distance, Jesus commands: “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Jesus says this because God’s Law authorizes the priests to pronounce as cured lepers who have recovered from their illness. In this way such ones receive approval to live again with healthy people.

The ten lepers have confidence in Jesus’ miraculous powers. So they hurry off to see the priests, even though they have not yet been healed. While on the way, their faith in Jesus is rewarded. They begin to see and to feel their restored health!

Nine of the cleansed lepers continue on their way, but the other leper, a Samaritan, returns to look for Jesus. Why? Because he is so grateful for what has happened to him. He praises God with a loud voice, and when he finds Jesus, he falls at his feet, thanking him.

In reply Jesus says: “The ten were cleansed, were they not? Where, then, are the other nine? Were none found that turned back to give glory to God but this man of another nation?”

Then he tells the Samaritan man: “Rise and be on your way; your faith has made you well.”

When we read about Jesus’ healing of the ten lepers, we should take to heart the lesson implied by his question: “Where, then, are the other nine?” The ingratitude that was manifested by the nine is a serious shortcoming. Will we, like the Samaritan, show ourselves grateful for the things we receive from God, including the certain promise of everlasting life in God’s righteous new world?

When the Son of Man Is Revealed

WHILE Jesus is still in the north (either in Samaria or in Galilee), Pharisees ask him about the arrival of the Kingdom. They believe that it will come with great pomp and ceremony, but Jesus says: “The kingdom of God is not coming with striking observableness, neither will people be saying, ‘See here!’ or, ‘There!’ For, look! the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

Jesus’ words “in your midst” have at times been translated “within you.” So some have thought that Jesus meant that the Kingdom of God reigns in the hearts of God’s servants. But, obviously, the Kingdom of God is not within the hearts of these unbelieving Pharisees to whom Jesus is speaking. Yet, it is in their midst, since the designated King of God’s Kingdom, Jesus Christ, is right among them.

It is probably after the Pharisees leave that Jesus talks further with his disciples about the coming of the Kingdom. He has particularly in mind his future presence in Kingdom power when he warns: “People will say to you, ‘See there!’ or, ‘See here!’ Do not go out or chase after [these false Messiahs]. For even as the lightning, by its flashing, shines from one part under heaven to another part under heaven, so the Son of man will be.” Hence, Jesus is indicating that just as lightning is seen over a wide area, the evidence of his presence in Kingdom power will be clearly visible to all wishing to observe it.

Jesus then draws comparisons with ancient events to show what the attitudes of people will be during his future presence. He explains: “Moreover, just as it occurred in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of man . . . Likewise, just as it occurred in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building. But on the day that Lot came out of Sodom it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed them all. The same way it will be on that day when the Son of man is to be revealed.”

Jesus is not saying that people in Noah’s day and in Lot’s day were destroyed simply because they pursued the normal activities of eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. Even Noah and Lot and their families did these things. But the others went about such daily activities without paying any attention to God’s will, and it was for this reason that they were destroyed. For the same reason, people will be destroyed when Christ is revealed during the great tribulation on this system of things.

Emphasizing the importance of responding quickly to the evidence of his future presence in Kingdom power, Jesus adds: “On that day let the person that is on the housetop but whose movable things are in the house not come down to pick these up, and the person out in the field, let him likewise not return to the things behind. Remember the wife of Lot.”

When the evidence of Christ’s presence appears, people cannot let attachment to their material possessions hinder them from taking prompt action. On her way out of Sodom, Lot’s wife apparently looked back longingly for the things left behind, and she became a pillar of salt.

Continuing his description of the situation that would exist during his future presence, Jesus tells his disciples: “In that night two men will be in one bed; the one will be taken along, but the other will be abandoned. There will be two women grinding at the same mill; the one will be taken along, but the other will be abandoned.”

Being taken along corresponds to Noah’s entering with his family into the ark and the angels’ taking Lot and his family out of Sodom. It means salvation. On the other hand, being abandoned means suffering destruction.

At this point, the disciples ask: “Where, Lord?”

“Where the body is, there also the eagles will be gathered together,” Jesus answers. Those “taken along” for salvation are like farsighted eagles in that they gather together to “the body.” The body has reference to the true Christ at his invisible presence in Kingdom power and to the spiritual feast that Jehovah provides. Luke 17:20-37; Genesis 19:26.

The Need for Prayer and for Humility

EARLIER, when he was in Judea, Jesus told an illustration regarding the importance of being persistent in prayer. Now, on his final trip to Jerusalem, he again emphasizes the need not to give up in praying. Jesus is probably still in Samaria or Galilee when he tells his disciples this further illustration:

“In a certain city there was a certain judge that had no fear of God and had no respect for man. But there was a widow in that city and she kept going to him, saying, ‘See that I get justice from my adversary at law.’ Well, for a while he was unwilling, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Although I do not fear God or respect a man, at any rate, because of this widow’s continually making me trouble, I will see that she gets justice, so that she will not keep coming and pummeling me to a finish.’”

Jesus then makes the application of his story, saying: “Hear what the judge, although unrighteous, said! Certainly, then, shall not God cause justice to be done for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night, even though he is long-suffering toward them?”

Jesus does not mean to imply that Jehovah God is in any way like that unrighteous judge. Rather, if even an unrighteous judge will respond to persistent entreaties, there should be no question that God, who is altogether righteous and good, will answer if his people do not give up in praying. So Jesus continues: “I tell you, [God] will cause justice to be done to them speedily.”

Justice is frequently denied the lowly and the poor, whereas the powerful and the rich are often favored. God, however, not only will see to it that the wicked are justly punished but will also ensure that his servants are treated justly by giving them everlasting life. But how many people firmly believe that God will cause justice to be done speedily?

Referring especially to faith related to the power of prayer, Jesus asks: “When the Son of man arrives, will he really find the faith on the earth?” Although the question is left unanswered, the implication may be that such faith would not be common when Christ arrives in Kingdom power.

Among those listening to Jesus are some who feel quite self-assured in their faith. They trust in themselves that they are righteous, and they look down on others. Certain ones of Jesus’ disciples may even be included in the group. So he directs the following illustration to such ones:

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and began to pray these things to himself, ‘O God, I thank you I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give the tenth of all things I acquire.’”

The Pharisees are noted for their public displays of righteousness to impress others. The usual days for their self-imposed fasts are Mondays and Thursdays, and they scrupulously pay the tenth of even the small herbs of the field. A few months earlier, their contempt for the common people had been manifest during the Festival of Tabernacles when they said: “This crowd that does not know the Law [that is, the Pharisaical interpretation given to it] are accursed people.”

Continuing his illustration, Jesus tells of such an “accursed” person: “But the tax collector standing at a distance was not willing even to raise his eyes heavenward, but kept beating his breast, saying, ‘O God, be gracious to me a sinner.’” Because the tax collector has humbly acknowledged his shortcomings, Jesus says: “I tell you, This man went down to his home proved more righteous than that man; because everyone that exalts himself will be humiliated, but he that humbles himself will be exalted.”

Thus Jesus again emphasizes the need to be humble. Being reared in a society in which the self-righteous Pharisees are so influential and position and rank are always stressed, it is not surprising that even Jesus’ disciples are affected. Yet, what fine lessons in humility Jesus teaches! Luke 18:1-14; John 7:49.