Lucas 17:14

Probably the lepers did not expect Jesus to respond as He did. Rather than touching them, or pronouncing them clean, He gave them a command. The command implied that by the time they reached the priest they would have experienced healing. Normally a command to show oneself to a priest followed a cure (Luke 5:14; cf. Leviticus 13:49; Leviticus 14:2-3). The priestly examination would result in the lepers resuming normal lives. However these lepers could have refused to go and could have repeated their request to Jesus. Jesus was testing their faith and obedience. If they really regarded Him as their master, they should obey Him. They decided to obey and immediately experienced healing (cf. Luke 5:12-16). Jesus healed them from a distance (cf. 2 Kings 5:10-14).

The lepers’ response would have taught the disciples and everyone else present the importance of trusting and obeying Jesus’ word. This was a lesson that Jesus had been teaching the Pharisees and the disciples (Luke 16:15-31). This miracle showed the benefit of obeying Jesus’ word because of belief in Him (cf. Luke 6:10; Matthew 12:13; Mark 3:5). This lesson was not the main reason Luke recorded this incident, however.