1 When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. 2 And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 3 Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
Leprosy, the term, in biblical times covered a variety of skin conditions and was considered incurable. It brought social isolation, like HIV/AIDS today. A person with leprosy was required to call out, “Unclean, unclean” when approached in public (see Lev 13:45-46). Such a person lived in poverty, being supported by relatives (hopefully). It was a life of misery and extreme boredom.
After Jesus’ great sermon, huge crowds continued to follow Him. Yet He never lost sight of the individuals in the midst of the masses. A sick man with leprosy broke with the requirement of warning others of his presence, and came bowing down before Christ with a request. For him the question was not about the Lord’s ability, but His willingness. As one writer says, “Men more easily believe in miraculous power than in miraculous love.” This illustrates Jesus’ teaching that we should “ask, and it will be given to you” (Matt 7:7-8).
Jesus took a “risk” of contaminating Himself (or so it would seem) by touching the man. As Haggai the prophet pointed out, when a “clean” thing came into contact with a thing that was “unclean,” the clean thing became unclean (see Haggai 2:11-15). In this case, though, it was the “unclean” man that became “clean,” that is, healed of leprosy. (NOTE: the concept of clean and unclean had to do with the ceremonial condition of individuals. It represented either fitness or unfitness for serving the Lord). This pictures the larger truth that God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus was not afraid to be “contaminated” with our sin!
Finally, Jesus gave two instructions: 1) Don’t tell anyone. Often commanding people this after healing, Jesus’ focus was on faith, not on wowing people through the miraculous, which present day “faith-healers” need to understand; 2) Tell the priests only. The leper, as instructed in the OT, was to show himself to the priests who provide objective verification of healing.
Lord, out of the billions on earth, thank You that You hear me and are aware of my needs. “Surely, our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried.” (Isaiah 53:4)
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