Jesus came down from
the mountainside. Large crowds followed him. A man who had a skin disease came
and got down on his knees in front of Jesus. He said, "Lord, if you are
willing to make me 'clean,' you can do it." Jesus reached out his hand and
touched the man. "I am willing to do it," he said. "Be
'clean'!" Right away the man was healed of his skin disease. – Matthew 8:1-3
Any of us who have grown up in church have heard stories
about Jesus healing people. We have learned of the blind that were made to see,
the lame that were made to walk, the dead who were raised to life, the sick who
were made well. We all know that Jesus heals, but sometimes the greatest
lessons are in reading between the lines of these stories. The most beautiful
lessons are the ones that are a little beneath the words and discovered in the
more significant meaning.
As I read the story of the leper of Matthew 8, I realized
that there are three characters in this story and they represent more than the
role they play in this story.
In reading this story, I noticed that this story is kind of
about the leper, but more than that, it’s about Jesus. Jesus is the central
character here. He is the first one mentioned and he is the one performing the
action in this story.
The secondary character is the leper, referred to in this
version as “a man who had a skin disease.” For simplicity we will call him
Lester. Lester the Leper just has a certain ring to it. Lester is the one to
whom the action is directed.
There is a third character in this story – the crowds that
followed Jesus. I had never really considered the crowds to be a character in
this story until today, but I think that they play a very significant role that
we have to read between the lines to see.
To tell this story I must begin with the Lester the Leper
for the story to make sense. Lester came to Jesus and said, “Lord, if you are
willing to make me ‘clean,’ you can do it.” Lester believed that Jesus could,
but he recognized his unworthiness in coming to Jesus and didn’t know if Jesus would. Like many diseases in ancient
times “leprosy was considered a curse of God, often associated with sin”
(Gillen). Lester the Leper represents a sinner. Lester represents you and I,
“for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We
must believe that Jesus can heal our
disease of sin.
Lepers were shunned, cast out from society, and considered
unclean. When diagnosed with leprosy, regardless of your place in society, you
were sent to associate with only those of similar illness. Leprosy is highly
contagious and the ‘clean’ did not associate with the ‘unclean.’ In fact, the
‘unclean’ had to declare themselves if walking through the streets in order to
warn the ‘clean’ that they were coming. Lester would have had to push his way
through the crowds to get to Jesus. Leprosy was not an invisible disease; it
destroyed the body. The crowds would have known, even without him declaring
himself, that he was unclean. They would have done one of two things: 1) gotten
out of the way or 2) tried to block his way to Jesus. In Ministry of Healing,
Mrs. White tells us that this is exactly what happened as the leper approached
Jesus (69). We are the leper, but I believe that there are times that we also
play the role of the crowd. How often do we treat those who are “worse” sinners
than us with disgust? How often do we ignore and avoid those who struggle with
the sins that we consider ugly? Rather than leading them to Jesus, the one who
heals, how often by our treatment of them do we stand in their way and block
their view of Jesus? We should not act like the crowds. Instead, we should show
sinners the love of Jesus and lead them to His feet where they can receive His
grace and be made whole.
Finally, the central and most important character of this
story is Jesus. Lester said to Jesus, “Lord, if you are willing to make me
‘clean,’ you can do it.” Don’t miss what Jesus does here because I think what
He does is more important that what he says! “Jesus reached out his hand and
touched the man.” Jesus did not just use words, but he did the very thing that
everyone else refused to do – He touched the leper, possibly the first touch he
had experienced since being declared ‘unclean.’ Jesus reaches into the darkest
places of our hearts that no one else dares explore for fear of it rubbing off
and He touches us. Jesus isn’t afraid of our sin and He isn’t disgusted by us.
With love, Jesus reached out his hand to the leper and He touched Him and made
Him well. With that same love, Jesus stretched out His hands on the cross for
the sinner to touch our hearts and heal us from the disease of sin.
The leper believed that Jesus could make him well, but didn’t know if he
would. Our prayers are not always answered in the way that we want or as soon
as we would like. There is one prayer whose answer will never be denied or
delayed and is the sinners plea for mercy. 1 John 14-15 (NIRV), “There is one
thing we can be sure of when we come to God in prayer. If we ask anything in
keeping with what he wants, he hears us. If we know that God hears what we ask
for, we know that we have it.” Galatians 1:4 says that it is the will of God to
save us.
Believe that God can and will save you and do not stand in the way of those
who come to Him.
References:
All Bible verses taken from BibleGateway.com and are from the NIRV.
