Skip to main content

He Still Touches Lepers


Jesus seldom spent much time in one city.  He was constantly travelling from town to town, meeting all kinds of people. On his travels he and his disciples came across a leper. The Koine Greek word for leprosy can refer to any number of different skin diseases. 

A leper was ostracized from the life of the community. The Old Testament commands that when people come in contact with a leper, the leper is to identify himself by covering his upper lip and yelling out “Unclean, unclean.”  Lepers had to stand fifty paces away from everyone.  To touch a leper was to become unclean yourself.  If they entered a house, the house became unclean.  If they walked under a tree, the tree would become unclean.  One commentator writes, leprosy was not so much an illness as it was a sentence. Imagine not knowing, for years perhaps, the touch of another human being: a hug, a handshake, even a pat on the back.  To feel so utterly alone, different and broken.  Josephus the historian writes, there is no difference between a leper and a corpse. 

The message of Jesus reached this particular leper’s ears, and now he sees him walking. This is his chance.What does he have to lose? Hoping against hope, somehow this leper has courage to approach Jesus, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”  Notice the humility in his words.He makes no demand, puts no imperative to him, and just asks as one who can offer nothing in return.  He doesn’t question Jesus’ ability, only his willingness. The Gospel-writer Mark tells us Jesus was indignant, not at the leper, but more likely at the wretchedness of sickness and the pain it caused this human being.  Then Jesus doesn’t just heal him, he reaches out his hand and touches him.He touches a leper! Jesus specialized in breaking taboos: claiming Deity, breaking Sabbath rules, and touching lepers.

He touched a perpetually unclean man.  Doesn’t that make Jesus unclean? Never. Nothing makes Jesus unclean. He makes what he touches clean! And the man’s leprosy is gone. Now that is power. That is the the type of power kings and queens only dream about.

He Still Touches Lepers. Ever hear someone say: Jesus wants nothing to do with me. He doesn’t know the types of things I’ve done. He doesn’t know the sins I’ve committed, the choices I've made, the uncleanness I’ve let in. He wouldn’t accept me. Try him and see what happens. Let me introduce you to the real Jesus, the one who touches lepers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 'Greatest' Theologian/Preacher/Christian Philosopher

Here's a fun little discussion for us. Who is the greatest theologian since the apostle Paul? Sounds too subjective, but here are some criteria to evaluate by: 1) Personal life - Did this person's personal character reflect his convictions effectively? 2) Breadth of Influence - How wide and long has this person's influence effected the church and the world? 3) Depth of thought - How careful, biblical, and articulate were this persons's works? My vote to come...
8 comments
Read more

Remember Miss Bates from Mere Christianity

C. S. Lewis imagines two people: one Miss Bates, a naturally cranky unkind woman who becomes a Christian and the other Dick Firkin, a naturally friendly kind person who has not yet become a Christian. “Christian Miss Bates may have an unkinder tongue than unbelieving Dick Firkin. That, by itself, does not tell us whether Christianity works. The question is what Jane’s tongue would be like if she were not a Christian and what Dick’s would be like if he became one. Miss Bates and Dick, as a result of natural causes and early upbringing, have certain temperaments: Christianity professes to put both temperaments under new management if they will allow it to do so. What you have a right to ask is whether that management, if allowed to take over, improves the concern. Everyone knows that what is being managed in Dick Firkin’s case is much ‘nicer’ than what is being managed in Miss Bates’. That is not the point. To judge the management of a factory, you must consider not only the
Post a Comment
Read more

Does Church History Matter?

In a so called unprecedented age, where all of Christianity is re-inventing itself, and all of Christian doctrine is up for re-writing , one must ask the question "Does church history matter?" (Just to write this almost makes me cringe at how unbelievably near-sighted my generation has become!) If we say 'yes it matters' too emphatically, the response will be "Why are you Protestants then?" Didn't Luther radically depart from centuries of theological teaching. One common criticism against Luther (and the Reformation) was "Can you alone be right and the whole world be wrong?" And, when Luther talks about Sola Scriptura, isn't he saying Scripture is all that matters? A few things about Luther. First, his Sola Scriptura argument was not that Scripture is the only authority for the church, but that Scripture alone is the final authority for the church. According to Luther, there can be, indeed should be, lesser authorities, including pasto
5 comments
Read more