We are continuing our series of brief meditations on the miraculous acts of Jesus. Today, we focus on the healing of a man with leprosy:
12While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." 13Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him. 14Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." 15Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed (Luke 5:12-16, emphasis added).
This leper serves as an example to us of someone with faith in God. He was so desperate to be cleansed by the Lord that he entered the town, fully aware that he risked death by stoning. For him, it was all or nothing. His torn clothes, face, and skin indicate that he is a leper, as Luke notes that he "was covered with leprosy” (v. 12). There appears to be a courage born from desperation in his pursuit of Jesus.
We observe humility in the leper. With his face in the dirt, he threw himself on the ground and proclaimed his words of faith, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” He didn’t say, “Lord, if you are willing, you can heal me.” This man recognized his need for cleansing from leprosy. The Lord doesn’t come to the self-sufficient; He comes to those who readily admit their guilt and need for inner cleansing. Too many people focus on trying to be good enough, while this man approaches Christ, acknowledging he cannot do it on his own. He knew that his cleansing and healing were in Jesus’ hands. The man relied on what God would do for him out of mercy.
It's like the man who complained to his friends about the exorbitant cost of his sports car insurance. He said, "How can it be so expensive when I have a clean license?" When his friends challenged him about his clean license, he replied, "Well, it's almost clean, just a few spots on my record." How can a person have an almost clean license? His record is either clean or it's not! The only way to have a clean record before God is to come to Him, admit that you have sinned, and acknowledge that your life is marred and stained by the leprosy of sin. Come to Jesus and be cleansed!
Few people truly believed that God would heal leprosy because those affected were viewed as unclean and under God's disfavor. I can imagine the crowd near Jesus recoiling in horror upon seeing a leper in their midst. Mothers would quickly reach for their children and back away from him. Was Jesus angry at the man’s boldness and audacity? Amidst the gasps of the crowd, Jesus knelt to the man’s level and placed His hand on his head, saying, "I am willing. Be clean!" Christ touched him! As He did, the knobs on his hands transformed into fingers, his ears were instantly healed, his feet grew out before them, his eyebrows and eyelashes appeared, and hair immediately sprouted on his head. Those who watched stared in amazement at what God had done right before their eyes. There was no hesitation in Jesus. He is willing to heal those who come to Him in faith. Would to God that each of us would approach Jesus with an unconquerable faith like this! Today, many around us are considered "untouchable,” yet Jesus reached out and touched them with His love. Can we not do the same? - Keith Thomas
Taken from study 9. Jesus Heals Leprosy and Paralysis, found in the series on the Book of Luke in the All Studies box on the Home Page.
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