12 While 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.”13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 Then 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.” 15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. ~ Luke 5:12-16
Imagine you have a beautiful wife and two adorable little children. Life is normal and good, even though nothing in your life is perfect. Then, one day you come home from a long day at work and you notice a small sore that has developed on your hand. In time, this sore develops into the serious condition known as leprosy.
Leprosy is a death sentence. And the process of dying by leprosy is worse than dying itself. In most cases, the body rots to pieces while the Leper continues to live. Although the physical ravages of leprosy are bad, the social, mental and emotional damage it causes is even worse.
Leprosy begins with pain in certain areas of the body. Numbness follows. Soon the skin develops spots and then loses its original color. It becomes scaly. As the sickness progresses, the thickened spots become dirty sores and ulcers due to poor blood supply. The skin, especially around the eyes and ears, begins to bunch, with deep furrows between the swellings, so that the face of the afflicted individual begins to resemble that of a lion. Fingers drop off or are absorbed. Toes are affected similarly. Eyebrows and eyelashes drop off.
In Numbers 5:2, we read, "If you find anybody with leprosy, put him out of the camp." Lepers were confined to the outskirts of town. They were quarantined from those whom they loved and who loved them. In v.12 of our text, we learn he "was covered with leprosy." This man had leprosy in its maximum form. He had been stricken with this disease for quite some time. As a result, he had no connection with anybody in society who wasn't a leper. He could have been stoned for violating the quarantines that surrounded leprosy, but he ran the risk to get to the Lord Jesus.
Anyone with leprosy was stamped as "unclean." According to Leviticus 13, "the leper remained unclean all the days in which he has the infection." He was ordered to live alone, outside the camp, away from those who were themselves not diseased. And, the Leper was required to yell out "unclean, unclean," when anyone would come near them.
One day, according to v.12, this Leper learns of a man who has the ability to heal. He goes to Him and starts shouting, “Unclean! Unclean! Stay away from me! I have leprosy! Unclean!” Even as the disciples draw back, the Lord Jesus invited the man's physical presence. “Unclean!” the man shouts louder. But, the Lord Jesus kept coming. “Doesn’t He know the law?” the man thought to himself. “If the Lord Jesus gets any closer, He will become unclean Himself.”
Then the Lord Jesus gets close enough to look the man in his eyes. And the man sees something he has never before seen in another human being. He doesn’t see disdain. He sees concern. He doesn’t see fear. He sees sympathy. He doesn’t see rejection. He sees love.
“When he saw the Lord Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." The leper begged the Lord Jesus to heal him. This was more than a prayer. This man was not halfhearted in his request because he was on his last leg. This desperate man challenges my prayer life. Desperate people do desperate things.
This leper doesn’t turn to one of the disciples. He doesn’t turn to another leper. He doesn’t even turn to the priest. He knows that none of them can help him. He turns to the Lord Jesus. "Falling on his face this man begged the Lord Jesus to make him clean." This man is pleading for his life. He has endured shame and alienation. He is worn out, at the end of his rope and desperate for relief.
How many years had it been since someone had hugged this man? How many years, do you think, had it been since this man had been touched? He couldn’t even pet a dog without it being killed. The Lord Jesus knows this and so He put out His hand and touched him. He could have healed this man with just a word. He could have healed him from a great distance, without a word and without any touch. But, the Lord Jesus knows that this leper needs love just as much if not more than he needs healing.
According to v.13, "Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him." The Lord Jesus saw this man's desperation, urgency, and faith. As a result, He healed him.
Contrary to Leviticus 5:3, which says "never touch a leper," "the Lord Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man." The Lord Jesus not only healed him with a touch, He not only communicated compassion to him, He also made a connection with the man. "And immediately the leprosy left him." He was given a new life where he once thought was hopeless.
According to v.14, we read, "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." The Lord Jesus tells the Leper not to tell anyone. He did this because He didn't want people attracted to Him just because He could heal them physically. He wanted them to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
So when this man shows up cleansed and healed at the priest’s doorstep, this priest would have known that something amazing had just taken place in his town. Possibly this was the very priest who had pronounced the man unclean years earlier. And now here he was again, but this time he is whole and healed.
But, look what happened in v.15. "Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses." The people didn’t really want to give glory to God. They only wanted to be healed. Very few today want to feed on the Word of God, but we will gladly take a free meal.
In v.16, we read, "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Notice the Lord Jesus embraces loneliness. Perhaps He has traded places with the Leper in a way. The Lord Jesus is in the process of being the one "who knew no sin, yet, the one who became sin so that you and I could become the righteousness of God in Him."
Have you come to the place where you are exhausted and you have exhausted everything in this life to discover the Lord Jesus is your only answer? Have you been touched by Him? If so, He wants to teach you to become a fisher of men, and the first step in that is learning to love all people, learning to touch the untouchable.
