Touching the Untouchable...

At the church where I serve we are looking at various encounters that people had with Jesus that are recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. And as we look at these encounters with Jesus, we are going to discover several timeless truths that will have the potential to powerfully impact our lives today.

This week, I would like for us to pick up where left off last week. After inviting Peter to follow His way instead of our way, Jesus and His disciples began to travel throughout the northern region of what is now modern day Israel. And as Jesus and His disciples traveled throughout the cities of the region, Luke records for us an encounter that Jesus had with an individual that reveals for us a timeless truth that occurs when we encounter Jesus. So let’s discover that timeless truth together, beginning in Luke 5:12:

While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."

Luke brings us into this event from history by explaining that as Jesus traveled throughout the cities in Northern Israel, he was approached by a man who was covered with leprosy. Now to understand the significance of what is happening here, we first need to understand what leprosy is.

Leprosy is a slowly progressing, contagious, and incurable skin disease characterized by scabs or crusts and white shining spots appearing to be deeper than the skin. So when Luke states that this man was covered in leprosy, he is saying that this man was covered, from head to foot with infectious scabs and crusty lesions that may or may not have been oozing with puss.

Now, in the Jewish culture of the first century, leprosy left its victims in a place that rendered them unclean. In other words, a person with leprosy was not allowed to participate in the life of the community of the Jewish people in any way. Instead, a person with leprosy lived separated from the community as an outsider and an outcast for the rest of their lives, or until they were healed.

The problem was that no one was ever healed of leprosy. In the Bible, the only people who ever recovered from leprosy were those who were miraculously healed by God. In spite of that reality, this man who was an outsider and an outcast approached Jesus, fell on his face and implored Jesus saying "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."

In other words, this man pleaded with Jesus to heal him from his physical suffering because he believed that Jesus had the ability to heal him from his physical suffering. You see, this man had heard the word on the street about Jesus. This man had heard that Jesus had the ability to do the miraculous.

And because of that reality, this man took the risk to approach Jesus to plead that Jesus would do the miraculous in his life. Luke then reveals for us how Jesus responded to this man’s request in verse 13:

 And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately the leprosy left him. And He ordered him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

Luke tells us that Jesus responded to the man’s request to be healed from leprosy by miraculously healing the man from leprosy. But here is a question to consider: Do you think that Jesus had to touch the man that was covered in leprosy to heal him from leprosy? I mean couldn’t Jesus just have healed him from leprosy without touching him? Don’t you think that Jesus could have just said “You are healed” and the man would have been healed? After all who wants to touch someone who is covered head to foot with scabs and crusty lesions?

Of course Jesus could have healed him without touching him. But this morning, Jesus chose to touch the man covered with leprosy. Jesus chose to use the power of touch to connect with a man who probably had not been touched in years. You see, Jesus was willing not only to heal this man from a lifetime of suffering, Jesus wanted to connect with this man who had been an outsider in a way that would result in him feeling like an insider.

Luke tells us that after miraculously healing the man who had been covered with leprosy, Jesus commanded the man to tell no one. And if that was not strange enough, Jesus commanded the man "But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." In other words, Jesus commanded the man to travel to see the local priest in accordance with God’s command to the Jewish people that is recorded for us in the Law, which are the first five letters that are recorded for us in the Bible today.

In a section of a letter in the Old Testament called the book of Leviticus, in Leviticus 14, God had given the Jewish people specific commands concerning how to handle a person who had contracted leprosy. As part of those commands, if a person who had contracted leprosy was believed to be healed from leprosy, that person would participate in a week-long process to evaluate whether or not they had in fact been healed.

As part of the process, the person who had been healed from leprosy would make two sacrificial offerings of worship to the Lord. Then if the leper was in fact determined to be healed from leprosy, the person that was healed would offer a third sacrificial offering of worship to the Lord for being cleansed, or healed by the Lord. And it is this offering that Jesus is commanding the man whom he had healed from leprosy to make to the Lord after showing the priest and going through the process to authenticate that he had been in fact healed by Jesus.

Now a natural question that arises here is “why did Jesus send him to the priest first instead of to his family and his friends? And why did Jesus command the man to not tell anyone else what had happened to him? I mean, you would think that Jesus would want everyone, and not just the priest to know what He had done. And don’t you think the man would want to let his family and friends know that he had been healed”? So what is going on here?

The reason why Jesus commanded the man that he healed from leprosy to tell no one but to only show the priest that he had been healed from leprosy was due to the fact that this miracle was only for the priest to demonstrate that the Messiah had come. Remember, the only people in the Bible who had ever been healed from leprosy were those who were healed by God. Only God, or a prophet of God, ever healed someone who was a leper.

So Jesus here is calling the man who had been healed from leprosy to follow the commands of the Law in Leviticus to let the Jewish religious leaders know that the Messiah had arrived. Jesus wanted the man to focus on his spiritual health before telling anyone about the miraculous change in his physical health. However, news of Jesus miraculous activity was not easily contained, as we see in verse 15:

 But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

Luke tells us that word began to spread of Jesus miraculous activity in the lives of people that resulted in the miraculous healing of people. And as word spread, Jesus began to have “rock star” status among the people of the region. Large crowds began to follow Jesus to hear the message and teachings of Jesus. And the large crowds began to bring more and more people who were suffering physically in hope that Jesus would miraculously heal them physically.

However, Luke tells us that “Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.” But why would Jesus do that? I mean didn’t Jesus want the attention that came from miraculously healing people? Why would Jesus slip away? 

You see, while large crowds gathered because they wanted Jesus to heal them physically, Jesus slipped away because He did not come to earth to be viewed as someone who was simply a physical healer. Jesus slipped away because He did not want to be viewed in a way that would distract Him from His greater mission.

However, as Jesus continued to travel throughout the cities of northern Israel, Jesus continued to be followed by large crowds. And one day, in the context of these crowds, an event from history occurred that we will look at Friday...