How Gratitude Changes Us

Luke 5:12-16

12 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.

Context:

Jesus is traveling around the area and encountering different people in different villages. While the where does not matter, what he does is the emphasis Luke makes.

Previous to this, Jesus is calling his disciples; in particular, he calls Peter.

In the Lukan account, we see that this call to totally follow Jesus happened after a miracle of finding fish.

In other gospel accounts, it seems that this call happened just while Jesus was walking along the shore.

While we read the gospels and see different accounts of the call of Peter, the unifying principle that we recognize is that Peter abandoned the lifestyle of being a fisher and embraced the call to follow Jesus.

Notice how it says that a man came along who was covered with leprosy.

Leprosy:

Skin disease.

Required the individual to be ostracized from interaction with others.

According to Leviticus 13-14, the person was deemed unclean by the priests and forced to pronounce his uncleanness entering a city

Only upon the disease being removed or a scar remaining was a person able to be announced as clean by the priest.

Leprosy gives us a picture of the indwelling of sin in our lives, as we are unclean and there is nothing we can do to bring about our cleanness on our own.

Notice what then happens: 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.”

Let me point out a couple of interesting contrasts that we see between Peter and this leper:

Where Peter, was called to abandon everything to follow Jesus, here was a man that had nothing and was coming to Him seeking healing.

Yet both of them ended up with their faces to the ground.

Another contrast that we can see is how Peter’s response was to push Jesus away because of his sin as he says: “leave for I am a sinful man.” It was a recognition of the divine in Jesus.

This unnamed man says: Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. He also recognized the power of Jesus, and the man didn’t want Jesus to leave, he wanted Jesus to come near.

13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.

In this moment we see the combination of the will and act of Jesus in demonstrating his compassion as Mark’s gospel shows that Jesus had compassion on the man.

He first does the unthinkable as he not only reached towards someone that was unclean but he touched him. This was Jesus’ way of identifying with the man and showing that he was willing to be unclean, just like the man already was.

Second, he spoke to him the words that he needed in that moment for his healing, “I am willing…be clean.”

And immediately the leprosy left him. In all the gospel accounts, the word immediately is used that shows the power of Jesus!

For this man, not only did his status change, but his life changed!

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.”

Similar to account of Jesus later on healing the ten lepers, we see that Jesus gives the order for the man to go and show yourself to the priest.

Then he was to offer the sacrifices that were commanded.

Both of these things would have been required to fulfill the law of Leviticus 14.

But in both of these things, Jesus showed how it was much more. Both were to be a testimony of the person and power of Jesus Christ!

Jesus sent him to the priests to testify of how the requirements of fulfilling the law couldn’t heal this man. It was only Jesus.

Jesus sent him to offer sacrifices to testify of the change that happened in his life. He was able to finally express his gratitude to the Lord!

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.

Now while the man was told to keep it to himself, it’s interesting in that the word spread all the more. It would be so hard to keep that news to himself, I’m sure.

Yet for Jesus, this became a point for him to recede and pray. Rather than becoming a person that could draw others merely from a place of popularity or to see him as someone to be used for their own personal benefits.

The emphasis was to be upon Jesus’ preaching ministry not his healing ministry.