Jesus Isn’t Afraid of Your Mess

Introduction:

This morning we are going to look into what makes a person unclean physically but also more importantly spiritually.

[John Bunyan’s story]

v. 40) The Approach

By all accounts and common sense this encounter between Jesus and the leper shouldn’t have happened. Even the law of Moses forbids it. The leper was unclean, and he made everything he touched unclean.

When considering the Law there were many things that could make a person unclean.

List of a few things that would make a person ceremonially unclean:

Childbirth (Lev. 12:1-2,5)

Unusual bodily discharges (Lev. 15:2-15)

Bodily discharges related to reproduction (Lev. 15:16-30)

Touching a corpse (Num. 19:11)

handling the ashes of the red heifer (Num. 19:1-10)

Contact with anyone or anything that was unclean. (Lev. 5:3)

Infectious diseases, like leprosy:

Leviticus 13:9–11 NKJV

9 “When the leprous sore is on a person, then he shall be brought to the priest. 10 And the priest shall examine him; and indeed if the swelling on the skin is white, and it has turned the hair white, and there is a spot of raw flesh in the swelling, 11 it is an old leprosy on the skin of his body. The priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not isolate him, for he is unclean.

The laws regarding the range of skin diseases that are categorized as leprosy in the Bible are particularly harsh. Leprosy was contagious and without God’s healing usually incurable. Lepers had to live away from “clean” people, and a natural home for them was the garbage dumps of the ancient world, where they could eke out a meager living.

Leprosy was one of the horrific diseases of the ancient world. It is a disease that still afflicts people across the world. About 200,000 people around the globe have it today, is is also called Hansen’s disease.

Leprosy begins with a small red spots on the skin. Before long the spots get bigger and start to turn white, with a shiny or scaly appearance. The spots soon spread over the body and hair beings to fall out—first from the head, then the eyebrows. As things progressively get worse, fingernails and toenails become loose; starting to rot and eventually fall off.

Then the joints of the fingers and toes being to rot and fall off, piece by piece. Gums being to shrink, so that they cannot hold the teeth anymore, so each tooth falls out. This disease continues to eat away the face until the nose, the roof of the mouth, and even the eyes rot—essentially the person wastes away until they die.

Almost as horrible as the physical suffering was, the worst part of having leprosy might have been the way you were treated as a leper. In the OT, God said that when there were lepers among the people of Israel, they should carefully quarantined and examined. They would dress like someone who was mourning the loss of a loved one, this is because they were considered to be the living dead.

By the first century they were required to wear bells around the necks. If someone approaching them on the road, they were required to call out, “Unclean! Unclean!” at the top of their lungs so that no one would make contact with them accidently.

Leviticus 13:45 NKJV

45 “Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’

What is wild is that leprosy is not highly contagious. What is being conveyed is that God used this disease as a striking example of sin and its effects on a person. What was truly horrible is that people of Jesus’ day went further than the OT told them too.

They thought two thing about a leper: you are the walking dead and you deserve this because this is your punishment of God against you. I read that is was also Jewish custom not to even greet a leper, and that you should say about 6 feet from them.

There are accounts of Rabbis bragging that he would not even buy an egg on a street where he saw a leper, or another that said that he threw rocks at them to keep them afar off.

This disease cuts its victims off from their family, from their communities, and their communities of faith. All unclean people could not enter the temple or synagogue to worship or offer sacrifices:

2 Chronicles 26:21 NKJV

21 King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He dwelt in an isolated house, because he was a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. Then Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.

Leprosy is a vivid illustration of what sin does in our lives.

It will drive a wedge in your religious life, creating a distance (Lev 13:1-3).

It does deeper than the surface (Lev 13:3).

It spreads relentlessly (Lev 13:46).

It make you unclean (Lev 13:44-45).

It will isolate you from the community of believers (Lev 13:46).

Sin deserves fire (Lev. 13:52).

I hate sin, it is truly a despicable ailment that has infected us all. Sin is so much like leprosy. We can never remove it, it has no natural cure nor manmade cure. It is relentless in causing maximum damage, sin drives a wedge into every relationship and community you are apart of. It has separated you from God. And (Romans 6:23) The wages of sin is death!

“What is sin?

It is the glory of God not honored.

The holiness of God not reverenced.

The greatness of God not admired.

The power of God not praised.

The truth of God not sought.

The wisdom of God not esteemed.

The beauty of God not treasured.

The goodness of God not savored.

The faithfulness of God not trusted.

The commandments of God not obeyed.

The justice of God not respected.

The wrath of God not feared.

The grace of God not cherished.

The presence of God not prized.

The person of God not loved.

That is sin”—John Piper

Family, sin is so destructive, so deceptive, so dangerous, and very detrimental. The point I want to make is this: you cannot remove sin from yourself. It is impossible. You would have better luck walking to the moon and back.

But that is what makes this story so exciting, after all:

This leper was breaking the law in approaching Jesus. Notice that there are not tinkling bells in this story, no cries of unclean, no stepping aside. Just a humble request, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.

The leper’s desperation is revealed, a desperation to reach Jesus caused him to neglect customary procedures. After all he was imploring Jesus, kneeling down before Him.

This man doesn’t question Jesus’ power, but has no real way of gauging how the healer would receive him. He had probably heard the stories of Jesus healing others, but Jesus had not yet healed a leper in His ministry yet.

And in that day, everyone knew only God could heal a leper. There was no cure, and no one just got better. A leper could never get better without God. Ultimately this desperation caused him to neglect customary procedures.

Also I want to draw your attention to what the leper requested, “Make me clean.” He didn’t ask to be healed, but cleansed.

The only way to deal with sin is by being cleansed by the blood of Christ.

1 John 1:7 NKJV

7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

This leper believed that Jesus could cleanse him from his ailment, little did he know that Jesus would do something so much better when He would go to the cross and take our sin upon Himself.

Application:

Never question if Jesus can do it but only if He will do it.

vv. 41-44) The Cleansing

The way this man comes to Jesus, shows us how we are to approach Jesus too:

He was earnest and desperate He was for Christ—“imploring Him”: are you?

He was reverent understanding to some degree who he was dealing with—“Kneeling down to Him”: when was the last time you knelt before the Lord?

He was humble and submissive—“If you are willing”: when are you going to stop trying to do things your own way and let God finally be the Lord of your life?

He believed—“You can” there was no question if Jesus could do it… but would He?: family, whatever you are going through are you going to be okay if Jesus answers your request with no?

He acknowledged his need—“make me clean”: when was the last time you acknowledged your need of Christ?

He was specific—not “bless me” but “make me clean”: Ephesians tells us that we should be specific in our prayers.

For him it was personal—“make me clean”: Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?

I remember shortly after rededicating my life to the Lord I was reading this gospel and God so impressed on my soul the importance of His compassion.

Moved with compassion: I pray that we would never read these words without a deep sense of exultation and gratitude. Lukes gospel states that this man was full of leprosy, meaning that the disease was in the advanced stages. This man’s who body and life was rotting.

Jesus touched the untouchable and cured the incurable. Uttering the most precious words this man has ever heard… “I am willing.”

This passage is fully of irony too. Normally, when something clean touches something unclean both are rendered dirty. Even today it is common sense not to let something clean come in contact with something dirty. In the ancient world , the attitude towards leprosy was unlike the attitude towards those suffering from AIDS epidemic of the mid 90’s.

Here the entire set of expectations of cleanliness is overturned here. When Jesus touched the leper, the leper became clean. For perhaps the first time in history someone who was clean touched someone who was unclean, and both came away clean!

The gospel is on full display here also. The leper symbolizes, yet again, our alienation from God. Here is a person who could not even enter God’s house. He was completely ostracized. He could never make himself acceptable. His only hope was expressed in the plea, “if you are willing.” This is true repentance—which Christ preached, not simply a change of thought or affection, but an unqualified turning to ask if we can be made clean. Family, there is no other basis on which we can approach God.

Christ redeems us from the curse of becoming under a curse for our sake:

Galatians 3:13 NKJV

13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),

Our reconciliation is dependent upon Jesus’ condemnation.

Application:

I want to unpack a few applicable points before moving to the final section of our passage.

Jesus’ compassion has Him embracing our mess before cleansing our mess: God isn’t looking for you to clean yourself up before coming to him. That would like be like washing up with mud before taking a shower.

Jesus’ primary purpose was ‘preaching the gospel of God,’ Jesus never wanted to gather followers who merely sought temporal miracles. In Luke’s account after the healing of this leper and when Jesus calls Matthew to be his disciple:

Jesus foreshadows what is to come:

We something truly amazing take place: Jesus tells our now healed leper, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those thing which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

As far as we know this would be the first time a Jewish person has been healed from leprosy. Moses’ sister Miriam was but before the law was given. Naaman the Syrian was also healed but he probably wouldn’t have gone to the temple to to offer a sacrifice for his cleansing.

In all likelihood, the priest would need to freshen up what was to take place:

The Priest was to examine the individual.

The healed person was to bring two birds with them.

Killing one and letting the other go

The leper was to spend 7 days quarantined: on the eighth day he would have been completely shaven eyebrows included.

A lamb would then be sacrificed, and its blood would be applied to the cleansed lepers right ear, right thumb, and right big toe, to sanctify and consecrate the cleansed leper.

This was the same action that was used in the consecration of the priests (Lev 8:22-24).

The blood on the right ear said: “this one should hear God first.”

The blood on the right thumb said: “this one should put his hand to do God’s will first.”

The blood on the big toe of the right foot said: “this one should follow God’s path first.”

After the application of the blood, the priest sprinkled oil with his finger seven times before the Lord, then applied the rest of the oil to the right ear, the right thumb. and the right big toe…

This was unique: the priestly consecration only applies the blood, not the oil.

The oil on the right ear: “what this one hears should be influenced by the Holy Spirit”

What this one does should be influenced by the Holy Spirit

Where this one goes should be influence by the Holy Spirit.

All of these rituals should have a special relevance to us, as a picture of what God does for those restored from their leprous-like sin in the New Covenant with Christ.

After all one of the significant promises of the NC is an outpouring of the HS upon all those who take part of the covenant:

Ezekiel 36:27 NKJV

27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

v. 45) Disobedience?

There are also some interesting questions about why Jesus wanted the man not to speak out publically. We will tackle those in the upcoming weeks.

People who have been changed by Jesus cannot keep it to themselves: But by being disobedient Jesus was forced to withdraw from the area. I will say, we may not understand the command of our Lord, but you and I must obey. You can chose to obey or not but you will not be able to choose the consequences. At the end of the day, disobedience to the express command of Christ, even if undertaken from the best possible motives, could lead only to a hampering and hindering of his work.

1 Corinthians 15:34 NKJV

34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.

Can we come into contact with the world and walk away clean?

The answer to this question isn’t as simple as “yes” or “no.” As believers in Jesus Christ we live in this fallen world—physically present—but as believers, we are not of it. Not apart of its values or beliefs:

John 17:14–15 NKJV

14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.

Christian you are to be set apart from this wicked world. That is what holiness entails—to be set apart. Not engaging in the sinful activities the world promotes and not giving in to the corrupt mindset a worldly person creates.

Rather, you are to conform yourself, your mind, to that of Christ. And this is a daily activity and commitment.

Romans 12:1–2 NKJV

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Family, heed me please…the world needs you to live righteously for Christ, setting a godly precedent. But you cannot be unequally yoked. Do not go into business, do not marry, do not be influenced by an unbeliever. After all what does the marvelous light of God have to do with darkness?

We shouldn’t be fearful to get into another’s mess because Jesus was willing to get into ours.

Like Christ, that is when we are living for God, we do not have to fear the unclean or the leper. We can ministry to them like Christ has ministered to us.

Family let us be known for the love we have for people, and in loving people properly means speaking the truth in love.

Benediction:

Numbers 6:24–26 NKJV

24 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’