Jesus’ Compassion: Full of Love and Mercy (Matthew 8:1-4)

The Plight of the Leper

William Barclay described what a leper looks like:

“The whole appearance of the face is changed, till the man loses his human appearance and looks, as the ancients said, ‘like a lion or a satyr.’ The nodules grow larger and larger. They ulcerate. From them there comes a foul discharge. The eyebrows fall out, the eyes become staring. The voice becomes hoarse and the victim wheezes because of the ulceration of the vocal chords. The hands and feet always ulcerate. Slowly the sufferer becomes a mass of ulcerated growths. The average course of the disease is nine years, and it ends in mental decay, coma, and ultimately death. The sufferer becomes utterly repulsive—both to himself and to others.”

Leprosy was both contagious and repulsive. In biblical times, being declared unclean meant more than just physical ailments; it was a spiritual state that separated one from the community and the presence of God.

The plight of a leper was a life of feeling repulsively unwelcome. The Lord says in Leviticus,

Leviticus 13:45–46 ESV

45 “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ 46 He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

A person with leprosy would not be welcome in the church, community, and home, not merely because they were sick, but because they were unclean. This made them live as the marginalized of the community. That it is, they lived outside the camp and were not given a lot of respect or resources to flourish.

This passage teaches us that Jesus is not only able but also willing to heal us from our sins and sickness. It shows us that no one is beyond the reach of His mercy and grace.

The compassion of Jesus compels us to show love and mercy to others, just as He has shown to us.

Jesus’ Compassion Confronts Marginalization

Matthew 8:1 ESV

1 When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.

One of the marks of Jesus ministry was his willingness to interact with those marginalized by society, such as the leper. He has a profound for the broken and was ready to offer his salvation to the least of these in the community. The least of these are the marginal of the community. When I say the “marginalized,” I mean people who are broken hearted and belittled by society. In America, some of the marginalized people have been people with disabilities, different ethnicities, the poor, the old, and the sick.

Our culture likes to hide these people away from the rest of society. We hide people with disabilities and the dying in institutions. We hide the poor in neighborhoods away from wealthier neighborhoods, and the old we put in nursing homes. Our sinful nature is inclined to segregate people by race, class, and gender. It’s as if we decide who is clean and who is unclean.

In the Old Testament, there is a distinction between cleanness and holiness. God provided regulations about cleanness and uncleanness. To be clean is a prerequisite to becoming holy. To be clean in the Hebrew was associated as being normal. If you became unclean, there was a process to become clean.

Leviticus 14 deals primarily with the process of cleansing for skin diseases. The infected person must see a priest. The priest determines the severity of the skin disease. Restoring cleanness requires more deliberate actions, usually involving washing, waiting, being inspected, and offering sacrifice.

Depending on the severity of the infection, whether it is getting better or not, the person may have to burn their clothes and even destory their home. If the infection goes away, they can become clean. If it remains, then the person may be banned from the camp.

Allowing the unclean person to remain with the clean ran the risk of everyone becoming unclean because ritual cleanliness was an outward manifestation. Whatever is unclean outwardly could infect others with defilement.

For those with leprosy, however, there was nothing in either code to allow them ever to be clean. The kind of leprosy the man who stood in front of Jesus was an infectious disease that had no cure. Not only was the leper sick, be he was condemned to a state of perpetual uncleanness according to the Law. This means that the leper would have to remain outside of the community, forever in the marginalized camp.

Jesus knew this about the leper, and his compassion moved him to bring the leper inside the camp. Just as Jesus’ compassion moved him to bring the marginalized inside the camp for restoration, so should our compassion do the same. The church should be made up of broken people who are trying to live out the blood-wrought redemption Jesus offers everyone; red yellow black and white, they are all precious in his sight. The abled, the disabled, the rich and the poor, the sick and the healthy. Jesus’ compassion inside of us should compel us to go the darkest ares of our community, reach out the marginalized, and bring them to the kingdom of God. That is what Jesus was doing with this leper. But to do this Jesus had to do a great cleaning work in the man’s life, and the man would have to trust Jesus to clean him. This is the cry of faith.

Jesus’ Compassion Recognizes the Courageous Cry of Faith

Matthew 8:2 ESV

2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

Do not miss the physical and spiritual posture of the leper. He kneels at Jesus’ feet and he calls hime Lord. Kent Hughes notes that the term translated as "knelt" (NASB, "bowed") invites us into the leper’s inner emotions. In early Greek literature, the fundamental meaning of this word was "to kiss," akin to kissing the earth while lying prostrate before deities. In the Greek version of the Old Testament, this term corresponded to the Hebrew word for bowing down. Luke adds that "he fell on his face" (5:12), which deepens the imagery.

The humble leper devoted his entire being to a single minded, heart-united, loyal adoration as he lay before Christ in reverence. He worshiped Christ as the sole source of his healing. Furthermore, using the title, Lord, with his kneeling posture signifies at he recognizes Jesus’ authority.

The leper humbled himself before Jesus to ask him to do something extraordinary. The leper says,

Matthew 8:2 ESV

2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

When the leper asks, “If you will,” he’s not asking if Jesus is able. He believes he is able. He asking if Jesus would be compassionate enough to oblige his request. The whole scene looks like a servant asking a king for his favor.

Jesus does not deny his faith, but welcomes his faith by rewarding his request.

Jesus’ Compassion Compel’s Him to Give a Healing Touch

Matthew 8:3 ESV

3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

The word, “compassion,” finds it’s root in Latin; Lat. compati. It means “to sympathize,” or, “to suffer with.” The Westminster Dictionary defines compassion as a desire to help others and assist them arising from perceiving suffering, being moved by it, and alleviating it; a response of the mind, emotion, and will.

Compassion, motivated by a deep love for your fellow man, looks upon the misery of others with a profound willingness to make an effort, even at great sacrifice, to ease another’s pain, readiness to forgive, eagerness to help.

There are three main words that captures God’s compassion in the Hebrew: Hesed, rāhamîm, h̥n/h̥nan. Hesed is very broad, capturing God’s covenant love, faithfulness, and mercy toward his people. Hnan captures more of God’s grace and favor, and it is used often between two people. For example, Joseph found favor with Potiphar.

The Hebrew word, rāhamîm (with the verb rāh̥am), is related to the word for “womb” (reh̥em). It designates “womb-love,” the love of mother (and father) for a child (1 Kgs 3:26; cf. Hos 2:6), the love of brothers and sisters who have shared the same womb for each other (cf. Amos 1:11). It implies a physical response; the compassion for another is felt in the center of one’s body. This mercy also results in action.

Jesus’ compassion consists of his hesed, hnan, and rahamim. In his encounter with the leper, hesed and rahamim seem to shine the most.

Where the Rabbi’s, Priests, and Jewish community saw the leper as a repulsive outcast, Jesus saw him as a broken image bearer who was loved and redeemable.

When the leper came to the crowd calling unclean, unclean, unclean, while everyone cleared away from the leper, Jesus’ compassion compelled him to remain. When the leper knelt before Jesus and asked him for help, Jesus’ compassion looked on his misery without rebuke or scorn. Jesus’ compassion, motivated by a deep love for this broken man, looked upon his misery with a profound willingness to make an effort to ease his pain, and he reached out his hand to touch the untouchable.

Do not underestimate the power of compassionate touch. I met a woman who was diseased and riddled with sores. She smelled like urine and never left her one room apartment in the ghetto. I read the bible to her when I delivered meals on meals in Louisville, KY. One day I noticed she was considerably upset. She wanted to go home to Kansas to die and she had no way of getting there. I felt for her pain. I reached out my hand to to touch her hand. When I touched her, she physically shivered and latched onto my hand. She told me she had not been touched by another human being in years. She wept.

You have to wonder how long the leper had gone without ever being touched by another human being. How shocked he had to of been when Jesus, the Son of God, offers his compassion by reaching out to touch the him.

There is no sinner to unclean or repulsive that Jesus does not look upon with compassion. Keep that in mind when we minister to the broken.

God is calling you to reach out and touch the marginalized, the broken, the outcast of society with you heart and your hands. Just as Jesus spent most of his time with these people, so should we seek them to bring healing and help to alleviate the burden of their suffering.

Jesus’ Compassion Call for a Testimony

Matthew 8:4 ESV

4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

Jesus did not wish to be labeled simply as another Jewish miracle worker. Therefore, he instructed the leper to remain silent about his healing. Instead, he wanted the leper to go to the temple, despite being forbidden, and to approach the priest, who had previously rejected him due to his condition. Jesus intended for the leper to testify at the temple and to the priest that he had been made clean by Jesus Christ.

Jesus heals your spiritual leprosy, purifying you from all unrighteousness.

You must understand, what the leper was on the outside, every human being is on the inside. Our hearts are calloused like rotting flesh toward God. We are morally repulsive to His holiness. Our thoughts, motives, and actions cry out to heaven and earth, “Unclean, unclean, unclean!” The Lord says through the prophet Isaiah 64:6

Isaiah 64:6 CSB

6 All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

Those in heaven who observe us might be incline to keep their distance from us. The bible describes our hearts as desperately wicked and deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9).

We who are defiled, defile everything we touch. Yet, Jesus chose to show us compassion by touching us, putting on flesh and dying on a cross.

How does he cleanse you from all unrighteousness?

He does so by identifying with us in three was.

Jesus identifies with us through is incarnation

He could touch the leper because he left heaven to take on our flesh. He could feel the misery of the leper and exercise compassion because his incarnation made him able to sympathize with all of our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:14-16). He identifies with us as broken image bearers.

Jesus identifies with us at the cross

When he took on flesh, he took on our filth, our uncleanliness. Paul says,

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We all come before Jesus as unclean, sinful lepers, burdened by guilt and shame from our wrong choices that have led us to hate God and our neighbors. Our battles with immorality, infidelity, idolatry, jealousy, bitterness, fear, and doubt make us feel untouchable in God’s sight, as if He cannot bear to be in the presence of such dirt and betrayal. This is indeed the case if we attempt to approach God relying on our own strength and pride.

Jesus understood that the leper required more than just healing of the body; he needed a compassionate Savior to cleanse his heart. The incarnation and atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross purified him from his sins, making him eternally clean in God’s eyes.‌

The apostle John says

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

You must kneel at the foot of the cross and humbly say, Lord, if you will, make me clean.” To every sinner who confesses their sin and repents, Jesus reaches out to you, embraces you, and says, “I will. Be clean.”

When Jesus makes you clean, you are no longer detestable to God. The old self has passed away, and a new one has emerged. In Christ, Jesus has cleaned and liberated you from spiritual afflictions and granted you eternal life. He has provided you with a new eternal community, ensuring you will never feel isolated. You are secure in His embrace, with a promised inheritance. He has empowered you with his Spirit to feel and show his compassion toward the marginalized of society, the broken, and the weak.