The Leper's Desire is Rewarded with the Cleansing Touch of the King

Introduction

I believe that perhaps one of the greatest fears that human beings possess is the fear of being alone…of being rejected. Probably one of the hardest things that each of us has to endure is that feeling that nobody cares about us and that we don't matter much to anybody. This is a fear that is behind depression. It is the feeling of being totally alone that can drive someone to attempt suicide.

Loneliness is not just a feeling of unbelievers but also of believers as well. Many times it’s not just a feeling but a reality. Look at Job's life. In Job 12:4 he said, “I am one mocked by his friends,” and in Job 16:20 he said that his friends “scorn him.” Psalm 88 is a psalm that contains a heartfelt cry to God in the midst of suffering and loneliness. Loneliness when acquaintances have abandoned him and when loved ones and friends are far away.

All of us have struggled with loneliness at some time or another in our lives. You can be surrounded by people and yet be incredibly lonely. Marriage was designed to remove this possibility from human existence. God saw that Adam was alone and so created Eve so that Adam might know companionship, intimacy, and help. Yet due to the Fall even marriage can fail to live up to its purpose. Job's wife wasn't all that supportive, “Curse God, and die!” she encouraged him.

The miracle before us this morning was more than just a leper's plea to Jesus to be rid of a troublesome skin disease. As we read out of Leviticus this morning, leprosy was a disease where you were isolated from the general community, alienated from fellowship, rendered incapable of approaching God in worship, and reviled by all who saw you. It was a disease where everyone who saw you spoke of you as one cursed by God and undergoing His judgment.

The Gospel of Matthew is a gospel that highlights one aspect about the person and work of Christ. It highlights Christ as the King of God's people and His work as King in teaching the truth and in engaging in the restoration of God's people from the effects of the Curse into a proper relationship with Himself. It is for this purpose that Matthew has included the lengthy Sermon on the Mount, more mention of miracles than any other Gospel writer, and more kingdom parables. Matthew was written by a Jew for the Jews in order that they may know who Jesus really is – their long-awaited Messiah and the Son of David, their King.

The miracle before us this morning is one that Matthew gives us that follows immediately upon the heels of the Sermon on the Mount. A sermon where Jesus said repeatedly, “You have heard that it was said...but I say to You.” Jesus astonished the people, teaching as one who possessed an authority unlike all the other religious authorities the people had experienced. Yet he engaged in a work that was more than just teaching.

J.R.R. Tolkien said in the last book of his trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, that the hands of the king are the hands of a healer. This is one of the many places where the Christian background to Tolkien's writing is seen, for it is only in Christ that we see one who demonstrates the rightness of His kingship by being the Great Physician. And so, this morning we will look at how the leper's desire is rewarded with the cleansing touch of the King.

The Leper's Desire (vs. 1-2)

Verse 1 begins with “When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him,” and then goes on to describe the healing that soon follows. By using this transition Matthew links together both the teaching of our Lord in Matthew 5-7 with the healings of Matthew 8-9.

As the crowds followed Jesus, a leper emerged from somewhere. And the text portrays the amazing thing that this was when it says, “Behold”. The word in the original language demonstrates how unusual this was. Everything was going along smoothly, a time of preaching and teaching had finished and then a rather amazing thing happened. A leper appeared. He probably found it fairly easy to approach the Lord as the crowd would have parted in horror when they saw him. No one wanted to touch him and become either ceremonially unclean or possibly infected with his disease.

One of the rejects of society had appeared in their midst, displaying great audacity in coming into the middle of a hostile crowd. Yet unlike the rest of the crowd he showed great reverence in coming before the Lord and kneeling down in a posture of humility and worship. He called Jesus “Lord” out of respect. He could not yet know the full truth about who Jesus was, but as Jesus had already been known as a miracle worker, he knew that the source of healing and restoration must come from this great teacher and divine miracle worker.

At a cursory reading of this miracle, we might be tempted to have a rather shallow understanding about the leper's request as well as the significance of Jesus' actions. When he said, “If you will, you are able to make me clean,” he was asking for more than healing of his leprosy. This was a loaded request.

Complete Physical Restoration

The leper's desire encompassed three areas. The first desire of the leper was one of complete physical restoration.

Leprosy was used to describe a variety of skin diseases. “The disease which we today call leprosy generally begins with pain in certain areas of the body. Numbness follows. Soon the skin in such spots loses its original color. It gets to be thick, glossy, and scaly. In fact, the affliction is called leprosy because it makes the skin scaly, the Greek word leposor lepis meaning scale. 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...Fingers drop off or are absorbed; toes are affected similarly. Eyebrows and eyelashes drop out. By this time one can see that the person in this pitiable condition is a leper. By a touch of the finger one can also feel it. One can even smell it, for the leper emits a very unpleasant odor. Moreover, in view of the fact that the disease-producing agent frequently also attacks the larynx, the leper’s voice acquires a grating quality.”[1]

The life of a leper was one of physical suffering and so this request of the leper to be clean was not a request merely for a reduction in his suffering but the elimination of it.

Complete Social Renewal

This desire for complete physical healing was also intimately involved with his desire for complete social renewal. The life of the leper was one of complete loneliness. The leper was rejected by childhood friends, business associates, parents and siblings, wife and children. He would live alone, people would not keep company with him and would stay a safe distance away from him. He wouldn't be able to move through a crowd without that crowd being aware of the unclean person walking through their midst.

Social rejection was an experience that was part of the life of the leper. The only hope for a change in his social status was for the plague in his skin to be removed. The only hope for him to be able to hug a loved family member and to be able to be hugged in return was for complete and total healing to come to his body. The desire for healing was a desire to be part of what was happening around him in society instead of being passed by.

Complete Spiritual Reconciliation

There is yet a third aspect to his desire for healing. It is for a complete spiritual reconciliation. It should not be missed that the leper addresses Jesus as “Lord.” The term used in the original language was one that the Romans and Greeks would use of the gods or of their representatives such as the emperor. It was a title that was attached to deity. For the Jews, they acknowledged only one Lord, the God of heaven and earth. For the leper to call Jesus, “Lord,” and then beg to be cleansed implied that he had at least some inkling to the importance of Jesus. That he was Messiah, King of the Jews most certainly. And even Jesus' identity with God Himself for only God can cleanse that which is defiled.

Regardless of what exactly the leper understand about the person of Jesus, he went to Him in order to be reconciled to God for his leprosy prevented him from going into the temple to worship. He couldn't even enter a synagogue. He could offer no sacrifices until he was cleansed. Being cleansed of the leprosy meant that the separation between him and God would be gone. He could again come and worship the Lord.

The desire of the leper to be cleansed meant far more for him than what we might think. It meant that everything that was broken in his life would be remade. His broken body would be restored, broken societal relationships would be renewed, and brokenness with God would result in reconciliation.

What then is the decision of the King to the desire of the outcast and lonely leper?

The King's Decision (vs. 3-4)

One of the things that irked the religious leaders in Jerusalem about Jesus was his willingness to associate with the outcasts of society. They criticized Him of being the friend of “publicans (or tax collectors) and sinners.” If there's one trait that separates the Divine King from all earthly kings it is His compassion.

There are two types of kings – proud kings who don’t associate with the lowly, poor, and suffering and humble kings who are greatly concerned about those who suffer. Our King, Jesus Christ, is the preeminent example of the humble king who is willing and able to lift up and restore those who are outcast and lonely.

His Touch of Compassion

Our Lord's response to the leper's statement that if he wills, he can make him clean was to stretch forth His hand. This aspect of the King's decision showed his compassion. “The touch was virtually sacramental, a sign of a coming deed. The man kept his distance; Jesus closed it. The crowd was surely horrified; would the great teacher defile himself by touching the leper? But what a moment for the leper as he saw Jesus draw near and stretch out his hand. No normal person had touched him for a long time. But now the healer reached out to him and spoke, “I am willing; be clean”

Their flesh touched, but Jesus did not catch the leper's uncleanness. Instead, the leper caught the restoration, renewal, and reconciliation that Jesus was offering. He loved the outcast, he loved the powerless, and he loved the nobodies of his society. This miracle reveals the power and the holiness of Jesus; it also reveals his compassion. By this miracle he saves the leper – he saves the whole man, not just the soul. Jesus restored every phase of this man's brokenness.

His Touch of Cleansing

A second aspect of the decision of our King shows His love for those who need to be cleansed. Jesus then goes on to say, “Show yourself to the priest” for two reasons. The report to the priests testifies that God is at work and authenticates the healing as genuine. Examination by the priests also lets the man return to home and family, to work and friends. In essence, he would be able to demonstrate to all those who cared about him that God had restored him to them. God was not far off; rather He was very near.

Conclusion

There are two points of application that come from this healing that I'd like to point out. The first is at the individual level. What type of Divine King is it with whom you deal? Is it the indifferent and removed God of the Deist? No! Is it the powerless God of the Open Theist who believes that God is merely moving through time with us? No! It is the King who says, “Come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” It is the King who is very concerned about the lonely, outcast, poor and downtrodden. If there are times that you feel alone, cast your care upon Him for He cares for you. He was willing to touch and cleanse the despised leper. He is ever ready to cleanse, heal, and reach out to you that you may be comforted.

Loneliness is a path that many of us have at one time been on, are currently on, or may one day be on. The world's solution to loneliness is to become distracted – to get busy, busy, busy. Our society is one where we are becoming more estranged from each other the more our technology flourishes. We are surrounded by those who are lonely and in despair. The only cure for loneliness is not distraction, but the touch of the hand of the King. It is His presence that dispels the darkness and brings healing and restoration both with God and with each other.

Yet not only does this miracle show that we have a Rock of refuge in times of loneliness at the individual level. It also shows us what the work of the Church is to be. The decision of our King to show compassion and love in both the physical and spiritual healing of this outcast provides the pattern for what labor in the kingdom of heaven is all about. The social gospel was wrong in stating that the goal of the kingdom is societal restoration. Evangelicals are wrong in thinking that the goal of the kingdom is merely spiritual.

Our Lord's ministry is the pattern of ministry that should be followed closely by the church, by {name of church} in the place which God has placed you. It is a concern with both the spiritual reconciliation of sinners with God and the physical restoration of those who are in need. Jesus tends the body as well as the soul. Therefore we strive to feed the hungry, to heal the sick, and to offer shelter to the homeless. At the same time we share the truth that loneliness can only be dispelled when a sinner comes to the King for cleansing from sin and for reconciliation with God. It is by coming to Christ that man is restored physically with eternal life in the resurrection, renewed socially with the communion of saints in glory forever, and reconciled to God by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

May God's grace be with us that we may seek Christ alone when we are lonely and as a church follow Christ's pattern of kingdom ministry to the glory of our Divine King. AMEN.

[1]Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953-2001). Vol. 9: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew. New Testament Commentary (388). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.