The Leper

Large Crowds Followed Jesus

Jesus had just finished preaching the sermon on the mount. He had been performing miracles of healing.

23 Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the [a]gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

24 The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, [b]epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. 25 Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.

The people were very curious as to who Jesus was. They had never seen anyone do the things Jesus did and never heard anyone teach as Jesus did. They were following Him to learn more about Jesus. Most of these people were not interested in getting involved in a relationship with Jesus, they were more interested in what he could do for them and what he was about.

Why do people inquire about Jesus today?

1. Some people seek Jesus to help them get out of the trouble they are in.

2. Some people seek Jesus because they believe Jesus will make their lives easy.

3. Some people seek Jesus as a safety net. I can come to him when i get sick, need money, or need healing.

4. Some people seek Jesus because they believe he will grant them whatever they ask for.

5. Some people seek Jesus to punch their religious card and feel good about themselves.

6. Some people seek Jesus to have a relationship with Him.

Why do you seek Jesus?

A Leper Came To Him

This is unheard of because a person with leprosy was to run away from people not run towards them. Leprosy was the most dreaded disease of this time. It was a gruesome disease that was very contagious.

Dr. Huizenga has written about it: “The disease which we call leprosy today generally begins with pain in certain areas of the body; numbness follows. Soon the skin in such spots loses original color; gets to be thick, glossy, and scaly. 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 swelling, so that the face of the afflicted individual begins to resemble the face of a lion.

“Fingers drop off and are absorbed back into the body. Toes are affected similarly. Eyebrows and eyelashes drop out. And by this time, one can see the person in this pitiable condition is a leper. By the touch of the finger, you can feel it. You can even smell it, for the leper emits a very unpleasant odor.

“Moreover, in view of the fact that the disease produces agents that attack the larynx, the leper’s voice assumes a grating quality; his throat becomes hoarse. And you can not only see, feel, and smell the leper, you can even hear the leper. And if you stay with him for some time, you will find a particular taste in your mouth. All the human senses repulse at a leper.”

As you can see this is a most repulsive disease. This is why God gave instructions to remove a person from the people of Israel in . The priest would determine the severity of the leprosy and determine what was to be done. If the leper was found to have an aggressive case then the leper was required to wear torn clothes, wear a covering over their mouth, isolate themselves from others, and if they encountered anyone they would have to yell “unclean, unclean, unclean”! They only other thing worse than coming in contact with a leper was coming in contact with a leper.

This leper approaches Jesus

Keep in mind that there is a crowd around Jesus. This leper breaks all the rules because he knows that Jesus can make him well. Notice how the leper comes to him: Reverently, Humbly, and Faithfully!

He comes to Jesus reverently. The word of God says that the leper came and bowed down before him. That leper could never have told anyone what he thought Jesus was; but he knew that in the presence of Jesus he was in the presence of God. We do not need to put this into theological or philosophical terms; it is enough to be convinced that when we are confronted with Jesus Christ, we are confronted with the love and the power of Almighty God.

William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Third Ed., The New Daily Study Bible (Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 2001), 343.

2. He comes to Jesus Humbly. He doesn’t come to Jesus demanding to be healed. He simply says “If you are willing, you can make me well.” Whether or not Jesus was going to heal him, he still came to worship him. He did not say to Jesus heal me first and then I will worship you. He recognized Jesus as the Son of God and that illicit ed his worship.

3. He came to Jesus faithfully. The leper did not question Jesus’ ability to heal him. He questioned Jesus willingness to heal him.

I believe that we can learn a lot from this leper on how to approach Jesus. Reverently - Recognize who He is and bring him your worship!

Humbly - Understand that Jesus owes us nothing, but is willing to give us everything.

Faithfully - Believe in the power of Christ as a tangible factor in your life!

Jesus Heals the Leper

Jesus does the unthinkable! He reaches out and touches the leper and heals him! Jesus is filled with compassion towards this man with leprosy. He knows that He is the only one that can heal him. This man comes to Jesus in faith and Jesus heals him! Notice Jesus did not chastise him for not doing what a leper is suppose to do. He instead reaches out and heals him!

This is a beautiful picture of what Jesus does for us. Sin is leprosy of the soul.

Sin is debilitating to our bodies. It cripples us from walking a righteous life.

Sin is mentally excruciating. Just think if you have leprosy there is no cure for you. You just have to let it take its destructive course and become worse and worse. This is what you have to look forward to with sin as well.

nd worse

Sin is humiliating. Often times we are labeled for life for our sin. Just as the leper would have to call out” unclean, unclean, unclean” the sinner is seen as unclean by others!

Sin destroys relationships. When a person contracted leprosy, they could not go home and be with their family. It was believed that God had pronounced judgement on them and they could not have a relationship with their family.

Sin separates. A leper would have to separate from society because they were deemed ceremonially unclean.

Sin is contagious. When we find ourselves in sin we have tendency to drag people into our sin.

Sin is foul. Just as leprosy emits a foul odor, so does sin. When you see it it is appalling.

This leper is a picture of sin walking around. Jesus does only what Jesus can do. He reaches out an heals him. Jesus does the same thing for us when we come to him in faith. He will not turn us away! He will heal us of our sin! Now I am not only talking about salvation here. We have sin in our lives even after we are saved. We must be willing to come to Jesus for healing of this sin. He must do the healing. You cannot heal yourself. the question is are you willing to come?

Jesus Tells the Leper To Go To the Priest and Not Tell Anyone What Happened

Do you ever ask the question why he wanted him to remain silent? I think their are a couple of reasons. The first is people would want to take Jesus and make him their king because of his power. They had the idea that the messiah was to be a great military person with great power that would liberate the nation of Israel from the heavy hand of the Romans. Jesus purpose was much greater than the liberation of Israel from Rome. His purpose was to liberate the world from sin!

The second reason was to demonstrate that He is the Son of God. God had given clear instructions about how to handle leprosy. We find this in & 14. When a person was healed form leprosy they had to go back to the priest to be declared healed and ceremonially clean. Once he was declared ceremonially clean he was totally restored and the curses of the disease were removed.

I imagine that once they were healed the priest would ask the question how? The leper would say Jesus healed me. The priest would have no way of refuting the power of Christ because he declared the leper clean!

Do you have a leprosy in your soul? You can be made well today!

Will you come to Jesus for healing? He has the power and willingness to make you whole today!