11.09.07
Christ’s Authority Over Defilement (Matt. 8:2-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16)
Christ’s Authority Over Defilement (Matt. 8:2-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16)
What is leprosy?
…a slowly progressing and intractable disease…This disease in an special manner rendered its victims unclean; even contact with a leper defiled whoever touched him, so while the cure of other diseases is called healing, that of leprosy is called cleansing. The first OT mention of this disease is a sign given by God to Moses…the second case is that of Miriam (Num. 12:10) where the disease is graphically described. Rules for the disease can be found in Lev. 13 & 14.
In the OT, leprosy is viewed not so much as a type of sin, instead it is seen as the uncleanness and separation that sin produces. How hopeless was a leper’s situation? Looking at the law you will see that there is no provision for a persons cleansing, there is only a provision to declare as clean one who had been suspected of having leprosy.
Page 149, Geikie describes the pitiful plight of the leper: (READ)
No matter what all the laws and traditions said, there was a leper who broke all the written and unwritten rules and boldly approached Jesus and asked for help. It’s interesting to note that there was no precedent to this anywhere in the OT. But to have heard(or to have seen) the stories of Him teach, to have seen or known Him as healing all manner of disease must have led to the conviction and determination to do whatever it took to beg for help and healing. It was a lowly approach in awe and reverence which has often come from those who have despaired of all other forms of help. ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Faith in His Power, absolute committal to Him of our helpless, hopeless need.
This man knelt and turned his gaze from the One that he presented his petition. We have no evidence that some report went out that Christ had previously healed a leper. To him, it didn’t matter, he seems to recognize the authority of Christ over this situation. The healing did not depend on Christ’s willingness to exercise the authority that He possessed over uncleanness, but rather on the petitioners faith in His person.
What did Jesus do? He touched him! He touched a leper and spoke the words of authority over defilement. The hand of Jesus was not polluted by touching the leper’s body, but the leper’s whole body was cleansed by the touch of that holy had. It was even thus that He touched our sinful human nature, and yet remained without spot of sin.
The natural response would have been for this man to become a public spokesperson for Jesus. In fact, you probably couldn’t stop this man from babbling on and on about this miracle! This would be another feather in the cap for Christ. But, what’s this? Christ instead command this man to go to a priest and undergo the elaborate ritual of cleansing in order to be accepted in society.
So if this man stayed in Galilee to be a witness to Christ without undergoing the proper ritual of cleansing, he would have been deemed unclean and therefore his witness would have been nullified (Lev. 14). But there was an additional reason why Christ sent the cleansed man to the priest. The man was to be a testimony to them (Luke 5:14). Just going to the priests with this claim would have triggered an investigation. Questions would have been asked, the former leper would tell them of Jesus, the claim of Jesus having the authority and power to heal would have been examined by the Sanhedrin for investigation and a final declaration. So Christ was bringing evidence to those in high authority in the religious realm. He was generating an investigation of His person and His claim.
So Jesus wanted the authorities to face the issue of the person of Christ. Note that it was not necessary for the cleansed leper to be present in Galilee to give testimony to the person of Christ. The news of the cleansing circulated widely with the result of added crowds of people coming to hear Christ preach and to receive healing by His authority.
If Jesus healed you, how would you respond? Just be thankful and do your own thing? Or be obedient? Would you question His motives for asking you to do something specific?
