Bella Vista Church of Christ
LIFELINES
February 28, 2001 Randall Caselman
Caring For Lepers
A man with leprosy came to Him and begged Him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left and he was cleansed.
Leprosy was a horrible disease. It often began with spots on the eyelids and palms of the hand. Spreading over the body, it bleached the hair white and covered the skin with scars and oozing sores. The nervous system would become so compromised that there was no feeling in the hands and feet. Fingers and toes would be cut, bumped, burned and chewed without pain; they would be lost due to decay. There are stories of lepers losing fingers overnight because they chewed them off in their sleep.
The world in which Jesus lived went to great extremes to separate the leper from society. The Law of Moses explicitly stated that the leper must cover his lips and cry “Unclean, unclean,” and that he must live alone outside the camp. (Note Leviticus 13.45-46.)
One such individual approached Jesus saying, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Nowhere in the Bible is leprosy compared or paralleled to sin, but there are some thought-provoking similarities. Sin starts out small, as an almost insignificant spot on our character, but it grows until it infects our entire soul. Sin alienates and separates. Sin not cleansed leads to certain death. Just as Christ cleansed this leper, so too He is willing to cleanse us. Some observations:
First, we must come to Jesus. Notice that Jesus did not go to the leper; the leper came to Christ. So we too must come to the One who cleanses. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,” Jesus said, “and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11.28, NIV)
Second, we must come in humility, on our knees. David tells us that God searches for a broken, humble, contrite heart. I believe this translates into what we know as repentance. “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9).
Third, we are saved by His grace and our faith. The leper came to Jesus because he believed that our Lord could heal him; it required Christ’s grace for the healing to occur. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.” Paul says. (Eph. 2.8-9) “And without faith it is impossible to please God,” wrote the Hebrews writer, “because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
Fourth, the actual cleansing is done by Jesus. “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Gal. 3:26-27) Have we put on Christ? Have we been clothed with Christ?
Fifth, we are cleansed, not cured. The leper did not ask to be cured, but to be cleansed. Jesus may have taken away all of the leprosy from the leper’s body, but Christians still sin. Yet Christ can cleanse us even still. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7). Note something about this cleansing: Jesus touched him - Ouch!! Touch a leper?? Jesus could have cleansed without the touch. But He didn’t. I believe this tells us that our compassion must lead to action - to touching. Those of us who have been touched by Christ must imitate Him. Are we willing?
Question! Do we know any lepers? I dare say we do. There are lepers where we work, at school, perhaps in the church, in our social or sports clubs. They are the social outcasts, the disenfranchised, the poor, the downtrodden, the down-on-their-luck, the ugly and the hurting. They are the people that no one will have anything to do with. There are lepers everywhere! Touch them. The world is watching us. Will we touch the lepers around us? Will we offer them the cleansing power of Jesus? I pray we will.
RANDALL CASELMAN
