Luke 5:12-16 Lepers made Clean
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter five. Today we are going to look at verses twelve through sixteen, Jesus cleanses a leper, and that’s on page 861 in the pew Bibles.
Let’s pray.
12 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
Leprosy is no joke. It is among the most horrible health conditions this world has ever known. In Scripture the term leprosy covers a range of diseases that affect the skin and the nerves that were highly contagious and just plain gross.
To have leprosy meant that one was a leper, not only suffering from a horrible health condition but an outcast from society as well.
Leviticus 13:45-46 says after describing in detail what the leprous disease looks like with graphic descriptions of boils and sores…
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.
To be a leper meant that you were not only physically ill but that you were an outcast, not able to live in your home with your own family but alienated from the rest of society separated into a colony of lepers all just as miserable as you.
We got just a taste of this with the quarantines that we endured over the last three years. Sick, separated, lonely, miserable.
The Old Testament only records two people ever being healed of leprosy, Namaan the Syrian, that Jesus referred to in the Synagogue in Nazareth, and Miriam the sister of Moses. But even still, the Old Testament records guidelines for what to do when a person was healed from leprosy in Leviticus 14.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest, 3 and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person, 4 the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds and cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop. 5 And the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water. 6 He shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. 7 And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field. 8 And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean. And after that he may come into the camp, but live outside his tent seven days. 9 And on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair, and then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.
10 “And on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish, and a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and one log of oil. 11 And the priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed and these things before the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 12 And the priest shall take one of the male lambs and offer it for a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. 13 And he shall kill the lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary. For the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy. 14 The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 15 Then the priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand 16 and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and sprinkle some oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. 17 And some of the oil that remains in his hand the priest shall put on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering. 18 And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. Then the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord. 19 The priest shall offer the sin offering, to make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. And afterward he shall kill the burnt offering. 20 And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.
21 “But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil; 22 also two turtledoves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. 23 And on the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, before the Lord. 24 And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. 25 And he shall kill the lamb of the guilt offering. And the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 26 And the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand, 27 and shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the Lord. 28 And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, in the place where the blood of the guilt offering was put. 29 And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the Lord. 30 And he shall offer, of the turtledoves or pigeons, whichever he can afford, 31 one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, along with a grain offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for him who is being cleansed. 32 This is the law for him in whom is a case of leprous disease, who cannot afford the offerings for his cleansing.”
Seems like a lot of rules for a healing that was only recorded twice! There is a lot of rich symbolism there of Messiah and His work, but that’s a study for another time.
Here in Luke 5 we have a man that crossed the lines, broke the rules and came to Jesus saying, “If you will, you can make me clean.”
Calvin said, “I am not even certain if we are at liberty to say, strictly speaking, that the leper offered a prayer. He only declares that he is so fully convinced of the power of Christ as to entertain no doubt that it is in His power to cure leprosy, and then presents himself to be healed, but uncertain of the result because He did not yet know the will of Christ.”
I think there’s a lesson there to learn from this man about prayer, or if not prayer, at least about trust in Christ and submission to His will.
This man was convinced of Jesus’ power to heal, but he didn’t actually ask Him to heal him. Instead, he confessed His power and submitted to His will.
Jesus was willing and healed the man but not just out of compassion for him but for a proof to the priests that Messiah had come to Israel. He told the man to be obedient to Leviticus 14, to show himself to the priest and make a thanks offering for his cleansing. Oh, and don’t tell anybody else about this either, which he, of course, ignored.
Jesus, who is the source of cleaning touched this unclean man, who had been separated and untouched by anyone else for who knows how long. Luke says that he was full of leprosy, the prognosis was not good and the disease had almost completely run its course in him.
But Jesus stretched out His hand and said, “I will; be clean.”
Leprosy has historically been used as a symbol for sin and mankind’s sinful condition, it’s deeper than the skin, it defiles and corrupts, it spoils all it touches, it alienates people from those that they love, separates us for our Heavenly Father, and in the end leads to death and eternal separation from God.
The advantage that the leper has over the non-leper is that his disease cannot be hidden, it cannot be denied, he is aware of his desperate state and so is everybody else.
Those of us who are still sick with the leprosy of sin, pretend that because our disease is not visible it isn’t real, but the One who has the power to heal us of our disease also has the power to see through our façade, through the veil of our success and our socially acceptable state.
He can see through to our need, our need for forgiveness. He is waiting with outstretched hands for us to come to Him and admit our need for forgiveness that we could be truly cleansed.
And for those of us who have experienced His healing and His forgiveness through faith in Him should do no less than he commanded the leper made clean, be obedient to His Word, be faithful to His commands. But unlike the command He gave the leper to tell no one, He has commanded us to tell everyone of what has happened to us!
We’ve a story to tell to the nations!
Amen.
