“Encounters with Jesus: With an Unclean Man”
Introduction:
When I was a freshman in college I had to preach a sermon in one of my classes, the teacher insisted that we dress up for the occasion. The class was early, like 7:30 early; I rolled out of bed a little bit late and began to get ready for class still half way asleep. I was trying extra hard to be quick and quiet so as not to awake my roommate. I leave and get to class and the second I get there I notice I had leaned over a busted pen on my desk and gotten ink all over my tie and shirt. I seem to have a knack for when I need to be dressed up and look nice to ruin it by spilling something on myself.
It’s no fun to be unclean!
As I read through the gospels I am amazed at our Savior. I cannot help, but to stand in awe of this man who lived in Palestine 2,000 years ago. It is clear that no person that has ever lives has even come close to measuring up to Jesus Christ. No person has spoke with the power and authority that Jesus spoke. No person has looked on people with such great compassion as Jesus. Jesus continuously did things that
Throughout Jesus’ life and ministry h came across and encountered many people. The people he came across were different from one person to the next, but one thing remained the same and that was the love and compassion that Jesus showed to those people. Today, we encounter Jesus as well through His Word and the love and compassion come over to our lives as well. We have the privilege of getting to know the greatest person that has ever walked on the face of this earth, the person that changed the world more than any other, and the one that died as a sacrifice for us on mount Calvary. Today he is bringing us many of the same messages that he brought to those living in His day. He is still looking for people to deny themselves, and take up their crosses and follow him.
To me one of the most exciting miracles that Jesus performed was the one where healed the man with leprosy. Leprosy during Jesus’ times was considered one of the worst diseases that a person could contract. It was a disgusting disease. The spots of leprosy typically would make their appearance very suddenly. Soon the sores covered the whole body and became ulcerated, and would begin to bleed…then flesh would begin to fall off of the body, sometimes in large portions—fingers and toes first, perhaps an ear or part of the nose. What made leprosy such a dreaded disease wasn’t just the pain and the disgust of the disease it was how people responded to the leper. The leper was considered an outcast in society, they were deprived of their rights to worship and be around people they instead had to live outside the city walls in leper colonies. Whenever the leper walked by crying, “unclean, unclean” so people would know to avoid him. When the lepers would walk by people they had to shout that they were unclean as warning to stay away. In Leviticus, leprosy is the most serious of all forms of uncleanness.
When this leper came to Jesus great crowds were following Him, he had just preach his sermon on the mount and his popularity was rapidly increasing. This leper came into the city and approached Jesus. Interestingly, the leper should not have been inside of the city, he should have been outside the city walls with the other lepers. This man would have been thought of as a man cursed by God. You may remember when Moses’ sister, Miriam opposed Moses’ leadership, she was cursed by God with leprosy. Jesus is about to heal the most disgusting person he has come across in his ministry. Maybe as the leper approached, he was following what the law prescribed, crying out, “unclean, unclean”. I picture the crowds rapidly moving out of the way of this man. Touching him alone would be an act making him unclean. The leper wanted to be healed, but the leper’s problem was more than a dreaded skin disease, he like us has leprosy of the soul. Jesus therefore didn’t just heal him, he cleansed him.
Text: Matthew 8:1-4
I. The Healing of the Leper
If we thought that Jesus disciples and others were appalled when Jesus hung around tax-collectors and prostitutes imagine how they felt as they saw this man that was probably a hideous sight to look upon. You see, Jesus was different from everyone else that was living during that time and this leper knew it. I don’t know what made it clear to him that Jesus wouldn’t treat him with the contempt and scorn that the Jewish rabbis would have treated him. Perhaps he could hear from Jesus’ teaching that he was unlike the teacher’s of the law. Perhaps he could see love and compassion beam from the eyes of our Savior. Nonetheless, the leper knew Jesus was different and knew that he could do something for him. I hate to wonder how I would have responded to that man. “I’m sorry I can’t help you I don’t want you to make me unclean.” Perhaps I would have turned away or avoided the situation. Jesus never avoided a person that was disgusting in our sight, in fact those were the very people he hung around and took in his arms and showed love. In fact, this is one of the things that people ridiculed Jesus for the most that he would love the nasty people of the world.
A hospital visitor saw a nurse tending to the sores of a leprosy patient and said, “I’d never do that for a million dollars!” The nurse answered, “Neither would I, but I do it for Jesus and he did it for nothing.”
I believe our Savior set for us a perfect example of the attention we should give to others that may not look and seem like us.
The leper wanted badly to get to Jesus because he knew that Jesus could do something. He overcame the fear of the crowds that surrounded him. He knew no leper had ever been healed by a man and the leprosy was a death sentence, he approached Jesus, bowed before him to worship him and called him “Lord”. The leper didn’t just ask him to heal him he stated if you are willing you are able to make me clean. I picture that the leper was in the latter stages of this disease, he was probably wearing torn clothes, he was probably a wretched site, a sight for sore eyes. Yet Jesus saw beyond the flesh eating disease straight to this man’s heart. Notice several things about the Leper’s attitude in coming to Jesus. He didn’t come proudly or arrogantly. He didn’t come demanding Jesus to do it for him the way many come to him today. Many today say, I will never be faithful unless you give me the desires of my heart. They have it backwards. He knew that if he was faithful that God would take care of him.
Leviticus 13:45-46
One thing that is interesting about the leper’s request of Jesus was that he asked to be made clean not to be healed. He didn’t just want to get rid of the leprosy that was destroying his flesh he wanted to be made ceremonially clean again. He didn’t just want to see a nice miracle, he wanted to be freed of this burden. Though the law was tough on the lepers the Rabbis during Jesus’ time were even harsher. They considered any place a leper even stuck his head unclean, they were to remain at least 6 feet away from him, one rabbi even boasted of throwing stones at them to keep them away. I say this so that we can grasp how the rabbis and the society would have feared, dreaded and hated the leper.
Now, the law required that leper’s could have no participation in the worship in the Temple until the priest declared that they were now cleansed. He wanted Jesus to declare him clean to be able to worship again in the Temple. After all, Jesus was the great high priest. It fascinates me how much a desire this man probably had to be in the Temple and to be in God’s presence in worship. There was no greater punishment for a Jewish person than to remove them from the Temple because to them it was removing them from God himself. Incidentally, I think that some people in the Lord’s church would be just fine being condemned as unclean and unable to worship. To many that would be a great excuse not to worship God. Wouldn’t it be nice if with the same fervor we could seek to be made clean so that we could worship God too. By the way, did you notice a difference between how Jesus healed this man and the modern day so-called miracle workers. The healing was immediate and complete.
II. The Spiritual Leprosy
In the Bible sin is alluded to as being spiritual leprosy and there are many similarities.
a. Leprosy and Sin begin small
Leprosy is a disease that begins very small and seemingly harmless and spread rapidly. It begins by a small white bump on the skin. Sin is the same way; sin starts small and eventually takes over lives.
James 1:13-14
Most of the time people just don’t dive into sin; it starts out small and seemingly harmless. Maybe by missing a few weeks of church and you rationalize that you can worship better somewhere else and soon when that sin of unfaithfulness is full grown and you are removed from the fellowship of God’s people other sins will become much easier to commit. King David had just a little white spot of laziness one day, didn’t go out to war and that small little sin lead into big sin. It was when he was on his roof that he noticed another man’s wife and sinned with her. Sin like leprosy begins small and often spreads rapidly. Perhaps it begins with a little white lie or a little glance at someone who is not your spouse; let me assure you that sin like leprosy will spread. Before you know it you will be knee deep in sin and most likely will be so hardened to it that it doesn’t bother you. I believe that is why it is important to not let sin even begin, do not give the Devil a foothold.
Have you ever wondered how a worm get inside an apple? Perhaps you think the worm burrows in from the outside. No, scientists have discovered that the worm comes from the inside. But, how does he get in there? Simple. An insect lays an egg in the apple blossom. Sometime later the worm hatches in the heart of the apple, then eats his way out.
Sin, like the worm, begins in the heart and works out through the person’s thoughts, word and actions
I know that some things you do may seem harmless and you may think that there is nothing wrong with what you are doing, but sin like leprosy starts small, but spread rapidly. I think that we need to strive to run from sin as best as we can. So many people like to live their lives and see what they can get by with, instead we should be avoiding sin because it like leprosy starts small and then spread rapidly.
At a U.S. arsenal a few years ago, a large cannon lay, marked "Condemned." The attendant pointed out some indentations about the size of a pinhead which dotted the barrel in a dozen places. They did not appear to go deeper than a 32nd of an inch; and yet the weapon was condemned. There might be a weakness extending through the entire gun, so that in war the mighty engine capable of hurling half a ton of metal, a dozen miles and hitting a target with fine accuracy, might under the heat of battle and the strain of powder, burst into a thousand fragments. Some basic flaw may destroy our characters and ruin others, be we ever so perfect in other points.
A lot of people do not see some of the things they d as wrong. Some don’t see things like missing church, telling a lie, looking at another person lustfully, or fill in the blank as such a bad thing. People want to feel good today, they don’t want to fee like they are bad people, but small sin can have drastic results because sin like leprosy spreads into something greater and more serious.
b. Leprosy and Sin Keep Us From God
Leprosy in the times of the Old Testament would have prevented people from coming into God’s presence, they would have been prevented to worship. It was not only a devastating disease because of the pain, but it was spiritually devastating because it removed a person from God during their lives.
I want you to know that sin does the same thing. Do you remember the instruction for the leper in Leviticus 13, they were to live alone outside of the camp. Sin does the same thing, it separates us from God. When we live a life of sin we are missing out on so much in this life, we are missing out on truly knowing God. I know many people who try to receive the benefits in this life of being a Christian while living a life of sin. They think since their sin is a secret sin and nobody knows about it that it does not matter, but what they are doing is committing spiritual suicide. They are missing out on so much spiritually. Sin keeps us from truly knowing God in this life.
c. Leprosy and Sin result in death
When leprosy came into the picture for a person it was always a death sentence barring a miracle. It wasn’t too long until the body of the leper would be just about totally eaten away. Sin like leprosy has the same result.
Romans 6:23
The problem with the result of sin is that everyone has sinned. Everyone has to face the results of sin. The death that comes as a result of sin is not a physical death like come from leprosy, but rather is a spiritual death that results in separation from God. If the disease of sin is not dealt with in the proper way than the consequences are grave. There is good news at this point, however. We do not have to face that death because there is a cure, and that is Jesus Christ.
d. Leprosy and Sin can spread
Leprosy was known to be a very contagious disorder, and that is one reason that they had leper colonies away from everyone else. Sin is very much like that it too can spread rapidly. Sin can be a very contagious thing for us as people. I believe that is why we need to be extra careful about what we are around. We need to guard ourselves from the people we hang around, the things we watch and what we listen to because sin like leprosy can spread through the camp quickly. Sin can spread very easily and attitudes and actions are contagious. You may like many say that it does not affect you, but I believe that we should strive to avoid that which is unclean in our lives. There is a reason God told the Jews to avoid the leper and that was for fear of it spreading. We too should avoid sin for fear of it spreading to us.
e. Leprosy and Sin are treated by the priest
A leper could only be named cleansed by the priest and the high priest, Jesus, can only cleanse a sinner.
We are unclean with spiritual leprosy and need to come to Jesus like this man did and ask him to make us clean.
III. The Spiritual Cleansing
The way a leper was cleansed and made clean was by presenting himself to the priest. Now, there were two different cleansing that took place in order for reinstatement to take place. First, was a cleansing outside the camp. The priest would take two clean birds and kill one over running water, and then take the water and the blood which mixed together and sprinkle it over the leper and the other bird, then the other bird was set free. In like manner, when Jesus had just died a guard came and pierced his side and out of it flowed blood and water, and in order for us to be cleansed we have to have the blood applied to us.
Leviticus 14:8
After this the leper could enter into the camp, and similarly after we have washed in the waters of baptism we can enter into the camp, His Church.
The second cleansing took place inside the camp. First, they would remove anything that could possibly bring about a recurrence of the leprosy, they would shave all their hair, and either cleanse or destroy their house. Nothing was worth contracting that disease.
Philippians 2:12
Once we are in the camp, the church, we still have to work and put forth effort to stay cleansed of the leprosy.
The good news is that spiritual cleansing is available for us today. We do not have to remain unclean and stuck in the consequences of our sins. The Devil likes us to believe that our sin is too bad. He likes us to believe that we are not good enough to come to Jesus. He will put any obstacle in our path to prevent us from being cleansed. We do not need a physical healing we like the leper need spiritual cleansing. We need to be made clean again.
I wonder what happened to the leper after Jesus healed him. He probably went to the priest and brought the sacrifices he was required to bring under the law in order to be cleanses. I am sure people were baffled by his miraculous healing. Perhaps he went and was reunited with his family. I have no doubt that he had a whole new appreciation for the worship that he was allowed to bring before God now that he was cleansed. Sometimes we do not appreciate things until they are taken away. I would like to think that this leper a few years later was worshiping at the Temple in Jerusalem shortly after Jesus death, burial and resurrection during Pentecost. I would like to think that heard Peter’s proclamation that Jesus was the Christ and that he sits at the right hand of God. I would like to think that with tears in his eyes and appreciation for his cleansing he was one of the first to respond to the gospel invitation that was offered that day. I have to believe that many of the people Jesus encountered made up the 3,000 converts at Pentecost. I can just see it now, this man who had once been a disgust to society, who was filled with leprosy, whom Jesus had cleansed arose from the watery grave that day and knew that he once again was cleansed by Jesus.
On the cross of calvary Jesus took upon himself all of the sins of the world. Paul says that he made him who knew no sin, that is Jesus, become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God.
Isaiah 53:4
This passage was one where the Jews had the idea of the Leprous Messiah, he was afflicted by God. He took upon himself our spiritual leprosy and made us clean.
In order for us to come into the presence of God at judgment we must first be cleansed of our sin. In order for the priests under the Old Covenant law to be able to serve in God’s temple they first had to wash. Paul’s first instructions following him being blinded on the road to Damascus were similar.
Acts 22:16
