Jesus and a Leper
Part 3
13th October 2012
This is our last look at:
Matthew 8v2-4
A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured
of his leprosy.
Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the
gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
After Jesus had healed the leper, he told him, "See that you don't tell anyone". It seems that Jesus often said this, or something like it, to those he had healed. I think this is because He came primarily to die to pay the price for our sins, and secondly to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. It's true that He also healed many people but it was necessary for Him to be known more for who He was - the Messiah, the Son of God, and for what he taught us, and for His sacrifice on the cross, than to be known merely as a healer. If people came to Him in huge numbers, all the time, just for healing, His message would not have got out enough. If all we receive through Jesus Christ is physical healing, we've missed the most important elements of what He offers, including: forgiveness of our sins, adoption as children of God, eternal life, the power of the Holy Spirit, a clear conscience, and membership of His church.
The people knew Jesus could heal. He didn't want just to be famous for that. But Jesus also told the man, "go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them". As Leviticus 14 explains, if a leper is cleansed, he must show himself to a priest, who can confirm that the disease has left him so that he can take his place in society again. So Jesus told the healed man to go and show the priest that he was indeed healed. We're not only healed in order that we may be free from pain, we're also healed in order that we can make a contribution, and live a fulfilled life, earning a living and giving to meet the needs of the poor.
But in showing the priest that he had been healed, the man would inevitably also be testifying to the power and love of Jesus Christ.
We don't need to make a song and dance about what God is doing for us. We need to live gentle, humble, faithful, quiet Christian lives, doing the right thing and being ready to give an account when people ask about why we live as we do, and about how our health has improved. Like the leper, we go back into society cleansed, healed, touched by the love and power of Jesus Christ, and live Christian lives to the glory of God.
What would the healed leper remember most: being healed, or being accepted and touched by the Messiah? When we have opportunity to tell others about how God has healed us, I hope we speak about more than physical blessings, and go on to talk about out relationship with Jesus Christ. For our lives and our hearts to be touched by Jesus is surely the greatest healing of all.