Luke 5:12-16
"And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed," Luke 5:12-16.
The popularity of Jesus had grown so much that He hardly had time for rest. He was not promoting Himself. He did not have a marketing team with a marketing strategy. Christ was simply going from town to town and synagogue to synagogue preaching and teaching the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43; Mark 1:14-15). Proclaiming the gospel was impacting people, as well as the works that Christ did. Never was there a man that spoke like Christ did, and never was there a man who performed miracles like Christ. It doesn't take long for word to spread (Luke 4:40). If you had a loved one who needed what only Jesus could give, you would tell them, send them, and even bring them to Jesus. You would try to convince them that Jesus Christ is who He says He is and can do what He says He will do. You would wrap your arms around them and beg them to look to Jesus Christ. But this is not the case for the man in Luke 5:12. This man was a leper. Luke tells us this man was full of leprosy. This means he was covered in every part. No one wanted to be around a leper. It was a dreaded disease and it was viewed as being highly contagious. God gave Israel strict laws about how to deal with leprosy, the leper, and any place they had been or touched in Leviticus 13-14. The leper would be put outside of the camp. As long as he had leprosy he was cut off from those who didn't. It would be very rare for someone to be healed from leprosy, so over time there would be a gathering of lepers forming a leper colony. The lepers would be looked down on by others and would be considered as a people cursed by God for some type of sin they committed. We see this mindset in John 9:1-3.
Even though this man was an outcast, he still heard about Jesus Christ. What he heard about Christ drove him to do what was unlawful to do, and that was being around people who did not have leprosy. How severe was the leprosy on this man? He was full of leprosy. His whole body was covered with it. In order to grasp what Christ did for this man, I want to paint a picture of how this man looked. In our world leprosy is called Hansen's disease, named after Gerhard Armauer Hansen who was a Norwegian physician who discovered that leprosy is a pathogenic bacteria. Leprosy is a disease that damages the nerves, respiratory tract, including the vocal chords, skin, and eyes. Some would go blind, lose their voice, and some would not be able to feel because of the damage to their nerves. This could get so bad that their outer extremities would fall off, and they would not feel any pain. They may have shortened or no fingers, missing pieces or all of their lips, ears, nose, eye brows or even eye lids. If they could not feel their teeth they may grind them down to nothing and have blood running out of their mouth. Leprosy was also called lion's disease because the lumps on peoples faces would cause them to look like a lion. The lepers face or skull may be sunk in because of the missing bones and muscle tissue. These sores and disfigurements would also be all over their bodies.
No one wanted leprosy, and no one wanted to be around someone who had leprosy. It wasn't just the sight of someone, but also the smell of rotting flesh. It was such a feared disease that you did not even want to be downwind of a leper for fear of catching leprosy. The religious leaders would run away from a leper, and even cast stones at them. It was also the lepers responsibility to warn others by proclaiming unclean, unclean! If you trespassed against the laws regarding leprosy, you could be stoned to death. This is terrible for the leper, and the leper's family. They knew the consequences of having leprosy. You could deny that you or a loved one has leprosy, but the evidence would be seen by all.
In our text we have a man who is full of leprosy. He has heard about Jesus Christ. He has made up his mind that he must get to Jesus, even if it cost him his life. Jesus Christ is his only hope, so he went to Jesus. He came knowing others would not approve of him being there. He came humble, and in great need, "who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." He is begging Jesus to heal him. He has nothing to offer Jesus. He is not there to make a deal with Jesus. "Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling!" He came to the only One who can heal him. He knows Jesus is able, but is Jesus willing?
"And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him," Luke 5:13. We don't know what kind of anticipation this man had, or his fears of rejection. He knew that Jesus was able to cleanse him even though he was full of leprosy, but would Jesus cleanse him. Yes. Jesus is willing. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out," John 6:37. This man did not come to Jesus bragging about how he deserved to be healed. He didn't come to Jesus acting like he wasn't as bad as he was. No, he was full of leprosy, and he knew it. Jesus immediately and completely healed him on the outside and on the inside of his body. This man had a new body, void of any trace of leprosy. This healing cannot be explained medically, scientifically, or any other way. This is a true miracle. This is something that only God can do.
In verse 14 Christ gives him a command not to tell anyone, but this is what we find in Mark 1:45, "But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter." In Leviticus 14 there was a protocol he was supposed to do, and the priest were the ones that would proclaim him cleansed from leprosy. We don't know if he ever went, or if on his way he proclaimed to all "clean, clean!" We know he could not help but proclaim to others what great things Christ had done for him (Mark 5:19-20).
No matter what was going on in the life of Jesus, He always made time to get alone with His Heavenly Father, and pray. Leprosy is a great picture of sin. Sin makes a wreck of our lives. I'm thankful that Jesus is able and willing to cleanse us of all our sins. Soli Deo Gloria.
