THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 19. The Living Dead Meets the Willing Heart of God Luke 5:12-16 Luke 5:12-16 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. This particular event in the life of Jesus is so profound that it is found in Matthew s, Mark s and Luke s account of the Gospel. These witnessed something that Israel had never seen. They saw the cleansing of a leper! But more than that they heard the ache in the question of an utterly hopeless Are You willing to rescue a man beyond rescuing? Leprosy in the Bible is probably a broader diagnosis than what we consider leprosy today which is called Hansen s disease. It may have included diseases but it was deadly and incurable. We find chapters of the Old Testament devoted to leprosy. Leviticus 13 is the longest treatise anywhere in ancient literature concerning the diagnosis of a disease. It goes on and on in describing what is leprosy and what isn't leprosy because of the religious and social consequences of being diagnosed with leprosy. Leviticus 14 is devoted to the very specific offering that was to be presented by the priest in the day of a leper s cleansing and the language of the Bible is very specific and consistent in the way it refers to a person being cleansed of leprosy not healed. Here s an interesting bit of history in light of Leviticus 14 in all the ancient rabbinic literature that dealt with the healing of various diseases leprosy is nowhere to be found. Leprosy was never included because there was no cure for leprosy. In fact, leprosy was given the title living death. You had to wear a garment that was torn like you were mourning for the dead. You had to wear a rag that covered your top lip so 1
you wouldn't breath on anyone. You weren t allowed to comb your hair. When you got within 100 paces of anyone you had to cry unclean, unclean. Luke introduces this moment by saying there came a man full of leprosy. He was in the last stages of leprosy. That means the disease had been at work for 20 + years. Literature from the time of Jesus says that when a man was in the middle stage of the disease you could smell him from 100 feet away. This man was in the final stages. His body was full of the disease. That means that his fingers were probably gone; his nose was probably gone. You see leprosy progressed fastest in the appendages. Medical science has discovered that the disease progresses more quickly in the extremities because the body temperature is a bit lower there. The bacteria create a neuropathy. Sensation would be lost in the extremities and that s why the lepers would wrap their hands and their feet because they could get cut or break a bone and not feel it. Rats would eat off digits while the leper slept because they had no feeling left. Interstingly Dr. Luke, the man of such great detail, only says there came a man. He doesn't tell us whether the guy was young or old, tall or short, rich or poor, single or married, father or childless. We don't know where he lived, who he lived with, or what he did for a living. Was he a tradesman, a shepherd, a scribe? We don t know any of that because what we do know about him made all of those things impossible for him this man was a leper! Somewhere long before this day he saw a spot on his body. He would have covered it for fear of being discovered as even possibly having leprosy. The disease progressed and finally reached the point where it could no longer be covered. Then you had to go to the priest that meant having to go to Jerusalem. Only the descendants of Aaron could examine someone in regards to leprosy and pronounce them unclean and then banish them. And only a descendant of Aaron could examine a leper and pronounce him cleansed and then offer the sacrifice that Moses called for in the event of a leper being cleansed. So at some point in this man s life he made the dreadful journey to Jerusalem and the priest declared that he indeed had leprosy and in that instant he had no life in Israel. From that moment forward he could never enter any walled city in Israel. When he was within 100 steps of any human that wasn t a leper he had to yell, unclean, unclean. People would throw stones at him and pronounce curses on him. You see they considered leprosy to be the stroke of God. They called it the finger of God because they believed that leprosy was the token of God s displeasure and God s judgment. In fact, the Hebrew word for leprosy in the Old Testament comes for the word that means to 2
scourge or to strike. There are only a handful of lepers mentioned in the Bible. The first was Moses (Exodus 4), when he stood before the burning bush and he placed his hand in his garment and when he pulled it out it was full of leprosy and then he put it back in and pulled it out again and it was clean. The second was Moses sister Miriam (Numbers 12). She resented the authority that God gave to Moses and she caused division in the camp of Israel and God struck her with leprosy. Then there was Gehazi, the servant of Elisha (2 Kings 5), was stricken with leprosy because of he stole and lied. Uzziah (2 Chr. 26), the king of Israel was stricken with leprosy because he took it upon himself to perform duties that God had said only the priests of Israel could perform. So in the mind of the Jew, leprosy was the stroke of God the signature of God s displeasure! Against that backdrop the leper was a living dead man. And it was a living death relationally. He was cut off from the nation, cut off from his family. If he was married he would never again know his wife s embrace, the touch of her hand on his shoulder, the sense of her next to him in bed. He would never again hug his children or hold his grandchildren. If his parents died he couldn't be at their funeral. For years this man would have heard the sound of voices singing the psalms of ascent as they travelled in groups going up to Jerusalem for the feasts. This man moved from a house to a cave! He moved from a family to a leper colony! He moved from the congregation of Israel to a collection of outcasts! Try to imagine years, decades of this man s life living under the incredible mental torment of thinking, God, what did I do to deserve the stroke of your displeasure and judgment on my life? What sin did I commit that brought your stroke down on my life? All of that is behind Luke s simple introduction of there was a man. Matthew, Mark, and Luke had all of that in mind when they saw and heard what we are about to read. We cannot begin to imagine the soul-crushing despair of this man who was full of leprosy. But somewhere, somehow, this life that was broken beyond anything we can imagine, heard from someone about Jesus. Maybe as he was walking through a crowd saying unclean, unclean and everyone started to run away that a man ran up to him and said, I was blind yesterday! You need to find Jesus of Nazareth! Because we can t imagine his despair, we can t imagine what it was like for him to have hope suddenly rise up in his heart. He was determined to find Jesus. there came a man full of leprosy Luke doesn't describe this man s approach to Jesus. If the people saw him some would have picked up stones 3
and thrown them others would have cursed him everyone would have backed off opening a clear path right to the feet of Jesus. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face Mark tells us that he fell on his knees before Jesus. Matthew tells us that he fell and worshipped Jesus. Here s the composite. He approaches Jesus, He falls to his knees, then he falls to his face and he begins to worship Jesus. and begged him, Lord, This is so powerful, so amazing! The Pharisees and the priests weren t calling Jesus Lord! Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Not heal me but make me clean. He admitted that he was unclean and needed to be cleansed. I m unclean is a requisite in approaching Jesus. DON T MISS THIS This guy didn't say, If you CAN. His question isn't about the power because in his mind God was angry and his condemned him. He has been told by everyone around him that God is finished with him and so are they. He is rotting and he is repulsive and no one wants anything to do with him. So when he comes and falls before Jesus his question is not about the power of Jesus. He is convinced that Jesus has the power to cleanse him of his leprosy. That is an amazing faith. Check this out. 2 Kings 5:6-7 When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy. 7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Who but God can raise the dead? And a leper was as good as dead. His question was not did Jesus have the power to make him clean! This leper was convinced that Jesus possessed the very power of God to do that. His question was not at all about the power of Jesus his question was about the heart of Jesus If you are willing, you can make me clean! QUOTE: Kenneth Wuest Wuest s Translation of the New Testament reads his statement as, Lord, if you have a heart felt desire. 4
That s what the word will means here. THAT is what this man NEEDS to know about Jesus! Is it in the heart of this Jesus to cleanse a man such as me! I want us to pause for a moment to see why this man s question is so relevant to you and me this morning. Leprosy in its beginnings and its end is a powerful picture of sin. Sin, like leprosy, starts small. People try to cover it so it s not seen. It slowly expands and it eats us inch by inch. It causes a spiritual and moral neuropathy. We are desensitized to the sinfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13 tells us that our hearts are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. We lose perspective. And like leprosy, sin isolates. Sin can lead to loss of family and friends. It always separates from God and that is the living death that fallen man lives in. What sin does to us is always hurtful. Here s how David describes the corrupting influence of sin. Psalm 38:4-8 NLT My guilt overwhelms me it is a burden too heavy to bear. 5 My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins. 6 I am bent over and racked with pain. All day long I walk around filled with grief. 7 A raging fever burns within me, and my health is broken. 8 I am exhausted and completely crushed. My groans come from an anguished heart. Listen to the way God describes the outcome of idolatry in the nation Isaiah 1:4-6 KJV 4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. The leper needed more than new skin, new fingers he needed to be cleansed of the thing that was destroying him! The same is true of sin. Listen to what David wrote Psalm 51:2; 7 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!... 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Back to Luke He comes and says, I am powerless in the face of this and I know you can cleanse me of this living death what I don't know is if you will. 5
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Have you ever wondered what happens between some of the verses in the Bible? There had to be a lot of serious stuff going on in the heart of this man between verse 12 and verse 13! There had to be some pretty serious stuff going on in the hearts of everyone surrounding the leper and Jesus between verse 12 and verse 13! The untouchable is laying on his face before Jesus. And everyone is waiting to see what Jesus is going to do. 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand Luke doesn't say it but you have to think that there were some gasps as Jesus reached out to touch this man full of leprosy! THIS IS SO AWESOME! Just look at Jesus here! This IS Jesus. and touched him, saying, I will; be clean. And immediately the leprosy left him. Jesus did NOT have to touch this man! He could have simply said, I will! Be clean! What is happening here is so awesome! The religious people were telling him that his problem was the hand of God. His living death was because the hand of God had struck him! But here is God who became man reaching out to this man not to strike him, but to touch him and restore him. Some argue that Jesus broke the law of Moses by touching this leper. Well, Jesus didn't touch a leper! The construction of the grammar here doesn't say that Jesus reached out and touched him and then said, I will; be clean. It says that as Jesus was reaching out Jesus said, I will; be clean. THIS IS SO AWESOME Jesus said, I will, be clean, its literally - I desire it with all of my heart. The heart of Jesus was overflowing with the desire to cleanse this man! God who became man said that there wasn t an inch in His heart that didn't want to cleanse Him! God had become man to answer that man s question! He wanted us to see that He desired with all His heart to cleanse this man of the thing that had left him in a living death. I hope you re connecting some dots here! Let there be no doubt this morning as to what is in the heart of God towards the man or woman who comes to Him asking to be made clean. In Jesus we know with absolute certainty that the heart of God is overflowing with desire to cleanse us of the spiritual leprosy called sin! 6
As soon as Jesus said, I will it was already done! In that smallest measurement of time that man who was full of leprosy was cleansed of leprosy. Jesus wasn t touching a leper. He was touching a man cleansed of leprosy. This man hadn't been touched in a long, long, long, long, time! This disease not only rotted out his flesh it robbed him of his humanity. Jesus cleansed this man of his leprosy and then, with a single touch, restored this man s humanity that had been taken away by his leprosy! And immediately the leprosy left him Again try to put yourself in that crowd. Immediately his fingers and toes would have been restored, his nose and ears would have restored. His hair restored. The rotting flesh would have been made new no more stench. I would imagine he smelled like a newborn baby! What was it like when this man stood up? What must everyone have been thinking? This was unheard of! Nothing like this had ever happened! 14 And he charged him to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest that meant going to Jerusalem and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them. the them is the priests. Guys this is such an amazing thing Jesus is doing here! Caiaphas and Annas and the priests in Jerusalem had no doubt pronounced many people in Israel as lepers over the years. But there is NO record that any priest had EVER offered the sacrifices in Leviticus 14. Back in Luke 4 when Jesus was in the synagogue in in Nazareth He said that there were many lepers in n Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. There is NO record that the sacrifices prescribed in Leviticus 14 in the event of a leper bing cleansed had ever been offered! That means that Leviticus 14 was written for Caiaphas and Annas the very men who would condemn Jesus to death and give Jesus to Pilate to crucify. When this man got to Jerusalem Caiaphas or Annas one of whom would have pronounced him unclean would look at him and find nothing but brand new skin! They would have looked at each other said, Now what do we do? Quick, get the scroll of Leviticus! 7
They were to take an earthen vessel and fill that earthen vessel with living water (a picture of Jesus Christ). They were to take two doves. They were to slit the throat of one dove and drain it into the water in that basin. Then they were to take hyssop and with scarlet thread tie it to a piece of cedar and use that as a brush. Then they were to take the scarlet and hyssop and make a brush out of it. They dipped the Hyssop into the mixture of water and blood and sprinkle the man that was cleansed seven times. Then they were to take the other white dove and dip it into that crimson water. It would come out covered in crimson and then you let it fly free washed in the blood of another dove not the blood of a lamb or an ox but the blood of another dove. One dove was set free because the other dove died in its place. Jesus: Our kinsman redeemer! The picture of Jesus becoming man so He could die so fallen men and women could go free. Then they were to shave this guys his head and eyebrows and put him away for seven days. On the eighth day (representing a new beginning) they had to bring him out and examine him again. If he was still clean and they knew the leprosy was gone then they were to sacrifice a lamb. They would take the blood of the lamb and put it on his right ear, upon his right thumb and on the big toe of his right foot. Then they would take the oil - a picture of the Holy Spirit - and apply it to his right ear and to his right hand and to his right foot. The only other place in the Old Testament where that was done to anyone was when they ordained a priest. Only a priest went through that process. But God said that they were to do that same thing to a cleansed leper because who better to be a priest than a cleansed leper! The picture here is that from now on the blood of the Lamb would determine what you would listen to; the blood of the Lamb would determine and motivate you in what you would do with your hands (what you would do with your life/your work). The blood of the Lamb would determine and direct the course of your life, where you would go, your decisions. All of that under the influence of the Holy Spirit (symbolized in the oil). New life is led by and empowered by the Holy Spirit. AFTER ALL OF THAT they were to take this man and present him publicly to the nation. The crowds were to gather in the temple courts and the priests were to say this man has been cleansed from leprosy. 8
Now we see WHY Jesus 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. Jesus was sending a message to the religious center of Israel. Jesus wanted Annas and Caiaphas to know He was indeed the Messiah, the Son of God! Jesus LOVED the men who would ultimately turn Him over to Pilate. He was reaching out to them. He wanted Joseph of Arimathea (who would become a disciple of Jesus), and Nicodemus (who came to Jesus by night and said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him he wanted them to know that the hand of God has reached out to cleanse and make whole a life that had rotted from the inside out. He wanted them to know that the hand of God had reached out to the living dead and given him a brand new life! This man didn't just get a cosmetic make-over! He had new skin, new fingers and toes, new nose and ears, new hair because he had been cleansed of the very thing that caused everything to turn rotten. FOR THE UNBELIEVER Becoming a Christian is more than a profession of faith in a system of belief. Becoming a Christian is not some cosmetic restoration of parts of your life you re unhappy with. A Christian someone who has been cleansed from the life-taking, life-rotting power of sin and transformed by Jesus made whole by Jesus. It s the infusion of the very life of God that is transformational from the core to the extremities from the way you think to the way you act! The Christian life is not a life of religious drudgery and duty. It s a life lived in response to the One who has cleansed you and made you whole! You want to take everything you are and do and ever hope to become and live it for the One who has cleansed you! Everything about that new life is directed and motivated by the love of Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit. FOR THE CHRISTIAN When the priests presented that cleansed leper to the nation it was a thing they never imagined! They had seen the living dead but this man was not one of those! Who but God could do such a thing! Even as the high priest presented the cleansed leper to the nation, Jesus wants to present cleansed sinners to the world. Each one a testimony to the 9
reality of His compassion and mercy and power to save! The world knows who were before Jesus. We get stand before the world as trophies of His grace! We get to tell people about and point people to the One who has compassion on the living dead. THAT is the message we have for a lost generation. As Jesus sends this man to the center of the nation to proclaim that the Old Testament prophecies about Christ were beginning to be fulfilled Jesus sends US who have been TOUCHED and CLEANSED. Who have been given a new life.! Lepers are still being cleansed by Jesus! Ephesians 2:1-7 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 10