Healed and Made Whole

When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; ²and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” ³He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. ⁴Then Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” Matthew 8:1-4

People with leprosy were untouchable. The disease was thought to be so highly contagious that those who contracted it were often forced to leave their communities and relationships behind and form colonies. It is also a painful and disfiguring disease which historically has been most prevalent among people of poverty. In Jewish custom, those with leprosy were considered permanently "unclean" and ineligible to worship. Anyone who touches a leper would also become unclean, so they were avoided. It was also widely believed that a person with leprosy must have done something to deserve it. Thus, when Jesus chooses to heal the man by touching him it would have caused the crowds to gasp in amazement.


The man with leprosy asks Jesus to heal him, believing he could make him well again. Jesus heals the man by touching his hand and declaring "be made clean!" The man is immediately healed of his affliction and sent to see the priest so he can worship in the Temple. Jesus attends to his physical healing and his social and spiritual healing as well. Because of Jesus' compassion, he can now be included in community and no longer suffer the pain of the disease and the accompanying social marginalization.


As powerful as the healing of the man was, it must have had an even deeper impact on the crowds who were gathered. Jesus took the time to heal a leper, a man everyone else had given up on. He heals him, not just by speaking a powerful word (which could have done the job) but by touching him. Jesus becomes untouchable for a leper. He takes on the mantle of being unclean for the sake of an invisible and despised person. And so it is with us. We are all lepers in our own way. We all fall short and are sinful and broken people. Yet, Jesus looks upon us, diseased though we are, with compassion and love. "Be made clean" are Jesus' words to us. Jesus came to include all people in God's family and no one is beyond redemption or restoration. This is the promise of gospel and is true for you and all people.


Prayer: Lord, cleanse me from all my sin and brokenness. Heal my physical, social and spiritual pain so I might live the life you call me into. Allow me to see all people as beloved children of God, in Jesus' name, AMEN.