Healing a Leper

In Matthew 8, we see Jesus on the mountain surrounded by multitudes who are listening to his teaching on the Beatitudes. When He comes down from the mountain, the multitude follows Him. Matthew 8:2 says  that a leper came and worshipped Him. The Scripture says this so simply, but it was not simple for the leper. 

The leper had been pronounced unclean due to the leprosy. This disease was viewed to be a judgment from God for sin. A leper was to stay away from other people. But the Scripture says that this leper came and worshipped Him (Jesus). I’m sure that the other people watching all this moved away as quickly as possible. Perhaps some shouted at him. Perhaps some threw stones. Perhaps some tried to shield Jesus. 

Nevertheless, the leper came and worshipped Him. In my mind, I see him falling prostrate on the ground in front of Jesus. Evidently he had heard something about Jesus that did at least two things to him:

1.       His faith was touched – his hope enlivened.

2.       His courage surfaced. 

To this point, a leper had never been healed by Jesus. But this man believed in Jesus and His ability to heal – even him, the outcast leper. It took courage to come among the clean, acceptable people. It took courage to disobey the law regarding the leprosy. It took courage to fall down at the feet of Jesus in front of everyone who condemned him. 

Why did he worship Jesus? And what was the meaning of this act of worship…to the man and to Jesus? Worship, to me, is a response. Evidently, the man had heard of the greatness and compassion of Jesus – specifically about healing. What he heard about Jesus created a worship response.  This was a place of faith for him. 

 It is one thing for a person to be healed of a physical malady, but for a person to be healed of the “judgment” of God, is a very different thing. To be released from the sin, the judgment, and the sickness, and to be restored to your place in your spiritual camp is a whole different level of healing.  This leper needed that kind of healing, and it must come through divinity. I think this is why he worshipped. To prostrate himself before Divine Love, to become one with the ground from which he was created, positioned him perfectly for re-creation.

Jesus, knowing the heart of the man, was thrilled by this man’s recognition of Him as divine Savior. So many people followed Him to hear his words, to study out the meaning of this or that. They were waiting for political freedom ushered in by a political messiah. This man recognized his need for healing and restoration – his need for a Savior from the physical, not for the physical.

“Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” (Verse 26). The leper had not yet felt the touch of God on his body, yet he trusted the heart of God. These words acknowledge that his state of being was completely up to the heart and hands of Jesus. The “if” is not doubt. This “if” is a word of worship in the waiting room.

As mentioned, to be made clean is different than being just physically healed. The leper is asking for an inside change that will manifest in external physical changes. I believe the leper’s awareness of his physical and spiritual state was so great and his conversion so complete that it was not necessary for Jesus to say, “Go and sin no more.” 

Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him saying, “I am willing, be cleansed.” This is an awesome visual aid of the gospel of salvation. “I Am that I Am” is willing to come into a leper colony (our world), touch and take on the curse (all the sin of mankind), cleanse us, re-crate us and restore us. The heart of God continually pursues us, and the hand of God continually seeks to touch us. The word of God, “be cleansed” is made flesh in the leper and immediately he is healed on all levels – emotionally, physically, socially and spiritually. 

 “I Am” is present tense. We all have things in the past for which we need healing. We all have the lie, “unclean”, that has been pronounced over us in some way. In the darkness of this lie, we live on the fringe of the spiritual camp as one who is unclean…feeling disconnected and insignificant. In the shadow of this lie, we are unable to fully embrace the truth that we have been and are forgiven. This name of God, I Am that I AM, is full of promise to all of us who need to let go of the past and embrace our spiritual inheritance in Him. I Am that I Am is willing...may the light of this truth dispel the darkness of the lies that have been pronounced over each of us. 

Thank you, Jesus!