If You Are Willing
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Introduction
Introduction
There is a saying that people occasionally use: “I feel like a leper.” In other words, they are feeling ostracized, alienated, lonely, judged, and avoided. It’s interesting that we still have that saying in our day since there are less than 250 cases of leprosy diagnosed in the US every year. That’s just one-ten thousandths of one percent, if my math is correct. We’ve probably not ever met anyone with leprosy or anyone who has had leprosy. Through a regimen of antibiotics, leprosy can be cured in about a year. But in the first century AD, there were no antibiotics. All there was was disfigurement and danger of contracting the disease.
This morning, we are looking at a passage that deals with a man filled with leprosy. In other words, it was from head to toe. And as we look at the passage this morning, we are looking at four elements within this narrative that need to be examined if we are going to understand it correctly. The first element involves the man, the second is about the Messiah. Then comes the mandate, and finally the movement.
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.”
And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.
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.”
But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities.
But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
The Man
The Man
The first element of this story involves the man with leprosy. While Luke had previously told us about the towns and cities Jesus was in, he doesn’t do that with this narrative. We’re not sure where this takes place. Those whom he interviewed may have forgotten exactly where they were when this happened, but the main thing is not where it happened, but that it happened. Most likely this still happened in Galilee somewhere.
But while he was traveling around, there was a man with leprosy—filled with leprosy. And if Luke presents him as being full of leprosy, it would mean that it has taken its full-effect. Leprosy is not a skin disease, but a nervous system disease. It shows its first signs in the skin, but it is actually an attack on the spine. As time goes on, the skin certainly becomes diseased, the face and ear lobes become thickened, the nose collapses, the nerves die so that cuts, burns, and tears can happen and the leper doesn’t know about it until it is infected or oozing; tumors form, hands are withered and turn inward like a claw.
According to the Mosaic law, those with leprosy are cast out of cities, towns, camps. They are ostracized. They cannot work and must depend on the kindness of others to eat and cloth themselves. So they’re typically hungry and clothed in rags. They are never allowed into the temple so long as they have leprosy, and so there is a sense in which they are separated from God because of their disease. They can make no sacrifices or go to temple to pray. Anywhere they go, they must shout, “Unclean” so that people will know to avoid them!
Imagine what that would be like. The disease is bad enough, but it is incumbent upon you to make sure people steer clear of you. Some of you have experienced what it is like to be alienated and ostracized. You felt that way because others avoided you. But imagine having to go your entire life trying to scatter people and keep them away. What kind of life is that!? It’s miserable. And this is likely the life this man was living.
We see the mental anguish that this man has. It has propelled him to seek out the healing. It brings him to the point of falling before Jesus “on his face” which was perhaps a euphemism, but could be seen as literal as he would have most likely had no feeling in his face. It brought him to the point of begging. This is no the action of a man who is doing okay mentally. It is the action of a man who is in mental anguish. Yet, he is a man who understands that Jesus does not answer to him. He can give no orders to the Messiah. He can only request—beg certainly, but not demand. He knew Jesus had the authority and the power to cleanse him, but he was not sure if he had the will.
“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” This is what we call a third class conditional sentence. It basically means that the outcome is uncertain, but there is evidence that it is likely. Jesus has healed others. He seems to have a willing heart to heal. Though there may be something about this situation that would cause him to say no. The man hoped for a cleansing, but was prepared to go away unclean. But what about us? Are we able to continue to believe that Jesus is able, but may not be willing, yet still bring our request to him without demanding anything?
Again, some of you know this type of mental anguish. It’s not leprosy, but you feel like a leper. Perhaps it was something in your past. Perhaps you’ve been abused by someone who was supposed to love you. Perhaps you were neglected or forced to grow up too fast. Maybe there are sins that you committed long ago, but they haunt you still. Because of the abuse, the neglect, the sin, or something else, you are kept from enjoying communion with those in the church or in your family. Maybe because of the past, it isn’t that people so much avoid you, but that you push them away. Feeling unclean, unworthy, or unwanted, you keep people at arms length or even more. You feel ostracized or perhaps it’s not just a feeling; perhaps its reality. You feel unwelcomed, unloved, uncared for. You’re desperate for a cleansing.
The Messiah
The Messiah
This leads us into the second element of this narrative. We first saw the man, but now we see the Messiah. And the first act of Jesus was not to speak, but to touch. While Jesus would lay hands on people, we know he didn’t need to. He could speak a word and people would be healed of their diseases, demons, and disabilities. This, however, was not simply a laying on of hands, but a touching of the person—a person who was untouchable. He touched a leper! All the oozing sores, the stench of rotting flesh, the dirty rags of clothes…he saw past it all to the man hurting and begging to be cleansed.
And I wonder about us and those around us in need of a compassionate touch. I say that as one who knows that I am not a touchy-feely kind of person. If I ever give you a hug or put my hand on your shoulder, know that is out of my nature. It’s awkward for me. I can handle a handshake, but beyond that is abnormal. So I say this, knowing how hypocritical I am. There are people who need a healing touch, and by that, I don’t mean from disease, but from alienation and loneliness—a healing touch to the heart. I think this pandemic that we just went through showed our failures when it came to loving well the untouchable.
It seems that we forget how human Jesus is. We read a story like this and think, of course Jesus touched him; he could touch him and not have to worry about contracting leprosy! He’s God! But Jesus was just as much human as he was God. His skin was human skin. His immune system was a human immune system. His nervous system was a human nervous system. By touching this leper, he was just in as much danger of contracting this disease as any other person. But as we have seen time and again, Jesus is one who entrusts himself to the Father every moment. The Father is sovereign over life and death.
George Whitefield had a famous saying back in the 1700s: “We are immortal until our work on earth is done.” And this is true, but so is the fact that we are not to put God to the test. So the question is how do we square these two truths. I think Colin Smith gives a good answer. We use the Whitefield quote when we are afraid to do something; but we abuse it when it becomes an excuse to act recklessly.
According to Mark, Jesus was not full of fear, but full of compassion. I would be full of fear. And there are fears that keep us from loving people through touch. It doesn’t have to be as scary as touching a person with leprosy or even Covid. It’s the fear of perception or the fear of feeling or looking awkward. Rather than living in compassion, our fear controls us and those who just need a healing touch, go on with life feeling that need because we’re the ones who are afraid.
And then Jesus uttered just one word in Greek, two in English: “Be cleansed.” And the leprosy left him immediately. You know, I wonder if the effects also left—the thickened skin, the clawed-hand, the collapsed nose. The Bible doesn’t say, and we can’t speculate. There are times where God is willing to restore fully, and times when he leaves the effects of our past—reminders of where we once were and where we are now. And also a hope of what we’ll one day be.
The Mandate
The Mandate
So we turn to the third element in this narrative. The first was the man, then the Messiah, and now the mandate.
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.”
There’s a command here. In fact there are three commands in this one sentence. The first is to Be Quiet. The second to Be Lawful. Finally, to Be a Witness.
Be Quiet
Be Lawful
Be a Witness
The first mandate was for the man to be quiet. I don’t think that means that he was never to testify about what Jesus did. In fact, the third mandate that we’ll get to actually uses the word testimony—what the ESV translators as “proof.” The mandate was for him to not waste time celebrating. But that’s understandable, isn’t it? You’ve been filled with leprosy for who knows how long. You haven’t talked with your friends and family face to face in forever. You’ve not been allowed in the city and haven’t been able to catch up on what’s been going on in society. Think about what it’s like when you’ve had the flu for 3 days and finally begin to feel like to you move around. You’re thoughts are not on going to temple and making a sacrifice, but informing those you love that you’re better, but for him to be officially declared well, he would first need to go to the priest and be declared well.
Which is the second mandate: Be Lawful. Jesus told the man to go and show himself to the priest, and make the correct offering as mandated by Moses. This comes right out of Leviticus 14. The text is too lengthy to go into now, but there was a huge ceremonial cleansing that was to be done. It took days to complete. But it was the only way to be brought back into community. Of course, this happened before Jesus’s ultimate sacrifice. When Jesus laid down his own life, he not only forgave us of sin, but cleansed us from all unrighteousness. Yet, here, living under the Old Testament law, Jesus is calling upon the man to be obedient to the law.
It is only after going through all the ceremonial requirements that the man was to be a witness. The sacrifices and declaration of the priest was a proof of what Jesus had done. The word that Jesus used here was the word marturion, where we get our word martyr from—one who died for his witness. There is debate as to who the “them” is in the sentence. Is it a proof to the priests or to the people? It seems to be a proof to the people. Taking a sacrifice to the priests would not be a proof of being clean. But being declared clean by the priest would be a proof to the people that he belonged in community with them. On top of that, note that the word priest is singular; them by its very definition is plural. Thus people over priest.
Beloved, in much the same way, Jesus has given us a way of being brought into community. It’s through the local church. Certainly Jesus died to forgive and to cleanse. But it is the church that bears witness to this forgiveness and cleansing.
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
In essence, whatever heaven has declared, the church is to declare. Thus if heaven has declared one forgiven and cleansed, then the church is to give witness to it. In other words, just as the priests would see the cleansing of this leper and so declare him clean and bear witness to it for the people, so the church sees evidence of repentance, forgiveness, and cleansing and declares the man, woman, or child to be a believer, bearing witness on their behalf. While the man was already cleansed and healed, he was not truly brought into community—nor could he be—without first going to the priest. The Apostle Paul was much the same way. He had been forgiven and only in fellowship with those in Damascus was he preaching, and then again, it wasn’t until going to Jerusalem and being declared part of the church did that community truly accept him. The same with the Gentiles. Peter had gone to Cornelius, but only when the church declared he and his household to be forgiven were they brought into the community of the church.
The Movement
The Movement
As we move into the last element, we see something we might not expect: movement on Jesus’s part. Jesus moves away from the people. How loving is that!? He just goes off on his own and escapes the crowd. But notice where and why. He goes into the wilderness and pray. In other words, he escapes the crowds, gets away from the busyness, leaves the demands for his time and attention to spend time alone with the Father. We see that Jesus will give intermittent prayers in the midst of the busyness. The disciples come back from their being sent out two by two and Jesus is instructing them and then breaks out into prayer. This happened quite a bit. But quick prayers of thanks or supplication in the midst of busyness, while important, are not enough. Jesus left it all behind and went to the wilderness and prayed. And the way the Greek goes, this was an ongoing thing. This wasn’t just once that he’d do this, but throughout the ministry.
Now, here is the thing beloved. Silence and solitude before the Father is a necessary part of your Christian life. Most Christians never take the time for silence and solitude. We’re too busy. How will things get done without us? But you see, that’s a pride issue. We trust ourselves too much to take care of things and Almighty God too little to do it without us. Peter Scazerro wrote
Our internal and external worlds are filled with noise and distractions. For this reasons, spending time alone with God in silence is perhaps the most challenging and least experienced spiritual practice among Christians today. However, that does not justify taking a pass. If we fail to learn how to be quiet in God’s presence—to stop talking long enough and routinely enough to listen—how will we ever mature into Christian adults? How will our relationships with God develop any depth?
And then he goes on to say, “When you choose to sit in silence and stillness, you are choosing to allow God to be the center of your life. That means you are choosing, even if just for a few moments, to let go of control and your own agenda.”
Don Whitney wrote, “I believe the convenience of sound has contributed to the spiritual shallowness of contemporary western Christianity. The advent of affordable, portable sound systems, for instance, has been a mixed blessing. The negative side is that now we don’t have to go anywhere without human voices. As a result we are less frequently alone with our own thoughts and God’s voice. Because of this, and because we are the most urban, noise-polluted generation ever, we have an unprecedented need to learn the Disciplines of silence and solitude.”
And he wrote that long before the smart-phone!
Jesus would leave the sounds and sights of the city and the crowds. He would leave the attention that he was receiving. He was a celebrity. He was the most famous person of his day, it seems. But all that had to wait. All the daily chores in his life or teaching and healing and leading and discipling would be put on hold. How important is being alone, still, and quiet before the Father to you? It’s not that he doesn’t hear your quick prayers or that quick prayers are unimportant. But they will never be enough.
Texting your spouse a quick, “I love you,” or constantly kissing each other good bye as they head out the door just as you’re coming in because of schedules colliding, will never take the place of a date night or a get away. They aren’t wrong, and are necessary, but they are not everything that is necessary.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we finish up this morning, we’ve seen the four elements that are necessary to study in this text: the man, the Messiah, the mandate, and the movement away from the hustle and bustle. But I wonder if we truly got the emphasis in the text. In case we didn’t, let me reemphasize it. It’s not the miracle. It’s not the mandate. It’s the words that the leper spoke: Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. If you will. In the previous narrative, Simon said, “we’ve been out all night and have caught nothing, but at your word we will let down the nets.” At your word; if you will. Such powerful statements that can easily be overlooked. Jesus has the authority to command anything thing he wants: a bunch of fish to be caught in the middle of the day or a leper to be cleansed from his dreadful disease. The question is only if he is willing.
The Psalmist stated that God withholds nothing good from those who walk uprightly. James said that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights. God has the power to give good gifts. But sometimes he is not willing to do so when we want and when we ask. The leper believed Jesus’s power could do it, but was not sure if he was willing. He was prepared to leave as he came. Do we trust Jesus, the Father, the Spirit’s, discretion as the leper did? Are we willing to continue on in the circumstance we are in, knowing Jesus has the power to end it but not the will? Do we trust that he knows what is best for us better than we do?