Mark 1:40-45
Once a leper came and knelt in front of him and begged to be healed. “If you want to, you can make me well again,” he pled. And Jesus, moved with pity, touched him and said, “I want to! Be healed!” Immediately the leprosy was gone.
According to the Old Testament laws about leprosy (Leviticus 13–14), when a leper was cured, he or she had to go to a priest to be examined. Then the leper was to give an offering of thanks at the Temple. Jesus adhered to these laws by sending the man to the priest. This demonstrated Jesus’ complete regard for God’s Law. Sending a healed leper to a priest was also a way to verify Jesus’ great miracle to the community.
Leprosy was a feared disease because it had no known cure, and some forms of it were highly contagious. Leprosy had an emotional impact and terror associated with it as AIDS does today. (Sometimes called Hansen’s disease, leprosy still exists in a less contagious form that can be treated.) The priests monitored the disease, banishing lepers who were in a contagious stage to prevent the spread of infection and readmitting lepers whose disease was in remission.
Because leprosy destroys the nerve endings, lepers often would unknowingly damage their fingers, toes, and noses. This man with leprosy had an advanced case, so he undoubtedly had lost much bodily tissue. Lepers were considered untouchable because people feared contracting their disease. Yet Jesus reached out and touched the leper to heal him.
The real value of a person is inside, not outside. Although a person’s body may be diseased or deformed, the person inside is no less valuable to God. No person is too disgusting for God’s touch. In a sense, we are all people with leprosy because we have all been deformed by the ugliness of sin. But by sending his Son Jesus, God has touched us, giving us the opportunity to be healed. When you feel repulsed by someone, remember how God feels about that person—and about you
Michael Hogg, Ed.S.
Pastor Brownstown Christian Church
"Transforming lives through Christ, one life at a time"