Dear Friends,

When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him;and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.”He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Then 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” (Matt 8:1-4).

Leprosy is an infectious disease that causes progressive disfiguring damage to the flesh, peripheral nervous system and respiratory tract. A Norwegian scientist named Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen (no relation to me) discovered a bacteria in the skin sores of lepers in 1873 that proved the disease was germ-caused and therefore not hereditary as believed since ancient times. Modern antibiotics have led to a cure for leprosy.

It is among the least contagious of infectious diseases. It is believed to be spread by respiratory droplets; i.e. coughs, sneezes, breathing, to which someone is exposed in close and intimate conditions over a period of time.

Leprosy has been feared and misunderstood throughout history. Various societies believed it to be the result of heredity, a curse, or a  punishment from God. It was especially prevalent in dense and impoverished populations.

Like all infectious diseases, intimacy is a threat, so lepers were isolated and cruelly stigmatized. Lepers were forced to announce their presence by calling out “unclean,” or ringing bells as they moved about. They were denied shelter with others. Living outdoors or in damp caves and makeshift shelters exacerbated the respiratory symptoms and death by pneumonia was commonplace.

Leprosy was a sufficient concern to God that he gave Israel detailed instructions for dealing with skin diseases including leprosy and their consequences. These instructions covered protection of others from contagion and the purification and reentry into society of those who had been healed of the diseases (Lev 14).

The rituals prescribed in the law did not have healing power. But God in mercy, wanted his people to know there was hope for a cure. He provided for a process to verify healing and aid the acceptance of those healed by their family and friends.

There is an unfortunate human tendency to blame those who we cannot cure. Lepers received the full and cruel force of condemnation and loathing as have those infected with AIDS in our day. The disfigurement and devastation of leprosy came to be a metaphor for the consequences of sin. The term “moral lepers” describes persons whose conduct is so far outside of the bounds of moral expectations that shunning and ostracizing them is deemed necessary to prevent moral contamination.

So when the great crowds were following Jesus, the leper of Matthew 8:1-4 wasn’t one of them. He risked the revulsion of the crowd to come to Jesus. This is the line that too few will cross. They wait for the acceptance and approval of the crowd before coming to Jesus and that makes the crowd a substitute for Jesus.

The crowd, even the crowd that follows Jesus, can only react to the outward appearance. The crowd can’t read the heart like Jesus can. The crowd will insist on a repentance and a change of appearance that the leper is incapable of producing before it lets him join them in following Jesus.

The Leper knows what the crowd will do to him and what it can’t do for him. If his healing and deliverance depends on the crowd it will never happen. Deep in his soul stirs the thought that he must talk to Jesus. Is it faith or is it simply desperation? The line between the two is not so neatly drawn on the leper’s side of things.

The man drops to his knees in submission. He doesn’t posture, whine, demand or bargain. He knows he has no leverage in the situation. He is broken, with no capability of mending. He prays his abject need. “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.”

I’ve thought a lot about prayer over the years. I even wrote a book about it. I’ve learned nothing that would add to the effectiveness of this prayer. It is fresh and raw.

The leper admits that he is in need of healing, but his health and his future are entirely in Jesus’ will and power. I am reminded of the searing confession of Augustus Toplady in the third verse of “Rock of Ages” (1775)–

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

We are prone to irrationally argue our merits to the Lord in an effort to convince him to deliver us. If we are so well-intentioned, capable and strong, why is it that we need a Savior?

Our Lord can deal with anything that we bring him in prayer. He is not repulsed by the disfigured, contagious man kneeling before him because his love is never conditioned on our righteousness, competence or appearance. His depiction of the Father had him embracing and kissing the pig-smelling, road-grimy prodigal before his confession was complete and the best robe had been placed on his shoulders.

What the Lord must have from us in prayer is the honesty of the leper. Otherwise, what is he to answer? How is he to help? As Peter observed:

God opposes the proud,

    but gives grace to the humble.

                 (1 Pet 5:5)

We do not have a cheap or mean Savior. In the face of our overwhelming devastation and need, he does not stint on sharing the riches of his grace. Before he says a word, Jesus stretches our his hand and touches the untouchable. How long since that has happened?

I can report from the experience of places like hospital beds, emergency rooms, the chilling shadows cast by the receipt of legal summons and complaints, and the lonely exile of shame and rejection. In those moments of aching need, it is the presence and action of another that saves us, and the action of love is always touch that closes the gap between how things are and how they should be opened by fear and regret. No one will ever touch you like Jesus, In the words of another old song, “He’s a friend beyond compare.”

We are always challenged to back up our words with actions. Not Jesus. He backs up his healing touch with words of affirmation. “I do choose. Be made clean” he tells the broken, kneeling man.

The touch and the words have immediate effect, but Jesus cautions the man “See that you tell nothing to anyone.” Here is where so many experiences with Jesus lose their power. We drag them around to show and tell others for their comment and approval. We have been struggling with rejection and loneliness, and so want to prove our worth and acceptability to those who have denied it to us for so long. Stop it!

It always serves the purposes of someone to raise the bar on us so that we fall short. We don’t need the validation of anyone else on what the Lord has done in our lives, and it empowers them against us to ask for it. Take a clue on this from Jesus who did not trust the approval of anyone else on what the Father was doing in him and through him. (John 2:24-25). He asked, “How can you believe when you accept glory from one another, and do not seek the glory from the one who alone is God?” (John 5:44).

Of course it is the intention of the Lord that we be able to join in fellowship and enjoy the healthy benefits of community. That’s why long ago, he looked out for lepers by giving them access to the authority of his Word and the purifying ministry of his priesthood to verify their fitness for community. Today that ministry of discernment and reconciliation is entrusted to the Church, the body of Christ. (1 Cor 13, 14; 2 Cor 5).

The comparison of others is the enemy of grace, but the leper who apart from the crowd comes and kneels before Jesus will always find a welcome. Let me close on this point with a verse from another great old hymn of faith, “Jesus Paid It All.”

 

Lord, now indeed I find

Thy pow’r, and Thine alone,

Can change the Leper’s spot’s

And melt the heart of stone.

Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain–

He washed it white as snow.

 

(Elvina M. Hall, 1865).

 

“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:8).

Under the mercy of Christ,

Kent

————————–

Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.

————————–

Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.

Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Placespublished by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.

 

If you do not wish to receive any more of these messages, please send an email to khansen@claysonlaw.com with the word, “unsubscribe.” This only works if you received the message from me directly. If someone else forwards the message to you and you want them to stop, please email them back and tell them to stop sending it. Thanks.