Thought for the Month - November 2003
Life with Leprosy - By Barry Adair
Mark 1:41 "And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth His hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean"
Leprosy - isn’t that a strange topic to talk about in this day and age?
Well not exactly. It is estimated that even today, there are 12 million leprosy sufferers worldwide and that over 2000 people become infected with the disease every day!
Besides all this, leprosy is mentioned quite a few times in the Bible and therefore it is certainly worth looking at, even in a brief Thought such as this.
In the Bible leprosy is a ‘type’ of sin.
And the reasons why it is used as a type of sin, these are many :-
- It is a disease as old as mankind
- It is a fatal disease
- It makes a person unclean
- It affects the whole person, rendering a life painful and barren
- It further affects the sufferer’s loved ones and on into the community
- It makes no distinction of race, colour, creed, sex, age, riches or social standing
- It causes separation
In the Bible, the only cures we read about for leprosy were through the intervention of the Son of God (read what Jesus did in Mark 1:40-45, also recorded in Matthew 8/Luke 5) or the man of God (read what Elisha did in 2 Kings 5).
Please don’t interpret this as meaning leprosy is a sinful condition. We know today that leprosy is a chronic, mildly infectious disease caused by a germ called Mycobacterium leprae which was discovered by a Norwegian scientist in 1873.
In the ancient world, leprosy meant a life of isolation. In the end, it always meant a cruel death. Leprosy started innocently enough - a pimple here, a mark there. But soon it spread over the entire body, eating skin and killing nerves. To come in contact with a leper surely meant death. No wonder everyone avoided them. Everyone but Jesus, that is!
Matthew chapter 8:1-3 records the story of Jesus healing a leper:
"When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed"
The healing itself was a miracle. But look again at verse 3. It records that Jesus TOUCHED him. Now Jesus would not have needed to actually make contact with the diseased skin to heal the leper. Jesus did what no one else dared to do. He reached out and touched this man. What acceptance! What mercy!
And Friend, there is no sin too filthy that Jesus cannot cleanse!
If we look at the Old Testament passage (2 Kings 5:13):
Naaman was a great Syrian warrior, but he had leprosy. Through the ‘little maid’, Naaman came to the prophet Elisha for help. Elisha told him to go and wash in the Jordan.
It sounded like a pretty foolish plan so Naaman became angry and he went away.
But listen to what his servants said in verse13: "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?" Yet, what was needed was obedience.
Like Naaman, we feel we have to do something to deserve God's cleansing. But only faith in God's Son can bring forgiveness.
Sound too simple? That's because it is! Even little children can understand it. My own son and daughter asked Jesus to save them when they were both only four years old.
The GOSPEL is simply that... God's Own Son Perished to give us Eternal Life.
Today there is a cure for leprosy. It can be cleansed completely.
Thankfully, there is also cleansing for sin.
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"
Are you SURE that you have your place booked in Heaven? Read this if you're not!