The First Leper to Be Cleansed by Christ

Picture: The First Leper to Be Cleansed by Christ 3TC 163.1

This chapter is based on Matthew 8:2-4; 9:1-8, 32-34; Mark 1:40-45; 2:1-12; Luke 5:12-28. 

Of all diseases known in the East, leprosy was most dreaded. Its incurable and contagious character and its horrible effect on its victims filled the bravest with fear. The Jews regarded it as a judgment for sin, calling it “the finger of God.” It was looked upon as a symbol of sin. 3TC 163.2

Like someone already dead, the leper was shut out from any place that people occupied. Whatever he touched was unclean. The air was polluted by his breath. Anyone suspected of having the disease must present himself to the priests. If they declared him a leper, he was doomed to associate only with other lepers. The law was inflexible. Kings and rulers were not exempt. 3TC 163.3

The leper must bear the curse apart from friends and family. He was required to announce his calamity and sound the alarm, warning everyone to avoid his contaminating presence. The cry, “Unclean! Unclean!” coming in mournful tones from the lonely exile was a signal people heard with fear and revulsion. 3TC 164.1

News of Christ’s work reached many of these sufferers, igniting a gleam of hope. But since the days of Elisha, no one had ever seen a leper cleansed. There was one man, however, in whose heart faith began to spring up. Yet how could he present himself to the Healer? And would Christ heal him? Would He take notice of one who was suffering the judgment of God? Would He pronounce a curse on him? 3TC 164.2

The leper thought of all that people had told him about Jesus. Not one who had gone to Him for help had been turned away. The suffering man determined to find the Savior. Perhaps he could cross His path in some remote place along the mountain roads or as He was teaching outside the towns. This was his only hope. 3TC 164.3

The leper was guided to the Savior as He taught beside the lake. Standing far away, the leper caught a few words from the Savior’s lips. He saw Him laying His hands on the sick, the lame, the blind, and the paralyzed, and those who had been dying of various illnesses rose up and praised God for their deliverance. Faith strengthened in his heart. He went closer, forgetting the restrictions laid on him and the fear everyone had for him. He thought only of the blessed hope of healing. 3TC 164.4

He was a repulsive spectacle, his decaying body horrible to look at. When people saw him, they fell back in terror, crowding one another in their eagerness to avoid any contact with him. Some tried to prevent him from approaching Jesus, but he neither saw nor heard them. He saw only the Son of God. Hurrying to Jesus, he threw himself at His feet with the cry, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” (Italics added.) 3TC 164.5

Jesus replied, “I am willing; be cleansed,” and laid His hand on him. 3TC 164.6

Immediately a change came over the leper. His flesh became healthy, the nerves sensitive, the muscles firm. The rough, scaly surface on his skin disappeared, and a soft glow, like that of a healthy child’s skin, took its place. 3TC 165.1

Christ urgently instructed the man about the necessity of silence and prompt action. Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” If the priests knew the facts concerning the healing, their hatred of Christ might lead them to give a dishonest judgment. Jesus wanted the man to present himself at the temple before rumors of the healing had reached them. In this way, the restored leper could secure an impartial decision and be permitted to unite with his family and friends again. 3TC 165.2

The Savior also knew that if news of this leper’s healing spread, other sufferers from this disease would crowd around Him, and the cry would be raised that the people would be contaminated. Many lepers would not use the gift of health as a blessing to themselves or others. And by drawing lepers around Him, Jesus would open the way for His enemies to accuse Him of breaking down the restrictions of the law. This would hinder His preaching. 3TC 165.3

A large crowd had seen the leper’s healing and were eager to learn of the priests’ decision. When the man returned to his friends, there was great excitement. The man made no effort to hide his cure. It would have been impossible to conceal anyway, but the leper told it widely, thinking that Jesus had laid this restriction on him only out of modesty. He did not understand that every such exhibit of power made the priests and elders more determined to destroy Jesus. The restored man rejoiced in the vigor of manhood and felt it impossible to hold back from giving glory to the Physician who had made him whole. But his act of spreading the matter far and wide caused the people to flock to Jesus in such great numbers that He was forced for a time to stop His work. 3TC 165.4

Every act of Christ’s ministry had a far-reaching purpose. He tried in every way to reach the priests and teachers, who were steeped in prejudice and tradition. By sending the healed leper to the priests, He gave them a testimony designed to disarm their prejudices. The Pharisees had claimed that Christ was opposed to the law, but His instruction to the cleansed leper to present an offering according to the law disproved this charge. Christ gave evidence of His love for humanity, His respect for the law, and His power to deliver from sin and death. 3TC 165.5

The same priests who had condemned the leper to banishment certified his cure publicly. And the healed man, reinstated in society, was a living witness for his Benefactor. Joyfully he praised the name of Jesus. The priests received an opportunity to know the truth. During the Savior’s life, His mission seemed to call forth little response of love from them, but after His ascension “a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Acts 6:7. 3TC 166.1

How Christ Cleanses the Life From Sin

The work of Christ in cleansing the leper illustrates His work in cleansing the life from sin. The man who came to Jesus was “full of leprosy.” The disciples tried to prevent their Master from touching him. But in laying His hand on the leper, Jesus received no defilement. His touch conveyed life-giving power. 3TC 166.2

It is the same with the leprosy of sin—deadly, impossible for human power to cleanse. “From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores.” Isaiah 1:6. But Jesus has healing virtue. Whoever will fall at His feet, saying in faith, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean,” will hear the answer, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 3TC 166.3

In some cases of healing, Jesus did not immediately grant the blessing. In the case of the leper, though, as soon as the sick man appealed for help, Jesus granted it. When we pray for earthly blessings, the answer may be delayed, or God may give us something other than what we ask for. But not so when we ask for deliverance from sin. It is His will to cleanse us, make us His children, and enable us to live a holy life. Christ “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” Galatians 1:4. “If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.” 1 John 5:14, 15, NRSV. 3TC 166.4

In healing the paralyzed man at Capernaum, Christ again taught the same truth. He performed the miracle to show His power to forgive sins. Like the leper, this paralytic had lost all hope. His disease was the result of a life of sin, and remorse made his sufferings all the more bitter. He had appealed to the Pharisees and doctors, but they coldly pronounced him incurable and gave him up to the wrath of God. 3TC 167.1

Seeing no prospect of aid from anywhere, the paralyzed man had sunk into despair. Then he heard of Jesus. Friends encouraged him to believe that he too might be cured if he could be carried to Jesus. 3TC 167.2

The Burden of Sin

It was not physical restoration he longed for as much as relief from the burden of sin. If he could receive the assurance of forgiveness and peace with Heaven, he would be content to die. The dying man had no time to lose. He begged his friends to carry him on his bed to Jesus, and this they gladly set out to do. But the crowd was so dense where the Savior was that it was impossible for the sick man and his friends even to come within hearing of His voice. 3TC 167.3

Jesus was teaching in the house of Peter with His disciples close around Him. And “there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem” as spies. The crowds swarmed around outside—the eager, the reverent, the curious, the unbelieving. “And the power of the Lord was present to heal.” But the Pharisees and doctors did not detect the Spirit’s presence. They felt no need, and the healing was not for them. “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.” Luke 1:53. 3TC 167.4

The friends carrying the paralyzed man tried to push their way through the crowd, but they could not. Would the sick man have to give up all hope? At his suggestion, his friends carried him to the top of the house, broke up the roof, and let him down at the feet of Jesus. 3TC 167.5

The Savior saw the pleading eyes riveted on Him. He understood the case. While the paralytic was at home, Jesus had brought conviction to his conscience. When he repented of his sins, the life-giving mercies of the Savior had first blessed his longing heart. Jesus had watched the first glimmer of faith grow stronger with every effort to come into His presence. 3TC 168.1

Now, in words that fell like music on the sufferer’s ear, the Savior said, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” The burden of despair rolled from the sick man’s soul; the peace of forgiveness radiated from his face. His pain was gone, his whole being was transformed. The helpless paralytic was healed, the guilty sinner pardoned! 3TC 168.2

In simple faith he accepted the words of Jesus. He made no further request but lay in blissful silence. The people looked on with awe. 3TC 168.3

The rabbis remembered how the man had appealed to them for help, and they had refused him hope or sympathy, declaring that he was suffering the curse of God for his sins. They noticed the interest with which all were watching the scene, and they felt a terrible fear of losing their influence over the people. Looking into one another’s faces, they read the same thought—something must be done to arrest the tide of feeling. Jesus had declared the sins of the paralyzed man forgiven. The Pharisees could present this as blasphemy, a sin worthy of death. “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 3TC 168.4

Looking intently at them, Jesus said, “‘Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven you,” or to say, “Arise, take up your bed and walk”? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins’—He said to the paralytic, ‘I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go your way to your house.’” 3TC 168.5

Then the man who had been carried to Jesus on a stretcher rose to his feet with the ease and strength of youth. Every organ of his body sprang into activity. The glow of health replaced the pale look of approaching death. “Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!’” 3TC 168.6

Creative power restored health to that decaying body. The same Voice that spoke life to Adam created from the dust of the earth spoke life to the dying paralytic. And the same Power that gave life to the body had renewed the heart. Christ told the paralytic to arise and walk, “that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.” 3TC 169.1

Spiritual Healing Often Precedes Physical Healing

Thousands today suffering from physical disease, like the paralyzed man, long for the message, “Your sins are forgiven.” Sin is the foundation of their sicknesses. The Healer of the soul alone can give vigor to the mind and health to the body. 3TC 169.2

Jesus still has the same life-giving power as He did when He healed the sick and spoke forgiveness to the sinner. He “forgives all your iniquities”; He “heals all your diseases.” Psalm 103:3; see 1 John 3:8; John 1:4-10; 10:10; 1 Corinthians 15:45. 3TC 169.3

As the man who had been cured passed through the crowd carrying his burden as if it were light as a feather, the people stepped back to give him room. With a look of awe on their faces, they whispered softly among themselves, “We have seen strange things today!” 3TC 169.4

The Pharisees were speechless with amazement and overwhelmed with defeat. Confused and humiliated, they recognized but did not acknowledge the presence of a superior Being. From Peter’s home, where they had seen the paralytic restored, they went away set in unbelief, determined to invent new schemes for silencing the Son of God. 3TC 169.5

In the home of the healed man, there was great rejoicing. His family gathered around with tears of joy, scarcely daring to believe their eyes. The flesh that had been shrunken and gray was now fresh and ruddy. He walked with a firm, free step. Joy and hope were written on his face. Purity and peace had taken the place of the marks of sin and suffering. This man and his family were ready to lay down their lives for Jesus. No doubt dimmed their faith in Him who had brought light into their darkened home. 3TC 169.6