I need to take a break from the Sermon on the Mount this morning. We will get back to it – but I saw something in our Sunday night Bible “scan” that I just cannot wait to share. We will get back to Matthew 7 before you know it.
Almost forty years ago I sat in the home of a person who lived in the Castaway Shores apartment complex on Riverdale Road. Now it isn’t Castaway Shores anymore and the person I shared with has long ago moved on, but something that she said has stayed with me for all this time. I was sharing with her the Gospel of Jesus Christ when she said point blank that she was too vile to be saved. She referenced the book of Revelations with the verse regarding the blotting out of a person’s name. Her point was that she was too unworthy to receive the salvation offered by Jesus Christ.
I wish I had seen the verse in Matthew 8 before – but like so many times, I read over it and missed the meaning. Here is the passage – see if you spot it:
Matthew 8:1-4 (New International Version)
Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy
1 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy[a] came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 8:2 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
Did you see it? Or did it pass you by like it did me so many times?
Jewish law concerning a person with leprosy was pretty strict. Here is just one aspect:
Leviticus 13:45-46 (New International Version)
45 “Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt,[a] cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp.
Footnotes:
a. Leviticus 13:45 Or clothes, uncover their head
Imagine being a leper in the time of Jesus. Being outside the camp meant that you were separated from society – and, unlike today, there was no place where you could go. You had to cry out “unclean! Unclean!” whenever you encountered anyone. People avoided you. They didn’t want the disease. You were a leper.
Have you seen it yet?
Matthew 8-10 is about the authority of Jesus. In this passage, we are seeing the authority of Jesus to heal a leper from the disease that ate his skin. The man with leprosy made his way through the crowd – I imagine pretty easily as everyone would avoid contact with this unclean person. He knelt before Jesus and proclaimed his simple faith that if Jesus desired, he would be healed.
You see it?!!!
JESUS TOUCHED HIM!!! Jesus reached out and touched this man with a defiling disease – and said “I am willing.”
Did Jesus break the Law by doing this? I think the Author of the Law can supersede the Law when He chooses. No, Jesus showed His authority over the Law and over the illness by reaching out and touching this leper.
And I began to think - many years ago I had a defiling disease called a sin nature. And although I was surrounded by thousands, I was outside the camp of God because of my disease. And I was absolutely hopeless. Until Jesus reached out and touched me – an unclean, unworthy individual in danger of having my name blotted out from the Lamb’s Book of Life. The one and only thing I could do was to come to Him and say “Lord, if You are willing, you can make me clean.” And He said “I am willing.”
How I wish I had seen this passage nearly forty years ago. How I hope that God has sent another to pick up my slack. How I hope that today you have felt His touch and heard His voice say “I am willing”.
God bless you today.
Agape’
Mr. Jim
Prayer Need:
My golf buddy, Walter Widemond, is entering the hospital today to have a wire on his pacemaker reattached. We walked nine last night – and he did well. We spent the time talking about collard greens, pot likker, macaroni and cheese, blackeyed peas and cornbread followed by a freshly baked peach cobbler. I don’t remember what our score was … the ball was too wet with slobber.
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