A Leper in Israel: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

Leprosy was not a new disease in Israel, for by the time of the Messiah, it had been contended with over the ages. Early Levitical laws dealt with careful prescriptions regarding how to deal with the disease, and how a cure might be affected. One thing was certain though, a person, house or garment assessed with leprosy was deemed 'unclean' and the person had to be separated, the house possibly destroyed, and the garment burned. The status of 'uncleaness' was more than ceremonial: it designated a person as unfit to live among others, and became down through the history of Israel a metaphorical ensign for sin, the spiritual uncleanness which separates man from God, and men from other men.


Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy

It is after Jesus has healed the demoniac in the synagogue, casting out a devil and after Jesus heals Peter's Mother in Law of a great fever, that Jesus encounters the man with leprosy. The healing follows also the immediate healing of a multitude at the door of Peter's house on that evening, and the healing follows also the Sermon on the Mount: Jesus, having shown God's glory in his home region, now turns to "the next towns" (Mk 1:38) where he preaches throughout Galilee, casting out devils Mk1:39)

On his journey, he encounters a Leper:

And behold thee came a Leper and worshipped him, saying, LORD, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." Matthew 8:2

Luke 5:12 describes the man as "full of Leprosy", and as such, the desperate man was probably not to have been out and about, for lepers were segregated in Israel, and were required to call out to passer-byes to circumvent their pathway. (Lev 13:45) Leprosy as mentioned is found both in the Old and New Testament. The term in Hebrew for leprosy is

Zara-a

and included multiple skin diseases, and is probably a broader term than the New Testament

"Lepra"

Leprosy in both Old and NT times was seen as an infection of the skin, but in the Old Testament could extend to a sort of mildew of the house or clothing.

In the New Testament, "Lepra" seems more specific: Lepers were colonized and had to cover their skin and face, and alert all of their condition. They were "unclean" ceremonially and physically, as described in Leviticus 13 and could not be touched: their exile was one of separation. The word in Hebrew, zara-at is related to words suggested as a 'depression' of the skin, having a 'march' or progress.

Lev 13:2-3 When a man shall have in the skin of the flesh a rising, a scab or a bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests."

If the skin is depressed and the hair in it turns white, "...
it is a plague of leprosy..."

The symptoms require declaring the person 'unclean'.

Cleanness vs. Wholeness
We have spoken for the past five years in these studies on healing about the idea of 'wholeness' of which Jesus spoke, of 'being made whole'. Most healings require the person with an infirmity moved back to an 'equilibrium' where all is right and as it should be: words like 'health' or 'wholeness' are equitable. 'Be made whole' is a frequent command of the Savior in the healings he performed. However, in two conditions, there are additional concerns: in vexation and the casting out of devils, there is a release from demonic control, which brings about healing and a whole state, and in Leprosy, in addition to simple healing, the exists the issue of 'cleaness'.

Being made whole in the Hebrew is 'rapha', a healing associated with God, which restores one to a 'right state'. In Greek, the word for the same idea is 'sozo' as in save (salvation), to save from judgment, or also to "keep sound".

The word 'clean, though, is "Katharizo" (same root as the English word 'catharsis')which carries the connotation of cleansing or purifying from sin, or to 'make clean'. While both dovetail in the healing of leprosy, the unclean state is of importance, because one of Jesus' works was to deliver from sin, and to purify Israel and believers to come. Jesus readily touches the man to heal him. This is a most unusual act for a Rabbi of the time, for according to Levitical law it would have left him unclean for a period of 7 days, unless he bore the exemption of a divine condition, the only such case in history or the Bible.

The Request for Healing: The Worship of a Rabbi named 'Salvation'

Down from the mountain, this healing is occurring in front of all those who have seen other healings and heard the words of this life, of the Kingdom of God as never before in Israel. They must have indeed have been astounded at the Rabbi from Capernaum who was willing to touch a Leper of no social standing whatsoever right after preaching the most famous sermon ever given.

More astounding however is the remarkable way the man approaches Jesus of Nazareth, of Galilee. No one in Israel, in a sound mind, would ever have fallen in worship to a man: it was basically unspeakable- it would be blasphemy against God and a violation of the first commandment, to "have no other gods before me". This man though, having only recently encountered Jesus, and most likely having seen his healings and works does exactly that:

"And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean" (Mt 8:2)
"And there came a leper to him, beseeching him and kneeling down to him,

"...who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him saying Lord, if thou wilt, thou cast make me clean" Luke 5:12

Why would any Jewish man in any condition fall prostrate before another in worship? Something in Jesus evoked this response, not only in this healing but in several others (samples from Matthew):

Matthew 2:11
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.

Matthew 8:2 (already given)
And, behold, there came a leper and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

Matthew 9:18
While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.

Matthew 14:33
Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

Matthew 15:25
Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

Matthew 28:9
And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

Matthew 28:17
And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

These Jewish believers (a a few gentiles) knew that to worship a mere man would disfellowship them from the Synagogue and most likely the community, but they were compelled to worship him, and more than that in one instance, to declare him the "Son of God". The power of God in this one was so eminent, that the act of worship was natural.

Now, any normal Rabbi would have immediately rebuked the worship, but Jesus responds with healing. He does not rebuke them. Even after Pentecost, where Paul and Barnabas are treated as 'gods' they express their heartfelt sorrow:

Acts 14:14

Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,...

Jesus receives the obeisance and responses to the man's cry for mercy:

And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him,saying I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was clean Matt 8:3

Like all of the healings, the man with leprosy is immediately cured after having shown, of his own initiation, faith in the Lord and Savior to perform the healing. In many of the other healings, Jesus asks if they believe, but this man 'full of leprosy' runs to the feet of the Lord, falls down, and worships him in humble supplication. The reward for his faith is immediate: the leprosy is cured.
The worship of the Messiah is never chastised or punished by God or his Messiah: however the religious elite threaten many who did with expulsion, for even saying he was the Messiah. (e.g. John 9)

The command of Jesus of Nazareth

Levitical law was very clear that after a healing for Leprosy in Old Testament times, the leper was to present himself before the priest(s) and only the priest could declare him clean:

2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:

3 And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;

4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:

6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:

7 And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.

8 And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days...(all of Lev 14)

Jesus, the author of grace does in no way contradict nor supercede the Torah, or law, but commands the healed Leper to present himself to the priest in accordance with Levitical precepts and Mosaic law:

And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. Matt 8:4

Two issues are here: one apparent and one hidden: the apparent one, is that true to his word, Jesus (Yshua) Christ (Meschiach or Messiah) did not come to do away with the Law but to fulfill it. His command to the Leprous man cleansed is evidence of this, and he admonishes obedience to the law in several other places in the New Testament. The High priest was commending the man to the lower priesthood in order to fulfill and glorify the law in its proper place. He did this even knowing how the priests at the time felt about him and vice versa. He maintained the dignity and respect for the Law, the Torah, and the office of priest, even while openly rebuking the corrupt priesthood of the day: all must still be fulfilled according to the Word of God. Messiah would not contradict the Law.

The more obscure issue though, is that the fulfillment of pronouncing 'cleanness' involves a detailed passages regarding water, blood, and doves, a sacrifice and a sanctification: the purification of leprosy healed is a Messianic expression, a similtude if one will understand. One becomes clean from leprosy (sin) by a blood sacrifice, and the living water, and is cleansed, the sin and disease gone, and separated (sanctified). The leper so willing to humble himself in great faith before the Lord and Savior, is purified,cleansed, made whole, and the great grace is given, of his healing pointing to the prophetic sign in Levitical Law of the Messiah, whom he has recognized, trusted and received.

The one leper that day as Jesus travelled down from the mount called upon the Savior and healing God, without regard to the consequence. Mark 1: 44 notes additionally that Jesus charged him:

See thou say nothing to any man; but go thy way....

The faith filled leper, however, committed the gracious crime so many who were healed did when confronted with this charge: he published widely what had occurred, unable to contain the joy and amazement of the great healing of Jesus, the Messiah.
But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter so much that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in the desert places; and they came to him from every quarter. Mk 1:45

Faith and Joy begets faith and joy in Israel. Jesus was not admonishing with some false humility for the leper cured to tell no one: He simply knew what would happen and sought the orderly spread of the Gospel and the presentation of the King of Israel to his own. The Sovereignty of God is bound up in the healing of the man with Leprosy.


Till next time,
Elizabeth K Best

Ye Men of Israel, Why Marvel ye at this?

Peter and John Heal the Beggar at the Gate Beautiful

The First Healing Following Pentecost

That day of Pentecost was like no other day in history. Men were gathered from the fours corners of the world as the Book of Acts records, and they heard and saw things hard to be understood. The Holy Spirit, by the promise and covenant of God through Jesus Christ, the Messiah, had come to indwelling living men: they spoke in the 16 languages of the men around them, all proclaiming the glory of God. Over 3000 were saved that day.

Immediately following the great works of Pentecost, the Gospel begins to go out in power. The apostles and disciples had seen healings and miracles before, and had even been a part of them, when Jesus was present in the flesh, but Pentecost marked the point of empowerment of the apostles and other believers like never before. The Church was booming and growing, " and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." Acts 2:47

At the ninth hour Peter and John appraoch and begin to enter the temple, the hour being the hour of prayer. Seated at the gate of the Temple, at the Gate Beautiful (for it led into God's House), a beggar sat, asking alms of anyone who entered the temple. When Peter and John walked by, they were no exception, and he begged alms of them.

The man was looking for a small benevolence to sustain life. In the first century, just as in some places today, there was no government subsistence, so those who were lame or ill or otherwise unable to work, with or without families, were set in places of busy traffic to beg alms of those passing by. The gate to the temple was a most advantageous spot to hopefully benefit from worshippers walking it.

The beggar had been lame since birth, described as 'since his mother's womb' so the condition was all he had ever known. Hoping for a small pittance though, he was about to receive more than he could have ever expected: he was about to be made whole.

The Healing of the Lame Beggar

As Peter and John, walk by, the apostle with the keys to the Kingdom, and the beloved disciple who would one day on Patmos see visions of Heaven and things to come, the beggar asked an alms.

Peter, with John, 'fasten their eyes' on him, and very simply say:

Look on Us.

The beggar indeed looks upon Peter and John, hoping no doubt to receive a small coin or so, but Peter answers in a way the beggar could not have anticipated:

"Then Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." Acts 3:6

Now, if things had been different, if these two men had not been both men of faith and endued with the power of the Holy Spirit, the 'earnest of redemption', then their command to 'rise up and walk' would have even been cruel or certainly insane, but the apostles make clear a few things here:

1. Money was not what the Beggar needed most, he needed Jesus, and healing.
2. Silver and Gold are nothing compared to the riches of the Kingdom of God.
3. We are healed, and this man was healed, by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth

The mode of healing was hardly complex, the apostle commands the man to rise up and walk, and

...he took him by the right hand and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength. Acts 3:7

As with almost all the healings in the New Testament and Old, the healing was immediate, precipitated by a command of no more than to "Look on us", by the two apostles. This was not trickery or the modern con artistry of some modern faith healers: this was the healing and making whole of a man who who "from his mother's womb" had to be carried to the gate daily to beg, for he could do no work.

Praise in Israel

The sheer joy of being released from the bondage of being lame since birth, would certainly cause joy in any, and several healings are met with this reaction. The cry though "rise up and walk" (Acts 3: 6) in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, stirs the spirit of the man, who had only asked for alms. He immediately leaps and enters into the temple, praising God:

And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God: 10 And they knew it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him Acts 3:8-10

Praise and Israel are no strangers: it is the place in the spirit of the believer and the Spirit of Israel, where God communes with man. In Psalms it is noted that

Psa 22:3 But thou [art] holy, [O thou] that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

The name 'Judah' and 'Jew' mean 'praise'. The Jewish people in the course of God's history, are the 'glory bearers' of the Lord: they exhibit to the rest of the world the glory of God, through their nature, existence and perseverance, through the Word of God and prophets of God which they have borne, and through the presence of God which though at times has been diminished, has never departed. It was to the Jews, the Children of Israel that the line of Messiah and Savior descends, it was through the Jews that our modern system of Justice descends, the Law or Torah was given to the Jews in the desert, the land of Canaan was theirs by a promise or covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Praise causes Israel, (and the rest of us, learning from Israel) to draw near to God, for it is a primary 'office' of the believer. Just as the name of the Lord is Holy, so is praise: it is worship and facilitates the work of God. Countless stories have been told in which praising the Lord saved an endangered person from the horror confronting them. Praise is the habitation of the Jews and Israel, and gentile believers, when all are in God's order. It does not surprise one then when upon a touch of healing by the hand of God through the apostles Peter and John, that the immediate response is joy, and a desire to praise and worship. The man at the Gate Beautiful walks with the apostles into the Temple at the 9th hour of worship.

Astonishment and amazement are the reactions of the crowd who see the healing, "they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him." Acts 3:10
Peter in Acts 3:12 notes that the people marvel at the healing. The lame man holds on to Peter and John walking into the temple, as the people rush onto Solomon's Porch to see the healing of the man back to a whole state. Solomon's Porch is only mentioned a few times, but significantly, this is where Jesus had declared himself the light of the world in John 9 by healing a man born blind since birth. It is also though the place where following that sign of Messiahship which had to be fulfilled for Israel to believe (in Isaiah), that Jesus clearly declares that He is indeed the Messiah, in more than one way, right after noting that he is the door of the sheep and the Good Shepherd:

Jhn 10:24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Jhn 10:25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.

He is even accused there of being insane and blaspheming God because He makes himself out to be the Son of God, a name for Messiah:

Jhn 10:30 I and [my] Father are one. Jhn 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Jhn 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
Jhn 10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

Time vindicates all, and if there was any doubt that earlier day on Solomon's Porch, where the Temple was once dedicated, it becomes clear that the glory of the Messiah is still at work, as a man lame since birth leaps in praise and worship at the Spirit of God making him whole. Peter and John indeed point back to the Messiah on the Porch, when they gently rebuke Israel for thinking the healing could have ever emanated from them:

And when Peter waw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? Acts 3:12

They also tie Jesus of Nazareth to the God of Israel and His work, not that of some mere faith healer:

The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.Acts 3:13

The second major sermon following Pentecost follows, as Peter and John explain that the love God has for Israel in this healing by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, is not quite through, as a greater healing is still to occur: the healing from unbelief. In order to accomplish that purpose though, the reason for the crippling of Israel (and all people since) in unbelief and fear is made clear

But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; 15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. 16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know; yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Acts 3: 14-16

They point to God fulfilling the prophecies of Messiah through Jesus (Acts 3:18). They call for repentance. (Acts 3:19) with a promise of sins being blotted out, and a time of refreshing from the Lord. What is the refreshing: Jesus sent through the Holy Spirit of God.

Acts 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which "God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Note that the purpose of the prophets in Israel's history was not only to warn and guide Israel, nor only to rebuke of sin and judgment, but to tell of the coming of their King, Yshua HaMeschiach, Jesus, the Messiah. "By the mouth of ALL his holy prophets since the world began" shows clearly that more than any other reason, the coming of Messiah was their primary purpose, and the sermon on the Messiah, takes root on the porch of dedication, where Messiah clearly reveals himself, contrary to the opinion of modern unbelieving theology. The times of Pentecost are noted in Acts 3:24 as being prophesied since the time of Samuel, who both foreshadowed and spoke of the wheat harvest when the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to the 'great stone of Abel' (I Samuel 6:18) the commemoration of the first righteous sacrifice.

"Ye are the children of the Prophets", the apostles tell astonished Israel. The "children of the covenant" (Acts 3:25) and they remind Israel that the healing of Israel and causing them to stand

(Eze 37:3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.)

is a great act of covenant. He reminds them who they are, greatly beloved of the Father

...And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Acts 3:25

The primacy of Israel as the glory of God is also noted

"Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." Acts 3:26

When the first fruits of the harvest of Pentecost come in, they are at the Gate Beautiful, the way in to worship and praise, to be met by the knowledge and presence of Messiah. This healing was the door to preaching the crucified, the declaration that all Messianic prophecies had been fulfilled to the children of the prophets. A book from 1909 called "The Gate Beautiful" notes the story that when Charles Kingsley died (author of "Water Babies), he spoke the words, "How beautiful God is!". Isn't this the perfect declaration for the story of Israel, healed and made whole, with the vail lifted to repent and see her Savior for the first time.

Praise the Lord.

till next time, ekbest