While on a trip in another country, we visited a mission near the city dump. Families had set up a camp to search for material to survive – building materials, furniture, clothing and food.
Disease and sickness were everywhere. We were encouraged not to touch anything. Yet, as we saw the smiles on the children, it wasn’t long before we broke our rule of ‘no touch’ and reached out to the dirty and diseased bodies of the children and gave them hugs.
Jesus did something similar to a man with leprosy. Leprosy is an infection that affects the nervous system. This results in a lack of ability to feel pain, bringing numbness to extremities as well as to the ears, eyes, and nose. Eventually victims lose fingers, toes, etc. Dr. Paul Brand calls the disease a ‘painless hell.’ In Bible times, a person with leprosy had to stay away from others so as not to infect them.
But Jesus touched this man and healed him…
And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. (Mark 1:40-42)
The spiritual reality for all of us is that we are spiritual lepers. We have been infected with a disease called sin. This spiritual disease begins to affect our ability to feel sorrow and remorse over our sin. We may even experience the loss of meaningful relationships and portions of our lives due to its effect. Sin will separate us from those we love and, if left untreated, separate us from God for eternity. We are all lepers & live in world of lepers.
Jesus wants to forgive people of their sin. But one of the problems of modern Christianity is that too many followers of Jesus don’t want to ‘touch’ the sinners. But Jesus did. Why?
I have discovered two reasons why Jesus touched this man…
1. The Misery of the Leper
Luke the physician describes him as ‘covered with leprosy’ (Luke 5:12). This man was in a miserable condition. He was not only physically miserable, he was socially miserable. He had probably not had any human contact in years. He was in misery and loneliness. Leprosy was destroying him.
This man came to Jesus on his knees revealing his desperation and humility. His words to Jesus reveal his faltering faith. He said, “If you will…” Although he knew Christ could heal him, he did not know whether Christ wanted to heal him.
The spiritual condition of those around us should compel us to reach out to them. Sin not only destroys lives and relationships, it will destroy the soul for eternity. Reach out to others and tell them about the forgiveness that is found in Jesus.
2. The Mercy of the Lord
When Jesus saw this man, He was ‘moved with compassion.’ Jesus was gripped with compassion. He felt it in his stomach. He reached down, touched him, and he was healed.
Jesus was not required to heal this man. But his love, compassion, pity and mercy compelled Him to help him. The mercy of God should compel each of us to reach out to others who are isolated by society and touch them with the love and gospel of Jesus.
Pastor Matt Chandler tells a story of when he invited a girl named to a gospel concert. He was hoping she would become a Christian. During the concert the preacher gave a lot of statistics about premarital sex. Then he took out a single red rose, smelled it, and talked about how beautiful it was. Then he threw the rose into the crowd and encouraged everyone to pass it around. At the close of his message, he asked for the rose back. By now it was broken, drooping, and the petals were falling off. He asked’ ‘Now who in the world would want this?’ His message was: ‘Hey, don’t be a dirty rose.” Matt didn’t hear from Kim for a few weeks, until one day her mother called Matt to tell him Kim had been in an accident. Matt went to visit her. In the middle of the conversation, out of nowhere, she asked him, ‘Do you think I’m a dirty rose?’ He said, “My heart sank inside of me and I began to explain to her the whole weight of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that Jesus wants the rose. It’s Jesus’ desire to save, redeem and restore the dirty rose.”
People need to hear the good news of the love of Jesus. Will you tell them?