As Jesus healed more and more people, and as his teaching began to take root, he traveled more extensively in the state of Galilee. “News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all. Large crowds followed him wherever he went—people from Galilee, the ten towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan river.”
Wherever he went he taught and he healed, each action illustrating the other, and crowds followed him…not groups, but crowds…lots of people! These were not casual crowds. These people had traveled up to 125 miles, mostly on foot, for the express purpose of seeing Jesus about the deep needs in their bodies and in their souls. He was never alone. How would you fare under such unbroken attention and need? In my mind’s eye I see his isolation from normal human contact growing. There is an essential loneliness to the ministry.
“In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground, begging to be healed. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.’ Jesus reached out and touched him. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be healed!’ And instantly the leprosy disappeared. Then Jesus instructed him not to tell anyone what had happened. He said, ‘Go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the Law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.’ But despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.” Luke 5.
This miracle is also recorded in Matthew and Mark. I picked Luke because Luke was a physician. He, of all the disciples, would record a physical problem accurately. He does so without spectacularizing (My word) the miracle, just as a trained observer would. But look at what he says: First, it was an advanced case. That means that the man had very likely suffered burns, the lost of fingers and toes, and disfigurement of his face, in addition to Psoriatic-like lesions on his skin. He was scary to look at.
Second, the leper came close enough to Jesus to touch him. That was very out of character for a leper in this culture. Lepers were to maintain distance from “normies.” They were not allowed to live in the villages, having their own compounds. When other people approached they were to cry out, “leper, unclean, beware,” and to move away from them.
Third, Jesus touched him. Absolutely unheard of, as to do so made one ritually unclean, needing specific temple rites to restore to a ‘clean’ state.
“And instantly the leprosy disappeared.” I am uncertain as to the appearance of the leper, but if he was, indeed, an advanced case, then his skin was restored, along with any missing digits or facial disfigurement. I’ve always wondered how it must have felt to be so miraculously healed. People in contemporary culture who have experienced a miraculous healing seem to uniformly describe an intense feeling of warmth approaching heat in the area healed. I wish Dr. Luke would have given us more than such a bare bones description of this event.
But the best line in the entire encounter with the leper is the three words by Jesus in response to the leper’s request for healing…”I am willing.”
The impact on the leper would have been profound. Upon completion of the offering and examination at the Temple he would have been pronounced clear and clean. He then would have been restored to his family, to village life, to touching and embracing people he loved, and to the right to build a new life. It was very like being raised from the dead.
Our world of today is also packed with people who either are or who feel ‘untouchable.’ Jesus mentioned some of them in his acceptance of the job description of the Messiah: the poor, the blind, the imprisoned, and the oppressed. To those categories I would add others: the physically and sexually abused, the disfigured, the morbidly obese, the insane, the addicted…and more. Few of us are untouched. In each case there is the likelihood of feeling cast out, unwanted, unwelcome in the mainstream of life, living on the edges.
And my experience has convinced me that in every case, if we are driven to reach out to Jesus with the honest desire to be made whole again, we will find him willing. History is full of examples, and contemporary American culture is full of examples. They are just vastly under-reported.
Speaking of ‘vast,’ did you catch the line…”and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases.” Of course they did. The Kingdom of God, a kingdom of wholeness, was breaking out all around them.
Prayer: “Great giver of life, like the blind of old, we live in a “today” that does not believe in what it cannot see, measure, or touch. We have chosen to install ‘venetian blinds’ in front of our eyes that pass only certain, acceptable kinds of light and Image. Heal us of our blindness to spiritual truth so that we might again behold your incredible world with the wonder of a child. Go to war within us against those things that wound us and diminish our joy. Restore us to a full fellowship with life and the people of our world. Wash, wipe, squeegee us clean of the fear to live as your fully restored child. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”