Lev 13-16, Luke 5: I remember the first few times I read through the Bible and I got to these chapters. I felt like after reading I needed to go take a bath. lol. I also found myself looking for spots on myself and the colors of the hair in it. lol. Now that I have read it several times through the years these chapters represent something much different to me. It represents the aloneness of the person who found the disease. It reminds me that they were outcasts, alone, hated, distrusted and doomed. Their only hope was healing and a priest who would declare them clean.
Our sin is much like leprosy. It too separates us from God. We are cast out of His presence because of it and it took healing to bring us back into community with God. That healing came from our forever High Priest, Jesus Himself who declared us clean! He came to bind up the broken and set the captive free. By His blood our once sin sick bodies were set free from the bondage of sin. Now we are no more unclean! We are no longer separated, condemned or doomed. We are renewed!!!
I love how in Luke 5 Jesus healed the man of leprosy. In another account of this same story Jesus reached out and touched the leper and made him clean. Jesus touched the one who was the outcast! He will touch you and me too if we will allow him to. No one in Biblical days could heal leprosy. They knew that only a prophet could (look back at the story of Naaman). So when Jesus did heal this man it was a sure sign that He was a prophet. By healing us He also proved He was and is the Son of God.
Isn’t it amazing that a story that once grossed me out now represents life and hope? I believe that in this Covid sick world where people feel unclean we need to show them the Hope of the Healer who can heal any disease!