Leper Cleansed

In Jesus’ day leprosy seemed to be a major problem that left no hope because there was no cure!  There were different forms of this disease and not all were contagious.  To have the contagious disease was normally a death sentence; to say nothing of the devastation it caused the person and their family.  They were doomed to live a terrible existence having to leave their families and their friends and live in a Leper community.  This disease caused those that had it to rot away, as their body parts, such as ears, noses, fingers and toes fell off, and so on until they died.  It was a very contagious disease and if they left the community they had to make sure they were upwind and fifty feet away from any person, with their heads covered, hollering, “unclean-unclean.”  I am sure if any leper heard that Jesus was coming their way, they would have tried to encounter Him and ask Him to heal them.  

Such was the case with the man spoken of in Matthew 8:1-4, as well as other books.  In these verses it says this about what took place in his encounter with Jesus, “When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, ‘See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”’

When this leper went to Jesus for healing, Jesus touched him and healed him, even when his diseased skin was full of sores.  When I read and think of leprosy in the Word, I think about the ten lepers that Jesus healed and nine out of the ten didn’t even come back to thank Him and to glorify God His Father.

You can read about it in Luke 17:11-19, “Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ So when He saw them, He said to them, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’  And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?’ And He said to him, ‘Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.’”

Jesus does so many things for so many people and all many of them can say is, “I was lucky” or, “I was in the right place, at the right time,” instead of saying, “thank you” and “praise God I am healed.”  So instead of thanking the Lord like the leper that came back did, they give the glory to something else.

There are some diseases today that have no cure, and the one I am thinking of has been around since the beginning of time, it is called sin, and like leprosy, there is no human cure and it also carries a death sentence.  The difference between this disease and leprosy is everyone has it.  Just like leprosy there is only one that can cure it and cleanse it and that is the Lord and the good news is the Lords wants to; all you have to do is repent and turn away from your sins and ask Him to forgive you and be the Lord of your life.  If you do that sincerely it will happen, and I am confident that you will be thanking and praising the Lord.  Have a great day and God bless you!!