Cleansing (Part 5)

// Check out part 1, 2, 3, and 4 before continuing.

Our last post could very well have concluded this series. For we have now witnessed the assurance that we won't taint Jesus with our uncleanliness, but that He will cleanse us. Furthermore, He desires to come into intimate healing contact with us; this is no burden for Him. Indeed, this is a high point to conclude.

And some days I'm satisfied with stopping there. But other days I recognize that there is a world of individuals around me who are also in desperate need of cleansing: of experiencing healing from their sin-state brokenness. So what does all this fountain talk mean for them? We don't need go far to find out.

We already begun looking at Jesus' encounter with the women at the well in John 4. This is where Jesus declared, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst." He declared Himself to be the fountain of living water. But notice the very next words Jesus says, "But the water that I shall give him twill become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." Drinking of the fountain, we become a fountain.

Notice the same idea is repeated a few chapters later in John. Jesus cries out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (7:37b-38)

We see this happen in the woman's account. After meeting Jesus, the fountain, she goes and acts as a fountain to her community testifying of Jesus.

Now, be careful, the woman's role as a fountain is not the same as Jesus' role as the fountain. She declares to the community what Jesus has done in her life (4:29) and "many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified" (4:39). But don't miss what they tell the woman after meeting Jesus, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

Her role is simply a channel. She testifies how the fountain has cleansed her and brings her community to the Source so they can experience the same cleansing. This is how she is serving as a fountain.

The proverbs give some practical advice on how we can be used as fountains to out communities (our families, peers, co-workers, random people on the street, and so on). Here's one:

The mouth of the righteous is a well of life, But violence covers the mouth of the wicked. (10:11)

The focus is on words. Could God be calling me to breath life into my community through the words I speak? How will this calling influence my lunch-time conversations, my facebook posts, my complaints, my 30 second encounters with the cashier?

Another related proverb:

The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. (13:14)

Let's face it, I've got plenty of friends headed into "snares of death". Here I'm challenged to intervene. I don't think this means I act proud, holier-than-thou, supposing to know more than I do. But I'm willing to call them out, or perhaps better yet, to listen to them speak. As much as they sometimes pretend, I don't think too many people actually enjoy spending time in those "snares", along with the emptiness and shame that follows, anyway.

Ultimately, I follow Jesus' example. He's the one who ate with sinners, but as the living fountain, the meal would end with selfish tax collectors giving away half their goods to the poor (cf. Luke 19). Jesus didn't spend time with sinners because He thought there was something magical in His presence; He was intentional. His words, conversations, and teachings all poured forth life.

May God continue the work of creating us each into such fountains of life today, that we may better direct our communities to the Living Fountain, the Source of Life, the True Cleanser.

Cleansing (Part 4)

// Check out part 1, part 2, and part 3 before continuing.

For a moment, let's return to our original encounters with the leper and the woman in the crowd. They're now less confusing as we realize that Jesus the fountain of living water -- or "source of eternal life" as Hebrews puts it -- isn't made unclean by the unclean.

But don't be satisfied with the stories yet; there's more to them. Notice the story of our leper happens in Matthew 8, directly after Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Our text suggests that the leper had listened to the sermon (8:1), had recognized that Jesus "taught them as one having authority" (7:29), and hence by faith proclaimed "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." He realized the power in the words of Jesus.

The very next story in Matthew also emphasizes the authority in Jesus' words -- this is where Jesus speaks and instantly heals a centurion's servant who is sick a great way off.

Jesus' words carry creative authority: they spoke the world into existence, healed at a distance, even brought a dead man back to life, surely they could heal a leper.

But remember our story. Jesus didn't just command the leper clean, but He "put out His hand and touched him". That touch is what caused our initial confusion. But now that touch testifies to an awesome truth: Jesus didn't just want to heal the leper, He desired to be intimately close to Him.

Scenes of creation come rushing to mind. God speaks light, seas, trees, elephants and the like into existence. Surely He could have declared "Let there be man", but instead He kneels down, shapes Adam, breathes into Him. The scene with Eve is equally intimate.

Here with our leper Jesus is displaying the same desire for intimacy as He did thousands of years prior in Eden. Everything has changed since Eden -- man is sinful, cursed, wretched, has rejected God, and is deserving of God's wrath -- but God hasn't changed. He still desires to pour out His affection. To be close to the miserable and make them whole again.

Now to the story of the woman in the midst of the crowd. She is the complete opposite of the leper: she desires to touch Jesus and avoid His words. And so she does, touching the hem of his cloak. It heals her, but Jesus calls her out. It was terrifying ("she came trembling"), but it drew out of her a response: "she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately".

Now why would Jesus do this? She was already healed, isn't that enough. But perhaps Jesus was interested in more than her physical healing. He has her announce the desperateness of her situation and the healing she found in Him, then explains "your faith has made you well".

Maybe Jesus knew what would have happened otherwise. How years later the woman might have remembered how she managed to steal healing power from a mighty prophet. She might have felt good about that achievement, but what hope would it give for further, deeper healing?

So Jesus leaves no room for confusion. She hadn't accomplished to heal herself, she had spent 12 years ill, but now it was faith in Christ that had healed her. And if that's the means of healing, then there is hope for further healing (physical, emotional, spiritual). More than leave healed, she can now "Go in peace" knowing the One who heals.

Last post I asked what this means for us, today. I'll let you draw your own applications, but there's two points that stand out to me. The first is that not only is Jesus capable of healing, He is desiring. Sure, we found a clause in Leviticus that says He could come into contact with the unclean, but more incredible is that He did. He stretched out His hand. Perhaps Jesus doesn't seeing healing as a burden, but as a joy.

When I recognize the uncleanliness of deep seated sin in my life (character shortcomings, habitual sins, and the like), I certainly shouldn't think that I can't come to Jesus because it'll taint Him. Fountains don't become unclean. But moreover, I shouldn't think the task of healing is somehow burdensome to God. He desires to be intimate with me, reaching out His healing hand. Jesus is still declaring, "I am willing; be cleansed."

Second lesson. Don't be shy about healing. Perhaps like the woman in the crowd, I too often try to sneak into the throne-room of God and obtain His healing power while going unnoticed. I slip whispers for victory over sin and character development into my prayers, trying to nab a bit of God's power. But when I do such, I know God's heart is crying out for me to stop, to recognize my condition, and to exercise real faith in Him.

Cleansing is not a product God manufactures; it is the result of coming into intimate relationship with Him. He invites us to be open with Him and so that we too may "Go in peace".

// Continue to part 5.

Cleansing (Part 3)

// Check out part 1 and part 2 before continuing.

Let's explore this fountain idea. We'll look at a few passages referring to fountains, wells, or springs -- in each case the same Hebrew word is used as that of our spring (ma `yan) of Leviticus 11.

The first couple occurrences of this word are simply references to physical water sources. For example, it shows up in the flood account ("the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up"), later in describing land boundaries (see Joshua 15:9, 18:15), and so on. However, in the writings of the prophets we begin to see fountains/wells used in spiritual metaphors. Notice how Isaiah 12 uses the word:

And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

Similarly Joel prophecies that "a fountain shall flow from the house of the LORD" on the day of the LORD.

New Testament prophecy also anticipates drinking from "wells of salvation." The final scenes of Revelation include God declaring to the redeemed, "I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts."

Fountain. Salvation. Clearly connected.

How does Jesus figure into all this? To understand, we must look at a Jesus encounter. As we may expect, the setting is an old well.

Picking it up in John 4 we read:

So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst."

Jesus both compares and contrasts Himself with Jacob's well. That well offers water; Jesus offers living water. He is the well of living water. A fountain, or spring, of life.

This is more than a nice sounding title. For starters, it is immediately legally significant. It means our Levitical clause (11:36) explains how Jesus wasn't in violation of the law by touching the untouchable and then acting unaffected. For He didn't become unclean. Springs don't.

It's also interesting to go back over our first stories thinking in fountain terms. For instance, recall when the woman in the midst of the crowd touched Jesus and she was healed. Jesus knew something had happened because He "perceived power going out" from Himself (Luke 8:46). That is, healing power flowed out of Him.

But Jesus' fountain identity is about far more than resolving legal questions or giving a new perspective on some otherwise familiar stories. For while these are good things to do, it falls short of addressing the heart questions we have: "What does this mean about Jesus, about me, about our relationship, today?" Good question -- it's the one planted on my heart too. It'll also be the topic of our next post.

// Continue to part 4.

Cleansing (Part 2)

// Check out part 1 before continuing.

Last time we were left with a challenge: to discover the clause of the Levitical Law explaining why Jesus could come into contact with the unclean and remain clean. We noted that it probably wouldn't relate to Jesus' identity as High Priest, as the laws concerning High Priests are very sensitive regarding ritual purity.

Let's try another angle. Besides High Priest, Jesus is also our shepherd. Perhaps there is some law saying when shepherds are out attending their flock they don't have to worry about touching unclean things (lepers, pigs, and the like). Sounds promising -- but I haven't found such a law in Leviticus.

There are some other identities of Jesus we might try, but to what avail? The entire point of the Levitical law seems to be to indicate how contagious this "unclean" condition is. Being unclean is serious, so dealing with it is serious; definitely not something to be ignored!

And so it ought be. We discussed before that the Levitical laws are practical (like hospital procedures today) to prevent disease from spreading. But they are also typical, that is symbolic. More than dealing with common diseases and teaching us to avoid unhealthy foods, the unclean laws display the total wretchedness of the human condition. We are sinful; we are unclean. And fixing this problem, Leviticus indicates, is going to take a lot. It's going to require the Sacrifice -- one so significant that Leviticus tries to unpack it through several sacrifices and rituals.

So it makes sense that we're not finding an easy out -- one that lets priests or shepherds avoid the reality of the problem of uncleanliness. If we did, perhaps we could just go herd sheep and avoid the need for the Savior.

A portion of Leviticus that really drives home this point -- the spread and depth of uncleanliness -- is in Leviticus 11. The immediate context is regarding unclean animal flesh.

32 Anything on which any of them falls, when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is any item of wood or clothing or skin or sack, whatever item it is, in which any work is done, it must be put in water. And it shall be unclean until evening; then it shall be clean.33 Any earthen vessel into which any of them falls you shall break; and whatever is in it shall be unclean:34 in such a vessel, any edible food upon which water falls becomes unclean, and any drink that may be drunk from it becomes unclean.35 And everything on which a part of any such carcass falls shall be unclean; whether it is an oven or cooking stove, it shall be broken down; for they are unclean, and shall be unclean to you.

If uncleanness touches your clay pots, smash them! Perhaps this is partly practical as clay is porous and we'd expect the uncleanness to get into the clay beyond washing, while a piece of cloth can be washed clean. But there is also the spiritual dimension -- uncleanness is deep, it is a core issue, a light scrubbing won't fix it. The Talmud (ancient Jewish commentary) actually records an interesting debate about unclean ovens. The question: if someone smashes an oven that has become unclean, then cements the pieces back together, is it still unclean? (read it here)

However, check out how our passage continues:

36 Nevertheless a spring or a cistern, in which there is plenty of water, shall be clean...

An exception! Springs abounding in water remain clean. Again, this makes sense. About a week ago I was visiting one of the springs here in Florida. This one is a bit of an attraction: people take inner tubes to the head of the spring and float them on down. The current flowing out is surprisingly powerful -- I tried swimming against it and stayed stationary. Stick something unclean in that spring and all the uncleanliness will just get washed away.

So could this be it? Is there some sense in which Jesus is a spring, or a "fountain" as the KJV translates, full of plenty of water? I'd like to suggest so*. Can you think of some Scriptures that support this idea? There are plenty, and in the next post we'll explore a few of them.


*The suggestion of this fountain clause applying to Christ and His contact to the unclean is not original; I first came across it in the commentary of the Andrews Study Bible.

// Continue to part 3.

Cleansing (Part 1)

Some stories in the gospels confuse me. Here's one that opens Matthew 8:

¹ When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. ² And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
³ Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
⁴ 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.”

Did you catch it? Jesus just "put out His hand and touched" a leper. You don't do that. I'm not saying you shouldn't touch a leper because they are the outcasts of society and it might ruin your social reputation. If that was all that Jesus was doing, He would be a compassionate Jew we should admire. But that's not it. You see, touching a leper is illegal. I'm talking Levitical law illegal. Check out Leviticus chapters 13 and 14. They are all about isolating the leper -- he is "unclean" and everything he comes into contact with (clothes, houses, it all) also becomes unclean.

This makes sense. I remember a couple years ago when I walked into a hospital ER and told the front desk lady, "I recently got back from Papua New Guinea and today I coughed up blood." Like the leper in the story, I was quick to be isolated. I got my own room and bathroom and all the doctors and nurses who visited wore masks and other protective gear. At some point, my mom who was with me asked one of them, "Should I be wearing a mask too?" Their response of "Oh, it's too late for you" wasn't promising. They suspected TB; turned out to just be a nasty case of pneumonia.

So these isolation and cleansing laws of Leviticus are practical. Moreover, they are God-given. The point: a first century Jew shouldn't be neglecting them. Interestingly, in our story Jesus ordered the former leper to uphold the law by showing himself to the priest (vs. 4). So then the question, why does it appear Jesus is disregarding the law Himself!

A second story. May be familiar, but it's just as confusing. We pick it up in Luke 8:

⁴³ Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, ⁴⁴ came from behind and touched the border of Jesus' garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.
⁴⁵ And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”
When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”
⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” ⁴⁷ Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.
⁴⁸ And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” 

We'll come back to this story a couple times. But what to note right now is that following the Levitical laws about lepers are ones pertaining to bodily discharges. In particular, Leviticus 15:25-30 deal with this woman's case. And here again they declare her as unclean. This explains why she only touched "the border of His garment." Uncleanness is contagious; the woman knew in order to be healed so had to touch Jesus but doing so would make Him (at least ritually) unclean. So she just touches the border -- maybe she thinks this will make it easier for Jesus when He goes through the ritual of bathing His clothes to clean them.

But again, something outrageous happens. It's not that touching Jesus heals the women, although this should make us look to Jesus as a powerful prophet. The outrages thing is Jesus never goes through the rituals to cleanse Himself. The story picks up with Him traveling to heal a man's daughter. No time out, no ritual, no washing. Again, Jesus seems to be disregarding the Levitical law.

My question is "why?". I believe there are two possible answers (although, feel free to suggest another).


The first is that Jesus actually did disregard the Law. But this route contradicts Jesus' own teaching that He lived in perfect obedience to all the Law (cf. John 8). Furthermore, it leads to a theological mess (if Jesus can override the Law, then why did He come to die to satisfy the demands of the Law?).

The second is that the Law handles Jesus uniquely. Just as Leviticus had differing requirements (for foreigners, Israelites, heads of house, priests, etc.) that were of the same Spirit but differed in some details, so when it comes to Jesus we may expect some details of how the Law applies to Him to differ (if only because He is different from the typical first century Jew). Same Law, same Spirit, just a few details that differ. This makes sense, for Jesus is our "High Priest" (cf. Hebrews) and certainly a High Priest's obligations to the Law are different than those of, say, a typical first century Jew.

But in this case pointing out that Jesus is our High Priest won't solve the problem. There are rituals for High Priests to cleanse themselves after coming into contact with the unclean as well. Jesus didn't follow these, I suspect because in these stories He wasn't serving as High Priest. So this sends us on a search. Our task is to inquire of the Levitical law and see what clause Jesus was tapping into that let Him touch the untouchable. And that's exactly what we'll do in the next post.

// Continue to part 2.