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.