5:12
Leprosy, as used in the Bible, can refer to a variety of skin diseases, not just what we call leprosy. Leprosy itself was a terrible disease and made a person effectively an outcast. There were detailed rules in Leviticus 13 & 14 for dealing with a case of leprosy. The leper fell on the ground before Jesus, expressing the unworthiness he felt about himself, and his respect for Jesus. He wanted Jesus to heal him. He did not doubt Jesus’ ability to do so, but only His willingness. Nowadays the situation would probably be reversed, with a person doubting Jesus’ ability to heal, maybe even thinking that Jesus darn well ought to heal them. We need a change in attitude.
5:13
Jesus declares imply that He is indeed willing. Perhaps most significantly Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. Then He commands him to be clean, and the man is immediately healed. This highlights an important point about the Law and the gospel. Under the Law a leper was declared unclean (Lev 13:45,46). Now we consider such an approach inhuman, and definitely not how Jesus would act (as demonstrated here). So what are we to make of it all? Well we need to understand the nature and purpose of the Law. The Law is, to a large extent, declaring how the kingdom will be, and in the kingdom there will be no sickness nor sin. However, the Law was never intended to enable people to enter the kingdom, only the good news of Jesus Christ shows us how to enter the kingdom. Jesus is the way in, and He makes people clean, both physically and spiritually. There is a perfect kingdom, but a sinful people need a gracious saviour in order to be able to enter the perfect kingdom.
No comments:
Post a Comment