A Simple Touch

Matthew 8:1-4  When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded,for a proof to the people.” 


Jesus notoriety was spreading as is evidenced by the crowds that followed him. The healings and miracles brought the crowds with an expectation that they would see and hear things that were amazing to them. So a leper came. As you probably know lepers were excluded from society. They had to stay far away from others and wear bells and make loud noises warning people to stay away. If society had a bottom wrung they were it. Just touching a leper made you unclean by Jewish law, unable to worship with the community.What an unusual event for a leper to come near as the crowd followed Jesus. To defy Jewish law and approach the crowd, let alone a holy man, would be unthinkable. You can just sense the desperation of the leper who took the risk of being stoned just to come. What a small but amazing event this is for that time and place.


The man says to Jesus the phrase, "If you are willing." In that statement he acknowledges his faith that Jesus could heal him. He sees that it is only a matter of wether or not Jesus chooses to heal him. Lepers experiences led them to appropriately believe that no one cared about them. Their experience often even by their own families was abandonment. Amazingly Jesus was willing to heal him. Jesus caring for the bottom wrung of the social ladder must have been a shock to the crowd.


Even more amazing to me is how he healed the man. Examples of Jesus healing someone without touch are evident in scripture. I have no doubt that Jesus could have just pronounced that the man be healed and he would have been healed. At least his body would have been healed. Jesus touched the leper. Perhaps this was to heal his hurt and emotional scars that needed to be healed as well. It was a declaration of sorts that he was not worthless. By custom touching the man had great risk for Jesus and may have been added to list that was growing in the minds of the powerful against him. What a strong statement to the us and to the crowd that no matter how worthless we might feel, we are not worthless to Jesus.


He sends the man to the priests to be declared clean so he can go home to his family and friends. Restored mentally, physically and socially the man no longer excluded on the bottom wrung of society. Jesus wants to do the same today through his body the church. No one is outside his reach, but we often allow barriers to exist that make Jesus hard to see. Who around you feels excluded? Jesus wants to touch them today.