Back from the dead!

Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!” As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp. Leviticus 13:45-46

A man with leprosy came and knelt before Jesus and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Matthew 8:2-3

I’ve no idea how many times, over the years, I have read Leviticus 13-14. Not as many as various other parts of the Bible, it’s true, but a lot, nonetheless. And it’s always been, if I am to be honest, a bit of a plod: the description of what has been traditionally called “leprosy” takes up almost fifty verses of chapter 13, and I’ve found myself wondering, “Lord, why did you choose to give us all this detail!”

But the other day was different. Suddenly it seemed almost like a word for our times, as we struggle to bring the coronavirus under control.

Just look at Leviticus 13:45-46, the climax of the passage: all right, we aren’t required to “wear torn clothes”, but as for the rest… unkempt hair, yes; facial covering, yes; social distancing, yes, even if the cry “Unclean! Unclean!” isn’t required; and quarantine, yes, even if not the need to “live alone… outside the camp”.

If nothing else, passages like this remind us (as if we needed it!) that the human race is engaged in a constant battle against disease, and always has been. We have already been told by the experts that it’s very unlikely that the coronavirus will ever be totally eliminated; so while we are glad to see rates of infection and death dropping, the best we can hope for is that it will be brought under manageable control, like flu or pneumonia.

Thank God for the scientists, the doctors, and all who work in health care! And may God help us all to behave responsibly and maturely!

In the world of the Bible “leprosy” – a word that covered a whole range of skin diseases, not just what is properly known nowadays as “Hansen’s disease” - was a virtual death sentence; a living death, if you like. It was incurable, and led to a slow, gradual deterioration and a very unpleasant end. This was why it necessitated becoming an outcast from society as a whole. (A commentary I read told me that in the middle ages in Europe a person with leprosy would be brought to church and have the burial service read over them.)

In short, leprosy was horrible beyond words, and was feared even more than we fear the coronavirus.

But then came Jesus…

In Matthew 8:1-4 he is surrounded by crowds of people They are excited, clamouring to hear his teaching, when the unthinkable happens: a man with … what’s this? ... torn clothes, unkempt hair, a facial covering, and possibly shouting “Unclean! Unclean!” appears and starts to make his way through the crowd. Can you imagine the silence that descends? the way the crowd divides to stay as clear of him as possible? This is shocking! – and seriously frightening.

He kneels before Jesus: “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean”. Can you see him? What faith! What humility! What boldness!

And what did Jesus do? He “reached out his hand and touched the man”.

I love that part of the story: Matthew doesn’t just say “he touched the man” but he adds the completely unnecessary detail that he “reached out his hand” (after all, how could he touch the man without first reaching out his hand!) – thus adding a little note of tenderness and solidarity. (I wonder how long it had been since somebody last touched him?)

“Immediately he was cleansed”, says Matthew. Whereupon Jesus sends him on his way, first telling him to observe the proper procedures (back to the routine; back to Leviticus 14).

What a story!

Why did Jesus cleanse the man with leprosy?

A daft question! Because he is the very embodiment of the love of God, that’s why: “Jesus, thou art all compassion,/ Pure, unbounded love thou art”, as Charles Wesley put it. Why else?

But there is something else. Jesus was making a statement by this act: Not only “I love all people, including the most wretched in society” or “I am able to do supernatural miracles”, but “In God’s coming kingdom there is no such thing as an outcast or an outsider”.

It’s no accident that in the very next story Jesus heals the servant of a Roman soldier, a Gentile, the people the Jews were told to keep well away from. And he followed that miracle with a wonderful statement: “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11).

In short, in Jesus the barriers come tumbling down. The man cast out because of leprosy can mix once more in the temple with his people. And anybody – just anybody – who puts their trust in Jesus is admitted into God’s eternal kingdom with rejoicing and the blowing of trumpets.

Is that your hope and expectation? It can be! Don’t turn down that wonderful invitation!

Dear heavenly Father, thank you for your promise that you will wipe every tear from our eyes, that there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain any more, because the old order of things has passed away. May I find great hope and deep peace in that promise. Amen.