Jesus Healing: Lepers are Cleansed

Scripture:

Luke 5:12-16

Quick Summary:

A man with a skin disease came to Jesus all alone and said, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” Jesus said, “I will, be clean.” The man was cleansed from his disease.

The Point:

Jesus healed the leper, even when he was all alone.

Questions for Family Time:

1. Who was healed this week? 

         a.      The leper

2. What is a leper?

         a.  It is someone with a contagious skin disease (called leprosy)

3. Did his friends bring him to Jesus like the lame man’s friends did last time? 

         a. No, he came all alone. Jesus loves us even when we are all by ourselves.

Deeper:

            This time, the healing is just between Jesus and the leper. That is fitting with what we know about leprosy. It was a disease that according to Old Testament Law required complete separation from society. Even knowing that, this man is eerily alone because in other places in scripture we find groups of lepers. Not this man. He is by himself when he comes to Jesus.

Even though most of us don’t suffer from something that requires this kind of isolation, we understand what it means to be alone in our illness. Even when we are surrounded by support, there is a loneliness in suffering. There is the reality that I have to tough it out, I have to deal with the pain, and I am the one facing the uncertainty of mortality. There is a loneliness of suffering.

And this man, in his aloneness, finds his way to Jesus. He falls on his face and begs Jesus. And what he says is so profound: “Lord, If you will, you can make me clean.” There is no question here of Jesus’ power to heal. There is no question of what Jesus is ABLE to do. Jesus CAN make him clean.

There is just recognition that though he can, he may not. This is the tricky thing about faith, isn’t it? We may come to Jesus begging for healing and we have faith that he can do anything. Yet, he may choose not to heal us. Recognizing that is not a lack of faith.

            There is another text in scripture where these words are almost exactly the same. In this other story in Luke, a man says, “If you are willing, remove this cup from me.” The second was Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane hours before he suffered and died on the cross. In the story of the Leper, God was willing and healed the man. In the second, God did not will for the cup to be taken away, and Jesus ultimately died.

And that is true in healing today. God still heals.  He hears our prayers, sees our faith, even when we come alone, even in our isolation, and immediately we are healed. Immediately our leprosy leaves us. But sometimes, even though we come with prayers and faith knelt before God, our pain doesn’t leave. Sometimes, we remain by Jesus in the garden, sweating blood.

But even though God did not remove his cup, God did answer Jesus prayer. The scripture says, right after that prayer, “There appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.”

This is the promise God gives us: even when we are utterly alone, God can heal us. And even when he chooses not to, he doesn’t leave us to suffer alone. He sends his angels to strengthen us.

Personal Reflection:

  When have you felt alone in your suffering? How did God heal you? How did he “send his angels to strengthen you?