The Acts of the Apostles 66

Subtitle: Those Who Turn The World Upside Down

Acts 17:1-15.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on May 26, 2024.

We have made it back to the book of Acts.  We are in the middle of Paul’s 2^nd Missionary Journey.  It began at the end of chapter 15 following the Jerusalem Council.  This was a gathering of the apostles and elders of the early Church to make sure they were all on the same page regarding what Gentiles needed to do in order to be saved.  Thus, Paul’s 2^nd missionary trip serves to visit churches that he had started on the first missionary trip and share the findings of the Jerusalem Council.

This would be important because, up to that point, there were individuals that were telling the Gentiles that they needed to follow the Old Testament, i.e., become Jews through circumcision, and obedience to the stipulations of the Law of Moses.  Essentially, they were teaching Gentiles to first become Jews, and then, they could become a follower of Jesus.

After Paul had worked through these towns in central Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey, or Türkiye), the Holy Spirit leads him and his company to travel westward until they ended up in Greece.  In Chapter 16, Paul and company minister in Philippi where they are whipped and put in the jail.  However, an earthquake leads to them being freed and the Philippian jailor and household becoming Christians.  Paul then reveals that they have beaten him against the law of Rome because he has Roman citizenship.  This causes the magistrates to apologize and beg Paul to leave the city.  They then met with the believers, encouraged them and then, headed westward towards Thessalonica, which is where we join them in Acts 17:1.

The Gospel comes to Thessalonica (v. 1-9)

They travel west through two cities, Amphipolis and Apollonia, which roughly divide the 100 miles to Thessalonica into thirds (around 33 miles between).  Paul may or may not have preached in these cities.  It is not mentioned.  However, Luke focuses on what happened at Thessalonica next.

We have two letters (epistles) written by Paul to the Thessalonians in the New Testament.  Here is something that Paul later said of the church that would be started there.  1 Thessalonians 1:8, “For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place the news of your faith toward God has gone out.”

From this, we can see that Paul doesn’t have to preach in every city (whether he did or didn’t).  The churches that he started would become hubs of shining the Gospel into the region.  May our church be a church with such a strong faith that the area knows it, and they will have hear the “Word of the Lord.”

Now, Thessalonica was the main city of that region.  It had a synagogue and that is where Paul began.  We are told that he preached for three Sabbaths (weeks), reasoning with them from the Scriptures.

There are two verbs that are used to describe this.  In the NKJV, they are interpreted as “explaining” and “demonstrating.”  The first one has the sense of opening the Scriptures up for them, but also opening their understanding of the Scriptures that they no doubt knew.  The second word has the sense of setting something before the people.  In food contexts, it is used of a hostess placing food before guests.  In this setting, we are talking about teachings regarding Christ that are set before them, i.e., demonstrated to them from Scripture.

The two main teaching mentioned here are that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise again from the dead.  We are not told the Scriptures that Paul used, but Isaiah 53 could easily have been one, also Psalm 16:10-11.  The second teaching is that Jesus of Nazareth is that Messiah and fulfilled these things.  Notice the logic of this.  If you don’t recognize or accept the first teaching, then you will not be able to see Jesus as the Messiah because he did suffer, die, and yet, rose again from the dead.

The response is good, but it is split up into three parts:  “some of them were persuaded,” “a great multitude of devout Greeks,” and “not a few of the leading women.”  In light of the mention of Gentiles in the second part, we can safely assume that the first part is speaking about the Jews who attended the synagogue.  So, it appears that there was a better reception among the Gentiles than among the Jews.  We are told that those who believed “joined” Paul and Silas.  It is most likely that they were connecting with them throughout the week in order to learn more, and unknowingly laying the foundation for the first church of Thessalonica.

We are told in verse 5 that those who were not persuaded by the Gospel preaching became “envious.”  This envy leads to them stirring up a crowd, a mob, from the marketplace in order to apprehend Paul, Silas, and Timothy. 

The source of the trouble is envy, and would, no doubt, be led by the religious leaders of the synagogue.  The problem was not Jews.  Paul is a Jew as well as Silas.  Some Jews were persuaded by Paul.  The problem is envy, and envy plagues every ethnic group under the sun.

You can imagine that they had worked hard to share the Law of Moses in Thessalonica and had even drawn many devout Greeks to attach themselves to the teaching of the synagogue as God-fearers.  When someone else comes into town and begins to persuade people in a new teaching, it would be natural to be defensive.  This is the same dynamic that led to Jesus being rejected by the leaders of Jerusalem.  Yet, the problem is not that their lack of being persuaded.  It could have stayed at the level of arguing your case from Scripture and rejecting Paul’s teaching.  They might even stipulate continued synagogue attendance on the rejection of this new teaching.  However, something darker comes forth because envy is a dark vice.  You may not even know you are being envious as it happens.  Envy is never good, and only leads to overt sin and pain.

A mob is stirred up, and we should take a moment to remind ourselves about the spirit that affects a crowd.  A crowd takes on a nature that is larger than any one person within the group, even those who started it.  For example, when you push against a large rock that is on a hillside, you will notice that there is much resistance at first.  You are choosing to keep pushing, or get help from more people, etc.  In a way, you are still in control.  However, there is that moment in time in which gravity takes over, and you are no one is in control.  Dangerous things can happen, especially if there are unwitting people down the hill.  The same is true spiritually, for good or for bad.  People within crowds will often do things that they would never do on their own.  In fact, contrary to the analogy, there are often spiritual dynamics at work even in “pushing the rock” in the first place. 

There is a theme in Scripture: don’t focus only on what you can see because you will miss the spiritual things that are happening.  This can be the good work of God, the evil work of the devil and his angels, or the spiritual condition of a person we are dealing with.

We do not want to be a people who are easily motivated to riot and attack others (even metaphorically).  We must understand what spirit is motivating us in our decisions and actions.  Is it the Holy Spirit, or the spirit of this world?  Believers in God, in Jesus, are those who are led by the Holy Spirit, rather than the ill-winds of this world.

We cannot fault the Jews of Thessalonica for not having a relationship with Jesus, but we can see that they had not been tuned to the Spirit of God.  Otherwise, they would have responded with joy.  Yet, they respond with envy and seeking to banish or jail Paul and company.

This is the battle between a desire for truth and the envy of our ego.  We all have ego that gets hurt from time to time, but believers are called to purify their hearts through repentance and works that are worthy of such.

The group ends up at the house of a man named Jason.  He most likely had been persuaded and was housing them.  However, when they arrive, Paul is not there.  Then, they drag Jason and the “brothers” (i.e., believers in Jesus) before the city rulers to make accusation against them.

The accusation is that they are breaking the decrees of Caesar by saying Jesus is “another king.”  In some ways, Jesus is not a threat to Caesar.  He did not instruct his followers to defeat the Roman empire.  Instead, he told them to love their enemies and preach the Gospel to them.  Yet, Jesus is a threat to Caesars in general.  The kingdoms of this world are destined to belong to him.  The kings of the earth are warned to “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little.  Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.” Psalm 2:12.  Still, Jesus is not a threat in the way that they are presenting. 

They stir the pot through this aspersion, “these who have turned the world upside down have come here too!”  This is intended to be a negative, but it shows the powerful effectiveness of the early Church.  Actually, they were not turning the world upside down.  The world was already upside down from the way that God had created it due to human sin and spiritual interference.  Jesus Messiah was sent to begin righting the ship.  That righting of things begins in the heart of the individual.  He has come to set our hearts right side up before God. 

Yet, this creates a polarization in families, towns, nations, even the world.  Jesus said in Matthew 10:34, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace but a sword.  For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’” He is quoting Micah 7:6.  This is the polarization that we see happening in this synagogue and the city as a whole.  Some are embracing Christ, but others who were their friends were not.  This situation has continued throughout the earth to this day.

The rulers of the city take security (money) from Jason and send them away.  This security is probably not a bond for showing up to court.  Rather, it is most likely so that they won’t cause another riot.

The Gospel comes to Berea (v. 10-15)

“The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.”  The label of “brethren” means that these are people who believe that Jesus is the Messiah.  A good group of believers has been started, and the hot tempers among the town calls for Paul to move on.  However, the Gospel has not left the town.  It has been sown and taken root in many hearts.  Berea is a town that is about 45 miles west of Thessalonica.

Luke notes that there was a very different mind-set, or attitude, within the Berean synagogue.  Different versions describe them as “more noble,” “more fair-minded,” and “of more noble character.” The word literally means “well born.”  It pictures a person who has been born into a good family, has been taught good morals, and lives these out in society (aka Not the kind of people who riot).

What won them this descriptor? First, they were ready to hear what Paul had to say.  Yet second, they searched the Scriptures to check the veracity of his claims.  They were not ego-driven, but instead, desired to know the truth.  We can be a slave to passions that drive us.  In such cases, we can be blind to the truth.  However, what makes a person reject the Gospel one day, but accept it later?  There is a mystery to the way that the Gospel impacts people. 

We are told that many of them believed.  There is no distinction between Jew and Gentile this time.  Of course, Jesus and his apostles were not creating another religion by twisting Judaism.  The teaching and the work of Jesus flowed directly from the Law and the Prophets.  He is the fulfillment of all it points toward, which was there for anyone who would honestly seek out the truth.

Without any meddlers, there would not have been any problems in Berea.  However, the Jewish leaders from Thessalonica showed up and caused trouble for Paul and Silas in Berea.  No doubt, word had traveled back to them that Paul was in Berea and that many people were listening to him.  Again, the men from Thessalonica stirred up a crowd from the marketplace.

Note to self: don’t be the kind of person who is sitting around looking for a cause and a crowd to join.  Fleshly people, who are only focused on the lusts of their flesh, are easily stirred up.  If you are busy doing the work of the God, the Lord Jesus, then you will not be easily stirred up by others.

Again, the “brethren” send Paul away.  However, this time Paul goes by himself and leaves Silas and Timothy behind.  The heat seems to focus on Paul.  Silas and Timothy could stay under the radar and help the believing community of Berea grow in their understanding of the Scriptures and the work of Jesus.

Thus, Paul ends up on a ship to Athens, which is 300 miles away.  Most likely, they believe this will settle down the crowds rioting against Paul.

In some ways, we should recognize that, in order to turn your life right-side up before the LORD, it is going to feel like you are turning it upside down.  At salvation, a person senses the Holy Spirit calling them to put their faith in Jesus, but the flesh is generally scared at the thought of this.  Yet, for those who follow the Spirit, they enter into a life-transforming relationship with Jesus, the Spirit, and the Word.

When you feel that emotion of fear, or apprehension, towards something that the Holy Spirit is leading you to do or stop doing, take time to pray for clarity about the direction and courage to obey.

Paul could have focused on the negative.  Everywhere he went, people were causing trouble and mistreating him.  In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul lists all of the things he has endured in taking the Gospel to the nations.  Yet, these things were not enough to persuade him to quit.  He saw himself as a slave of Christ, even wishing that he could be cursed so that his countrymen could be saved.  The Holy Spirit had led Paul to these places to preach the Gospel.  Many wonderful people were saved through his ministry.

May God help us to see the need of a lost world and God’s love for them.  Yes, we will run into resistance and difficult things, but we will also see wonderful things.  Some will believe, and we will have fellowship with them.

How does a person turn the world upside down?  They do it by not focusing on trying to turn the world upside down.  Instead, they listen to the Holy Spirit and give themselves to the work that He gives them, no matter what the scope.  The Apostle Paul started by turning his own little world upside down on the road to Damascus when he believed in Jesus.  That became the foundation for what came later.  You can trust the Holy Spirit in you.  Just remain faithful to Jesus in your work.

Upside Down audio

Our Strong Foundation

2 Timothy 2:19. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 31, 2021.

This world seeks to build a future that can bring about peace, safety, and greatness for humanity.  The problem is that the world is building upon a foundation that is not God’s foundation.  Instead, it is being misled by their own sinful desires, and the devil, a fallen spiritual being who hates mankind.  We are led into through an unhealthy trust in our own human reasoning and wisdom.  Such people are manipulated by spiritual forces in ways that they often do not realize.

God’s people have always understood this about the world.  We must not yield for one second to the spirit of this world, and step off of the foundation of Jesus.  We must not join them in their great campaign to reject God’s foundation and make their own.  This endeavor will only be like the man who built his house upon the sand.  A great trial is coming upon the whole world, and this foundation of the devil and humanity will not hold.

Let’s look at our passage.

The solid foundation of God

Our verse comes on the heels of a list of actions and people who were causing troubles in the churches that Timothy was overseeing, no doubt, this also happened elsewhere in Paul’s travels.  Paul warns Timothy not to strive over words to the ruining of those who are hearing it.  He also warns him to avoid worldly and empty chatter because it will increase to more and more ungodliness.  Lastly, he warns that those who promote such will spread their message like cancer.  They will resist the truth, even to the point of some teaching that the resurrection was already past.  This was leading to the overthrowing, conquering, of the faith of some.

It is in this context that Paul reminds Timothy that there is a solid foundation of God despite the long list of negative things happening.  The word “nevertheless” operates in opposition to that negative list that Timothy is to avoid.  No matter how great the forces arrayed against God’s people, we still have a solid foundation that is from God Himself.  That is a great comfort in such times and has been demonstrated over and over again throughout history.

Paul does not define the foundation here, but it is made clear in many other verses.

For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building…For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  -1 Corinthians 3:9,11 (NKJV)

Here, we see that the people of God, His Church, are a building that God is building in cooperation with the apostles and leaders of the Church.  Paul clearly states that Jesus as Messiah is the foundation upon which the Church is built.  It is unlikely that it means the external institution.  He speaks of the spiritual body of Christ throughout the world, and throughout all time.  Let’s look at another verse regarding the foundation of God.

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.  -Ephesians 2:19-22 (NKJV)

In these verses, we see that the building in mind is a holy temple.  The people of God, both individually and collectively, are a temple in which the Spirit of God dwells and works.  We are built together and upon a foundation that is now described as being the apostles and prophets with Jesus being the chief cornerstone.  A similar image is given in Revelation 21 where the 12 foundations of the New Jerusalem are named after the twelve apostles.  This is not in contradiction to 1 Corinthians 3:11, but expands the imagery of a foundation.  In one sense, Jesus is the foundation, period.  However, it is also true to see him as being the most important stone within a foundation that had been laid over centuries by God through the prophets.

The historical record that we can read today has been faithfully delivered by the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles, who were the prophets of the New Testament that were sent by Christ with his message.  This strong foundation is all possible, and built upon, God Himself.  We must remember that the foundation of what we believe and how we live is built upon God Himself.  And, because it is built upon God Himself, it will stand firm regardless what assails it.  The Spirit of God wants us to know that, regardless of what comes against us personally, or against the faithful as a group, we have been given a foundation that was set by God Himself.  It will not be shaken, and it will not fall, period.  Our true danger is in somehow getting off of that firm foundation.

There are a lot of strivings over words that are ruining God’s people.  There are a lot of profane and empty babblings that are increasing our people into more and more ungodliness.  Many are having their faith overthrown, or supplanted with a faith in untruths.  God help us to be careful in these last days that we not have our faith overthrown, or shipwrecked.  His solid foundation was given especially for times like these.  Countless generations before us have entered the fires of trial, and have found it to hold firm, and so will we, if we courageously stand upon it.  The purpose of God and the strategy, or mission, of God will prevail over the enemy!  This is the flip-side of standing with Jesus and making the Good Confession.  We not only stand beside Christ speaking the same thing as he, but we also stand upon Jesus, his word, and the apostles that he authorized to establish his teachings.  We must refuse to be moved off of him.

Paul mentions that the foundation of God has a seal on it.  This is important because the attacks upon our faith come from outside the Church and from inside the Church.  A seal functioned to show who something belongs to, and it also functioned to show that something was authentic or genuine.  Both are important for Paul’s purposes.  Those who truly belong to the Lord will stand upon, and be built up upon, the foundation of Jesus.  This foundation is both the written Word of God, and the person of Jesus called The Word of God.  The written is an expression of a being called the Word of God.  We must never isolate the written word from the person of Christ himself through our fellowship with his Spirit.

These last days will challenge you.  Are you going to stay upon the foundation and belong to God, or, will you lay your faith aside and step onto a false foundation that is not firm?  God help us to stay faithful in these times.

We are told that there are two statements upon this seal, which is actually a spiritual seal.  The first statement is, “The Lord knows those who are His.”  The second is, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”

Let’s deal with the first statement.  It appears that Paul has the confrontation of Numbers 16 in mind since this first statement is a direct quote from Numbers 16:5. It may not look like it at first because most translations have Numbers 16:5 as, “the LORD will show who is His.”  The verb translated “will show” is literally “will cause to be known,” i.e. the Lord will cause to be known who is His.  The translation is good, but the different tack taken by the New Testament translators masks this connection.  Let’s talk about the Numbers 16 episode.

Moses had led the people to the Promised Land, but they had refused to enter in because of fear and unbelief when they saw the giants.  The people did not like the fact that they then had to go back into the wilderness for 40 years, so they tried to attack the giants and lost.  So, into the wilderness they went. 

Korah, a Levite who was related to Moses and Aaron, led a rebellion against Moses.  Why should Moses and Aaron have the say about where they go, and who gets to minister in the tabernacle?  Moses then tells Korah to prepare censers with incense and show up the next morning before the tabernacle.  Aaron and his sons would be there too.  Moses declares that, as they minister before the tabernacle, God would make it known who is His (or on His side).  Do you know what happened?  First, the ground opened up around the tents of those in league with Korah’s rebellion and they all fell in with their tents.  It is not clear if this was an earthquake event or a sinkhole event.  At the same time, fire went out from the Lord and killed Korah and 250 men who were offering incense before the tabernacle with him.

Ultimately, Korah and his followers represent those within God’s Church who are not happy with where things are and where they are headed.  Instead of trusting in the leading and foundation of God, they seek to take control of God’s Church.  However, God not only knows those who are His, but He will cause it to be known who are His at particular junctions.  You could say that the Second Coming of Christ will be such an event par excellence. 

The times of trials and shakings are for the very purpose of revealing who really belongs to Christ.  The Big Lie will be that those who stand on God’s foundation are the problem that is holding the world back, but God will shake this earth once more, and fire will go out from the Lord once more, and He will show who belongs to Whom.

Now, let’s look at the second statement.  “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”  This is connected to Numbers 16 as well.  Moses warned the people to get away from the tents of those in the rebellion, or they would perish with them.  To remain close to Korah would be to participate in his judgment.  Paul’s instructions to Timothy to avoid such people is not just good wisdom.  It is existential wisdom.  God’s people are to avoid those who claim to be Christians, but are caught up in iniquity.  We must not let them influence us.  Not all who claim to have the truth are of God.  This is why it is so important to be a student of God’s Word and to have a relationship with the Spirit of God through prayer.

This theme is an important end-times theme.  Revelation 18 speaks about the destruction of Mystery Babylon the Great.  In verse 4, it warns, “Come out from her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.  For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.”  This is even a reiteration of Jeremiah 50:8, which speaks of the judgment of Babylon.

Listen, the world is trying to build a modern, but spiritual, tower of Babel whose foundation is anything but Christ.  Don’t let yourself be sucked into it, and deceived.  Those who truly believe in Christ and carry his name to the world will not fellowship with those who love iniquity.

Final Thoughts

There is a tension that exists between reaching the lost out of God’s compassion, and not fellowshiping with those trapped in iniquity out of love for God.  The separation is always a spiritual separation, and, from time to time, becomes a literal separation.  In fact, I believe this is exactly what God does in the rapture.  He removes his people because there will be no safe place on this earth to separate ourselves to, and so He takes us up to Himself.  It is our duty to remain spiritually committed to Christ and Him alone, to His Word and it alone, all the while warning people to flee the wrath hanging over this world.  May God strengthen our resolve to stand upon His strong foundation in the days ahead.

Strong Foundation audio

Touching the Untouchable

Mark 1:40-45.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 10, 2019.

Today’s passage deals with a man who has leprosy.  In the Bible leprosy can be connected to a similar disease today called Hansen’s Disease.  However, it is clear that the Bible uses this term for far more than what would be considered Hansen’s Disease.  It was more of an umbrella term that was used to describe a range of skin problems, and even molds and mildew on stone or wood.  The man in our story appears to have a skin problem.  How bad his case is and how long he has had it we do not know.  This much we do know.  In the ancient world, the only answer for leprosy was a miracle.  Short of a miracle, a person was doomed to a life of being ostracized from society.  Lepers had to live outside and away from the dwelling places of the uninfected and they had to warn people if they approached.

This in and of itself would be bad enough, but then we must add the human element.  Humans added to the difficulty of lepers by showing little to no compassion.  Self-preservation was the order of the day and it was often laced with a derogatory hostility.  They were often seen as deserving of a punishment from God.  It is true that the Bible records some situations where a person who was rebelling against God came down with leprosy as a punishment.  However, this does not mean that every case is the result of judgment.  In general sin is in the world because humanity is fallen.  It is a result of the general sinful condition of mankind.  Though God can direct disease as a primary force, He typically allows proximity, DNA, and chance take its course.  Though we may wish God would protect everyone, or at least children and the helpless, etc., He has a plan to make us like Him.  If we are protected from the results of our fallen nature then we will never grow to become like Him.  The first reaction of Christians to disease should be the same compassion that we see in Jesus in this passage and the attempt to do for them what we can, both physically and spiritually.

An Untouchable approaches Jesus

The event begins in verse 40 and happens somewhere outside of a city because none is mentioned and lepers were very limited in where they could go.  In Matthew this same story is recorded right after the sermon on the mount, which happens near Jerusalem on the Mt. of Olives.  Therefore, it is likely that Jesus is outside Jerusalem, but we cannot know for sure.

People who had contracted leprosy were supposed to keep their distance and shout “Unclean! Unclean!” as a warning to people.  However, this man knows the reputation of Jesus as a healer and breaks protocol.

He kneels down and implores Jesus to heal him.  Now, kneeling for a person with leprosy can be a dangerous thing.  These diseases typically are caused by bacteria that attack the nerve endings and work their way to the core of the central nervous system.  The lack of feeling is as much responsible for their wounds as any cellular deterioration.  Yet, this is a desperate man.  He pleads with Jesus for help. 

If leprosy symbolizes sin then we should recognize that this man’s knowledge of his own condition, his own helplessness, and just who could help him, is symbolic of the answer to sin.  Only God could help this man wracked by the ravages of a disease.  Only Jesus had given him the hope that something could be done about his condition.  The same is true for us and our own sinful condition.  Without Jesus, we are at the mercy of sin and our selfish flesh.  They drive a wedge between us and the relationships in our lives, making us numb to life, and eventually destroying all hope.  We cannot approach Jesus with proud demands, but if we approach in brokenness and humility, we will find Him gracious and willing to help us.

Let’s analyze the statement the man makes.  First, he states the conditional, “If you are willing.”  This is enlightening.  He knows that God can heal him, but up to this point it hasn’t happened.  When he hears about Jesus, he has hope again, but still doesn’t know if Jesus is anymore willing to heal him.  There are some today who answer this question by saying Jesus is always willing.  If you are sick and come to Jesus, you should always get healed.  If not, then there is something wrong with you not Jesus.  Let’s lay this larger issue aside for a second and recognize in this moment how critical that question is to an individual.  It is often the result of countless hours of beating yourself up with the hopelessness of your situation and the idea that God doesn’t care about you.  Jesus was probably the first time that this man felt any hope that it could happen, but it hinges on the willingness of Jesus.

The second part of his statement is this.  “You can make me clean.”  It states an unwavering belief (faith) that Jesus had the power to heal him.  Of this, he seems to have no doubt.  Now, we have no indication that Jesus has healed other lepers up to this point.  He is the first recorded in the gospels.  However, it is possible because of all the blanket statements that say that Jesus healed all who were brought to him (at a particular instance).  Regardless, he believes.

The word clean is used because biblically the person with leprosy was declared “unclean.”  This was a ceremonial declaration that they could not participate in any temple rituals, whether to offer sacrifice or whatever.  Also, those who were ritually clean could not touch them at risk of becoming ritually impure themselves (note: mere touch could only cause temporary uncleanness, but contracting the disease would create a permanent uncleanness without healing).  So, the use of the term has two meanings.  The man could not be declared clean by the priests unless he was first healed from the disease.  He wants Jesus to heal him so that he can then be declared clean. Once he is clean, he can take his part in the heritage of Israel and go to the temple for worship and sacrifice.  It would open the door of access for him. 

The same is true for us today.  Without Christ, we are still in our sins and shut out from God’s heavenly temple.  Only Jesus can clean us from our sins.  However, even more than that, only Jesus can restore us to a position in which we can participate in the heritage that God has for His people today, that heritage that will take us into eternity, and the new heavens and the new earth.  Christ has not come just to rid us of the bad, but also to restore us to that good thing that we have been missing in our life.  Fellowship with God the Father and the Power of the Holy Spirit enabling us to image the Father to this broken and lost world.

Jesus responds to him

So, let’s look at the response of Jesus to such an approach.  Does Jesus respond with fear and calling for the stoning of such brazen audacity and wanton disregard for scriptural protocol?  I am not exaggerating, because historically certain rabbis have gone on record of responding with such reactions towards those with leprosy.  Of course, Jesus does no such thing.  Verses 41-42 show us a powerful scene of compassion.  We must be careful of brushing over such moments in the Scripture too quickly.  We are told that Jesus is moved with compassion.  The word for compassion speaks of a very deep emotion that comes from the guts.  We often have compassion on people, but typically it is for those who are very close to us, or the compassion is not very deeply felt.  Here is a man who has no connection to Jesus other than to be a fellow Israelite.  Yet, Jesus is moved with deep emotion for this man and his condition.

Do you believe that God is deeply moved by compassion when He looks at the world and its bondage to sin?  We only need to look at the cross and see the suffering of Jesus in order to know that He is deeply touched by our sin.  He does care.  He hasn’t abandoned you.  Put your trust in Him and He will never fail you.  He won’t do everything you tell Him to do, but He will be faithful to you to the very end.

We also see that Jesus was not afraid to touch the man.  There is great significance in this touch because Jesus did not have to touch him in order to affect a healing.  He is powerful enough to just think it and it will happen.  On top of this a person with leprosy were basically like a dead person.  If you touched a person you would be ritually unclean, and even worse, you could contract the disease.  In the case of a dead person, someone from the family has to bury the body.  However, Jesus didn’t have to touch the leper and yet He does.  Put yourself in the sandals of this man.  No one had touched him for years and here is a powerful prophet touching you in the name of Father God.  It must have been powerful.

Here is a brain bender.  Is Jesus ritually impure when He touches the man?  He would be technically.  However, the guy is made clean by the touch.  So, shouldn’t that disqualify the touch as making Jesus unclean?  Of course, I am treating this a problem for priests who are trying to follow the Law of Moses.  It is clear that when the Holy One, the Clean One of God, touches a person, the impurity of the person does not affect Him, but His purity affects the impurity.  That is how powerful the life of Christ is.  For us as humans, we cannot conquer someone else’s disease with our own health.  We can only hope to fight off the disease that they may have and could still succumb to the disease, no matter how healthy we are.  With Christ, this is not so.  The power of Jesus disintegrates the bacteria in every cell that is ravaging this man.  Jesus shows the true purpose of the purity laws.  They are not about walling us off from each other and from God, but rather about turning our eyes towards and connecting with the only One who can truly make us clean!

The man is instantly healed

Jesus was willing to heal the man, O, happy Day!  How those words must have washed over the man.  We are told that the man is instantly healed, which is saying a lot for a disease that would have been ravaging his whole body.  There would not only be destruction of the invading bacteria, but also reconstruction of destroyed cellular tissue. What a powerful healing.  So, what happens next?

Jesus warns the man not to tell anyone.  Of course, the man is extremely excited.  Why would Jesus give such a command?  Doesn’t this run counter to our duty to tell the whole world about Jesus?  Jesus is trying to minister somewhat under the radar of the religious authorities.  He knows that if He “pokes the bear” too much and too quickly then their attempts to kill Him would begin too soon.  God had a particular timing and purpose for the ministry of Jesus.  It is now clear that He needed to minister for 3 ½ years before He was to be killed.

Of course, today we are not under such a command from Jesus, although people sometimes act as if they are.  Jesus continually told His disciples that His death and resurrection would be the turning point for them to go public, declaring Him as the Messiah and Savior of the world.

Jesus also tells him to go and show himself to the priest as a testimony to them.  This was the requirement of the Law of Moses for anyone cured of leprosy.  They had to present themselves to the priests and go through several protocols that would determine whether they were truly healed or not.  Can you imagine what it must have been like at the temple that day?  Keep in mind that it is highly doubtful that the priests had ever had to perform this ritual.  There was probably a frantic scrambling around of priests trying to figure out what to do.  Yet, all of this was to be a testimony to them.  God was moving and there was a God in Israel who was making lepers clean.  Who had ever heard of such a thing (only a couple of times in the Old Testament)?  It was very rare.  The greatest testimony to the world of the power of Jesus is your own life transformed from sin and cleansed to be like Jesus.  None of us are perfect, but with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can walk in truth and righteousness before the world, and yet, also be compassionate and life-giving.  We don’t have to fear anything, even incurable diseases.  Sure, some people reject the testimony, but some are shocked and believe.  Others may tuck it in the back of their mind and it comes to fruit later.  Regardless, may we be a true testimony of Jesus Christ.

Next, we see that the man didn’t listen to Jesus and tells everybody what He did.  Here we see that even a good thing can be a bad thing if it is not exercised in wisdom.  Thus, we must learn to trust the wisdom of Christ and His representatives, the Apostles, rather than our own mind.  He knows better than us.

I said earlier that they are most likely outside of Jerusalem.  Thus, it is most likely the city that He couldn’t openly enter.  The passage tells us that Jesus goes north to minister in the Galilee region again.

Here we have a story about our broken and rotten condition without God meeting the compassion of God in Jesus.  If you are a believer today then I encourage you to remember that you were such a spiritual leper, being ravaged by sin, before you met Jesus.  He had the compassion to touch you!  He loves you.  However, we must also see ourselves in the place of Jesus.  Ask Christ to build such a deep compassion in you for those who are broken around you, whether they deserve their situation or not.  Pray that you may have such an impact upon the lost.

If you are not a believer in Jesus, then I encourage you to search your heart and see your true condition with Jesus.  You are being ravaged by a spiritual disease of sin that has deeply infected you to the core.  It will isolate you from everyone that you love, and destroy your life one cell at a time, until you are completely destroyed.  However, Jesus loves you and wants to touch you too.  If you will only fall down before Him and ask for His healing touch.  Lord, Jesus heal me of all my sin and make me clean that I may take my place in the heritage that belongs to God’s people, instead of being shut out and excluded.

Untouchables audio