When The New Becomes The Old

Today we are going to look at Luke 5:33-39.  Here the subject of prayer and fasting comes up.  But, rather than looking at the mechanics of how to do them, the issue is the Why and When of prayer and fasting.

The Question of the People

The question that is brought to Jesus starts with an observation.  The people had observed that prayer and fasting was a big part of the Pharisees and their disciples.  It was also a big deal with John the Baptist and his disciples.  Yet, the disciples of Jesus were not seen fasting and praying all the time.  Why?

Now let’s remind ourselves what biblical fasting is and what it is not.  There was only one fast that was commanded in the law and that was on the Day of Atonement.  All other fasts were voluntary, either as an individual or as a nation.  Even prayer is more assumed or expected rather than commanded.  So prayer and fasting are generally specific to a time of need.  Over time, the people of Israel had added public, memorial fasts to commemorate difficult times.  Things like the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple became times of national remembrance.  It would be similar to the United States declaring 9-11 as a day of fasting and prayer for our nation.  So why weren’t the disciples seen fasting on all these expected fasts?

Now we need to also remind ourselves of how the prophets corrected Israel on its many fasts.  Isaiah in chapter 58 took the nation to task.  Fasts had become a ritual in which they expected God to be impressed that they went without food and yet, on the same day, they would break his commands.  Fasting was never about impressing God with our ability to go without food.  Also, Jesus himself had taught in Matthew 6 that they shouldn’t pray in order to be seen by men, but rather to pray in order to be seen by God.  He also warned them to not use empty repetitious phrases.  So we would expect that his disciples would pray more in private than in public.  Also in regard to fasting, Jesus had taught that they should not make themselves look like they were fasting (in order that men may notice).  So it would make sense that their times of fasting would go unnoticed.  Jesus made it clear that God was not enamored with the ritual of prayer and fasting.  He was enamored with the heart that truly sought Him over the top of the things of this world.

Thus fasting has always been the mourning of a person who seeks God in prayer because of a difficult need or situation.  It is the cry of a person to God asking for mercy and help.  We want Him more than our daily food.  The situation is so devastating that we have no appetite.  We only want help from God.  Yet, this is not what is going on with the disciples.  They are not such good students of Jesus that they are never seen praying and fasting.  No, the answer was simpler.

The Answer: The Bridegroom And His Friends

In verses 34 and 35 Jesus gives the first of 3 parables or pictures which explain why his disciples weren’t fasting.  In this first parable, Jesus depicts himself as a bridegroom.  Now this is important to remember because Jesus used this image in other parables.  Here the disciples are called the friends of the bridegroom.  Even though the Church is called the bride of Christ, the marriage of the Lamb is not until the end of the age.  The Church is technically engaged to Christ.  So in this story Jesus compares them to his friends before the marriage.  This is clearly a happy time.  It would be the wrong time to act sad and start fasting.  Rather, it is a time to rejoice and feast together.  Israel had waited over a thousand years for the Messiah and here he was.  It would not only be unfitting to mourn and fast, it would be insulting.  Picture it this way.  If you were fasting and praying for a job and you got a call from a prospective employer saying that you are hired, it would be strange for you to continue fasting and praying as if nothing had happened.  You would be excited and scurrying around getting ready for your new job.  You would be happy and throwing a party.  The simple answer is that it isn’t time to fast.  Something wonderful has happened.

Yet, Jesus prophetically said that they day will come when he is taken away from them.  Then they will fast and pray often.  After the cross we see the disciples fasting and praying in the book of Acts.  Also throughout the New Testament letters we see that fasting was part and parcel with the early Church.  Why?  It is because of the fact that they were enduring the tribulations of this world for the sake of Christ and looking to that day when they could be reconnected with him.

The Answer: A New Patch, Old Garment

Jesus switches the analogy to that of an inanimate thing: clothing.  If you had an old garment and needed to fix it, you would not use a patch of new clothing.  Thus the Old Covenant was not just being patched up.  God was doing a new thing.  Even though the Law was old and tattered, it was not morally bad.  It was broken down by the sins and failures of Israel.  Yet, it still had served its purpose of demonstrating God’s righteousness and our sinfulness.  No man could be saved by Law.  The Law is righteous and I am not.  Therefore, I must die.  To simply patch the Law by adding grace would not be a good fix.  Grace is so vastly different that it would end up destroying both the old garment and the new patch.  This theme of bad mixtures runs throughout the Bible.  God warns us that not all mixtures are beneficial.  To mix some grace in with the Law is not God’s answer.  Grace comes in as a whole new set of clothing.  We are not under the law, but by grace we fulfill the righteousness of God.  In fact he says the two wouldn’t even match each other.  The Gospel is a completely different picture and vision than the Law.  They would be like trying to match a chromatic suit with a Hawaiian shirt.  It would look ridiculous even before both are destroyed.  You can’t promote one vision without diminishing the other.  You must choose between the Law (your righteousness) and Grace (the righteousness of Jesus).

The Answer: New Wine, Old Wineskins

The last picture has to do with wine and their containers.  Wine here is representative of the teaching of Jesus and the gospel.  Jesus had come to explain and show the Grace that God had made available to those condemned to die.  This new wine is different from the old wine of the Law that explained that everyone was sinful and disqualified before God.  The wineskin is the people and their response to the wine (teaching) over time.  Israel had the Law poured into them at Mt. Sinai.  Over the years their reaction to it had hardened into ritualized ways of dealing with it.  The Law had run its course and had affected them.  Thus the Law itself was new wine at one time.  The fledgling nation of Israel was also a new wineskin.  However, the Law had fermented and Israel had hardened.  Now it was time for new wine.  But God needed new “unhardened” people to pour it into.  God was unveiling the mystery of Grace that had been hidden and yet hinted at from the beginning.

Notice that both the wines came from God.  In fact Christians today should recognize that the Gospel itself has become “old wine.”  You may think it is blasphemy to say so, but that is because you think of old wine as bad.  Jesus wasn’t saying the old wine was bad, but that it had run its course and had its effect.  This world has heard the gospel for 2,000 years.  I am not saying it is time to stop, but the times of Grace to the nations does have a terminal point in the future.  Christian institutions and denominations have clearly followed a similar pattern as Israel did with the Law.  We have been affected by the Gospel, but in some ways, have been hardened by it.  The coming new wine is that of the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom.  God is doing this in such a way as to preserve the Law and Grace as both righteous, perfect tools in the hand of God.  Jesus did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it.  We must not bring the Church under the Law of Moses.  But neither must we attack it and declare its precepts unrighteous.

So let me end with these cautions.  The old wineskins always tend to not want the new.  Have you become so hardened to the Word of God that you are no longer useable by God?  Yet on the other hand, all that is new is not of God.  What vintage are you seeking?  In the name of progress and new wine, this world will embrace the antichrist spirit’s ultimate expression in the “Man of Sin.”  Why?  Simply because they hardened themselves to loving the Truth and set themselves up to believing a lie.  Caution!

New Becomes Old

Saving Sinners

Today we will pick up in Luke 5:27-32.  Here we see Jesus calling someone to be his disciple who was the opposite of the 4 fishermen we saw him call earlier.  Levi we find out later was also called Matthew and he was a tax collector who, no doubt, had paid a social price to be so.  He was considered a traitor and not welcome in the synagogue.  Yet, he was also well to do because of this profession.

Let’s look at how Jesus came to Matthew and what happened after that.

Sinners Need To Follow Jesus

Verse 27 says that Jesus came to Matthew at the Tax Office and said, “Follow me.”  These words are used elsewhere to call disciples.  But in Luke 5 the similarity is shown in how they responded to the call.  In verse 11, the fishermen “forsook all and followed him.”  Here it says that Levi (Matthew) “left all, rose up, and followed Him.  In both cases an emphasis is placed on the things left behind.

Now, following Jesus is a theme throughout the Gospels and, if you have ears to hear, throughout the whole Bible. He is the Way of the Lord, the Highway of Holiness, and the Narrow Way.  Only by following Him and His path will we find God and salvation.  Yet, to say, “yes” to Jesus and His direction is to also say, “no” to our current path and destination.  Levi was getting rich off the backs of his fellow citizens in a time of occupation.  This destination would only lead to judgment before God.

To follow Jesus is to allow Him to be your teacher.  A teacher should not only download information.  He essentially duplicates himself into the student.  The call to follow is the call to come and learn of Jesus about life; how to live it and for what purpose to live it.  It is important for us to stop and ask, “What is it that I need to learn?”  Am I learning from Jesus and following the path that He has laid out?

Jesus also became the master or Lord to those who followed Him.  He was obviously not a tyrannical despot who wanted to control their every thought and action.  But he did teach them about how to think and act in this world.  He gave them (us) commands and expected them to be followed.  Peter recognizes this lordship of Jesus when he said, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”  This recognition that Peter had much to learn and Jesus was not just a teacher but one who had authority to give him a command is essential for us to recognize.  Do I have such a heart before Jesus?  When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, do we say these same words with Peter?  “Master, this man has sinned against me all day; nevertheless at Your word I will forgive him.”  This is something that we may be resistant to in a day where slavery and being a master are frowned upon.  But let me challenge you.  You are obeying someone, whether it is a boss, government, and even yourself.  You have all kinds of masters.  Why not trade them all in for a master who truly cares for you and whose every command is for your good?

Levi gave up his job and followed Jesus.  Now following Jesus is essential for all who want to be his disciple.  But obviously only a few had the privilege to do so in flesh and blood.  Today, to follow Jesus is to read His word and do what it says; to let the struggle of that experience teach us about life and our purpose. Most Christians, who have ever lived, including the first century, did so within their previous profession and geographical area.  However, the key is that Jesus becomes our greatest Wisdom, Truth, and Leader.  Nothing should come between us and him.

Sinners Need To Be Led To Jesus

In verses 29-30 we see that Matthew throws a feast for Jesus (the Messiah) and invites all his friends, of whom many were tax collectors.  Matthew clearly wants to celebrate the reality of who Jesus is and share that with his friends.  Not think about this for a minute.  I highly doubt that any of these tax collectors and sinners were chasing Jesus around the deserted places of Galilee.  Sinners don’t generally hang out in the right places.  I’m sure that they had many feasts together and celebrated their wealth.  But today Jesus will be there.  These guys had made a choice that had not only excluded them from religious fellowship, but had most likely killed any desire to do seek inclusion.  Those who have embraced sin and its lifestyle become passively and actively insulated from Jesus and the Gospel.  It is imperative for believers to find ways to build bridges into the lives of the lost.  Here Matthew throws a feast.  Who would turn that down?  It doesn’t say whether Jesus preached or healed anyone.  But, if there was any hope for them, they needed to get in the same place where Jesus was.  Finding ways to give Jesus a “hearing” in people’s lives doesn’t have to be complicated.  In simple ways we can connect Jesus to the normal things of life.  Do some people abuse this concept?  It has been said that some cults would use “free sex” in order to get  people to want to be a part of the group.  This extreme example shows that we shouldn’t do just anything.  However, neither should we do precious little.  We could judge Matthew and Jesus just like the Pharisees did because it doesn’t look very spiritual.  However, these people are not spiritual at all.  We can’t sit in a synagogue that doesn’t allow certain types to enter and expect the lost to try to get in.  We must go out into their lives and lead them to Jesus.  They need to hear what He is saying rather than what we are saying.  Today we put all manner of things in the mouth of Jesus that He never said and never would.  Perverting, and twisting the words of Jesus are not what people need.  A re-imagined Jesus with a re-imagined teaching will only bring people to empty imaginations.  We must lead people to the real Jesus, not a Jesus we have fashioned into our own image.

Sinners Need Healed

Jesus answers the false piety of the Pharisees by essentially agreeing with their facts.  Yes, these men are tax collectors and sinners.  To the Pharisees the obvious conclusion was to stay away from them.  But Jesus points out that if they are sinners and spiritually sick, then they need to be healed.  How can a person be healed if a physician does not come to them?  At its heart sin is a sickness in need of healing.  Like a person with a broken bone, we may be able to get along in life.  But if that broken bone isn’t set correctly then we will be affected by it and so will others around us.

Let’s look at this sickness some more.  In Isaiah 1:5-6 it says, “Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more.  The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints.
From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment.” Isaiah is clearly using the image of a wounded body full of infection for the sins and spiritual condition of Israel.  There are times when we can see this with our own eyes.  Anyone who has struggled with an alcoholic or anyone with an addiction will recognize that there is some kind of sickness at its core.  That is why it is tempting to say, “Alcoholism is a disease.”  It isn’t a physical disease.  There is no alcohol virus that we can make an anti-virus to combat.  But it is a moral sickness.  Sin is not just a choice.  It has effects that hook into our flesh and are not easily removed.  In that sense the sinner chooses the sin, but then becomes a victim to it.  They need healed and even when they get it and wish to be healed they often are impotent.  Jesus is a healer, both in body and mind.  Why would he cut himself off from the very people who need healed?

This was a feast to the sinners.  But to Jesus it was a hospital.  Matthew had invited all his wounded and sick friends to come and meet the only one who could truly heal them.  The only difference is that in this case sinners too often want healed of everything but what they need healed.  Thus Jesus tells us what needs healed and we have a choice to make.  Will I walk away still sick because I don’t want “that” to be healed?

The nature of repentance is that it opens the door to healing.  We must turn from the hideous nature of sin and turn towards the only one that can heal us.  Most sinners are fascinated with their sin.  In hearing the words of Jesus we must choose between that fascination or Him.  Have I truly had a moment in which my fascination with sin has been broken?  Not that you can’t be tempted any more.  But have you fallen out of love with your sin?  This is a critical question.  Repentance involves despising our sin and desiring Jesus.

America has become a nation fascinated with sin.  We are fascinated with sexual immorality.  We are fascinated with death.  We are fascinated with the occult and demonic powers.  We are fascinated with wealth, power, greed, technological progress…  The list of our sins doesn’t end because the lusts of our hearts know no ends.  God help us to see the sickness that has riddled our society to the point that we too are like Israel was in Isaiah’s days.  Simply, it will take a miracle for our country to turn around and be healed again.  However, God is able to do the impossible.  Let us do our part in this country.

Saving Sinners mp3

Obstacles To Jesus

Today we are going to be in Luke 5:17-26.  Here we will see that there are obstacles that get in the way of us finding Jesus, or being touched by him.  Some of these obstacles are physical and some of them are not.  Some of them have to do with ourselves and others are outside of us.  However, it is faith that overcomes all obstacles in order to be touched by Jesus.  Without faith in God we will never press through these obstacles, nor receive from Jesus what God has for us.

Now this may sound like all the work depends on us.  However, the Truth is that we are only cooperating with the immense work that God has already done.  The Son of God had come to Earth and took on the additional nature of a man.  He had lived a sinless life and had come speaking the Truth and healing.  Thus we should never over estimate the greatness of our actions.  Yet, faith is necessary.  Without faith it is impossible to please God and without it no one will see God.  Let’s look at this story.

The Crowd

In verses 17-19 we find Jesus in an unnamed town and he is teaching.  It says that the Spirit of the Lord was present to heal and yet there was a crowd that had formed around him within the building and outside.  The success of Jesus had itself become a wall around him.  This physical issue of Jesus is pointed out in John 16:7, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”  The Holy Spirit is not limited to a physical body and can be everywhere at once.  While Jesus walked this Earth, he was limited to a body and only so many people could hear him and get close enough to touch him.  This day it was a problem for a man who was paralyzed.

We also know that the crowd is a mixed crowd.  It is mixed with those who need healing and those who just want to see it.  It is mixed with those who believe in Jesus and those who are looking for means to oppose him.  In fact wherever there is a crowd around Jesus, even in today’s churches, it is mixed in motives.  Some who are taking up room around Jesus do not believe and get in the way of those who do want to believe.  Some who refuse to be touched by Jesus physically block those who are trying to get near.  Is it possible that satan could crowd Jesus with deceivers and false disciples in order to discourage those who truly want Jesus?  You better believe that it happens.  Just remember that not everyone crowding around Jesus and His Church really want Him.

Much of the crowd only want things from Jesus.  They may not be actually resisting him like the Pharisees and Scribes.  But neither do we only want him.  The problem is not that we want things or even healings.  The problem is when our desire to get these things gets in the way of really hearing what Jesus is trying to say to us.  Do I want things from Jesus more than I want Him?  If I received no healing would I still trust Him?  If I have to choose I choose Jesus.  That is what faith is.  It is holding to Jesus because only He has the Words of Life.

Now even though the crowd can be an obstacle and should be challenged to make a choice, the person on the outside also needs to make a choice.  Are you going to let the crowd around Jesus keep you from Him?  Are you really going to say to Him when you stand before Him in eternity, “You didn’t make it easy enough for me.  Or, It was too hard.”  Really?  Do you remember the woman who had a feminine problem where she was bleeding every day?  She had wasted all her money on doctors with no cure.  Decades later she is poor and weak.  Jesus is surrounded by a crowd.  Who could expect her to be able to get through the crowd?  However, she wanted a touch from Jesus so bad that she pushed through the crowd just to touch the hem of his garment.  It is interesting that in that story (Luke 8) we are told that the crowd “thronged” Jesus.  It literally means to suffocate or choke.  I wonder if God is sometimes choking and suffocated by the unbelief and lack of faith of the crowd that has pressed in around Him today, looking for things from Him more than wanting just Him?

Yet in this story the man is paralyzed.  He can’t even do what that poor, weak, bleeding woman could.  Here we see that we do need friends.  Sometimes the obstacle is in me.  But as we explore this aspect, keep in mind that no matter how much we need friends, we need Jesus more.  The best friends are those who help us to get to Jesus.  So don’t let the presence of the crowd or the sin of the crowd keep you from Jesus.  Do you want Jesus?  Then press through the crowd and reach him.  Don’t hold back.

Physical Conditions

Now let’s focus on the fact that the man is paralyzed.  His health is an obstacle to getting to Jesus.  Now bad health can range from paralysis, zero ability, to the sniffles, only hampered.  If I only have small physical issues then I need to find ways around them and press through.  Yet, in this case that won’t work.  He needed help.  This is true if we are the paralyzed man or we are the friends.  People need help to come to Jesus.  No one who has ever been saved became so without the help of people.  So don’t let physical issues keep you or your friends from pressing through to Jesus.

God put us in families with neighbors who should be our friends so that we can care for one another.  His clear command to love our neighbors is best done by doing whatever it takes to help them to know God’s provision for them and receive it.  The heart of the Great Commission (Go into all the world…) is first helping our immediate friends and family and then scoping out to the ends of the earth and those we do not know.  No one will come to Jesus without someone going out of their way to help them.

Now not all physical obstacles are in our body.  The building itself was an obstacle.  This is where the rubber meets the road.  What is the problem and how can we get around it?  It was no easy task but the solution that came to them was to lift him up onto the roof, break through the roof and lower him down in front of Jesus.  This is probably not the only thing they could have done, but it is what these friends of the man did.  The key is not the way, but the minds and hearts that partnered together in order to help a friend.  It is a holy task to take the time to discover what it is that keeps and individual from Christ.  IT is a holy endeavor to work to remove those obstacles.  Neither is it a pretty sight.  It will involve hard labor and difficulty.  But these are the sorts of things that love does.

Am I such a friend?  I may not have any paralyzed friends who need me to cut through a roof.  A real friend helps his friend to overcome those obstacles within and without in order to get to Jesus.  Yet, we are going to see that this man was not just a sick man who couldn’t get to Jesus.  He was also a sinner.  Yet, his friends helped him anyways.  Compassion.

Sin

The story builds up to the moment where the man is lowered before Jesus, obviously sick and in need of healing.  Yet, Jesus says the unexpected, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”  What?  I came to be healed of paralysis not have my sins forgiven.  Don’t you know we are in public?  I didn’t want anyone to know I was a sinner.

Sin is our biggest obstacle to reaching Jesus.  O, sure the sin of OTHER people is an obstacle.  But, here we are looking at his own personal sin.  He was a sinner.  He wanted his paralysis fixed, but he needed his heart fixed.  Now there are some people who love to keep others in their sins.  These Pharisees and Scribes who were cynically watching Jesus that day were some of the biggest sinners.  They didn’t need physical healings but they needed their sins forgiven.  They did need touched by Jesus.  They could care less about the suffering of the people and that Jesus was healing them.  They didn’t see a miracle and rejoice.  Instead they went back to their plotting room and said, “We’ve got to kill this guy, or everyone is going to follow him.”  They didn’t care about their brothers and sisters physically and only pretended to care spiritually.  Jesus really does care about both.  Watch your own heart.  As Christians we can become so self-satisfied that we no longer have compassion for those broken by their sins.  We are called to help overcome these obstacles, not rejoice that you don’t have them.  The first way we can do that is to cease sinning against them and then love them despite their sin and try to bring them to Jesus.  Don’t settle for friends and family who are stuck in sin.  Fight for their souls in the name of Jesus.

“Which is easier to say?”  Jesus knows what they are thinking when he tells the man his sins are forgiven.  There is an irony in this question.  If you were a godly person it would be harder for you to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” because that is God’s job.  Yet, in a sinful world and as a sinful person, it would be easier to say that you can forgive sins because it can’t be seen.  Forgiveness of sins is an invisible thing.  But physical healing is obvious.  Now Jesus could have healed the man and then forgiven his sins.  But he does it the other way around for emphasis.  We think his greatest problem is paralysis.  In this world we strive to fix real problems, yet just not the most important ones.  Sin was the man’s most obvious problem to God.  If you could choose to have only one thing from God, you would be a fool to choose physical health.  The man’s amazing healing was Jesus way of proving he could forgive sins.  In fact, all of the healings Jesus did were not because he was on a personal mission to wipe out all sickness and disease in the world.  It was always a means to help the faith of those who were hearing him teach amazing things.  Now it wasn’t true because Jesus did a miracle.  The miracle was true because what Jesus was saying was taught all throughout the Old Testament.  The miracles were not supporting a man who was contradicting the word of God, but one who was fulfilling it.  “Behold, the lamb of God!”

This man left glorifying God that day and for good reason.  But notice the affect on the crowd.  Yes they were amazed, but a fear of the Lord had also settled upon them.  “What manner of man is this who forgives sins and proves it by healing paralysis?”  Signs can help us.  But if we do not have a fear of God no multitude of signs will persuade us.  Because we do not fear God, we become lazy in reading God’s Word and internalizing it.  We become lazy and resistant to listening to the Holy Spirit.  And then, when the Truth appears we kill it.  Why?  We do so because we have been saying no to Truth in so many little ways until we are insulated from Jesus.  Friend, don’t let obstacles keep you from Jesus.  He has already done the heavy lifting all you have to do is believe enough to push through these wet paper bags that remain in the way.

Obstacles to Jesus Audio

The Spiritual Sickness of Sin

One of the effects of sin and The Curse is sickness and disease.  God created the earth and it was very good.  However, because of man’s rebellion it went from very good to death and decay.  Now today we are going to see the problem of Leprosy in Luke 5:12-16.  Though the term used in those days is not the technical terms that we use in medicine today, the descriptions of the disease are very clear.  It was contagious and thus those who had it were quarantined outside of the city.  What started as a small spot on the skin would eventually cover their whole body.  From what we know today, leprosy does not actually cause flesh to rot.  Rather, starting in the extremities and on the skins surface it destroys the nervous system and our sense of touch.  The lack of pain and feeling is what leads to injury and destruction of the flesh.

The late Dr. Paul Brand, a pioneer in treating leprosy, said, “I cannot think of a greater gift that I could give my leprosy patients than pain.”  He later co-authored a book with Phillip Yancey, “The Gift of Pain.”  It is a sad irony that those who suffer in this way should lose physical pain and yet gain even greater inner pain.  Let’s look at this passage.

Leprosy Is A Picture

In verse 12 we are told that Jesus was in a certain city when a man who is full of leprosy falls down before him and begs, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”  We often wonder why God allows things to be.  I don’t want to make the mistake of being so quick to say Jesus even heals leprosy, that I miss the fact that this leper is a human being who has been through much grief.  Even his statement to the Lord evokes pity and compassion.  Why was he a leper?  For whatever reasons, we do know that God didn’t create the world with lepers in it.  We are the ones that brought sin, sickness, and death into the world.  One thing is true leprosy is one of those diseases that gives us a very horrible picture.

Leprosy first is a picture of incurable disease.  Regardless of the name of the disease and the century that one lives in, mankind will always face diseases he cannot “fix.”  People in these situations end up spending all their money and their emotional capital on treatments and experiments that leave them poor, broken and without hope.  Often they are quarantined or in a bed isolated from others and under a death sentence.  They have become a danger to themselves and others and they feel all alone.  Regardless of whether or not we find a solution for leprosy, there is always something else, whether it be AIDS or Cancer, etc… 

Leprosy is also a picture of the reality of sin.  Because the inner effects cannot be seen, we can tend to think that there are none.  One of the reasons why God allows sickness, disease, and death is because it gives us a material picture of what sin does spiritually.  Just as leprosy destroys by first desensitizing the God-given nervous system in our bodies, so sin desensitizes the individual’s God-given conscience.  We come to think that our sin is no big deal.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Over a series of being desensitized we come to no longer feel the bite of conscience and spiritually injure ourselves and others, even to the point of spiritual death.  The hideous images of what leprosy can do in the natural should point us to the hideous things that sin does in our heart.  The contagion of sin can only truly be appreciated in the face of the bacterial and viral onslaught in our own day and age.  These things always start small, only a small spot.  Yet they spread and destroy the whole body if not brought in check.

If you think I am stretching it use disease as a metaphor for sin then look at 1 Corinthians 5:6.  Here Paul told the Corinthians, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”  He uses yeast as a picture of what sin does within an individual and a group.  If you put up with just a little bit it is going to affect the rest.  So you need to deal with it before it gets hideous and horrible.

The Solution For Both Is Jesus

Whether we are talking about a physical problem or a spiritual one, the solution for both is Jesus.  The leper had come to believe that Jesus could heal him, because Jesus had been healing others.  Why not me?  Even though he has the most horrible and fearful physical curse of his day, the man breaks the law and social custom to beg Jesus for health.  Somehow we need to get to that same spot in our own life where we are on our face before Jesus begging for spiritual health.  The good news is that God is looking for you.  In Luke 19:10 Jesus said, “I have come to seek and save the lost.”  Later he gave his disciples a Great Commission in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”  This aspect of Christianity is coming into more and more ill repute: calling people to turn to Jesus.  Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice.”  In all of these we see two things.  We need to find Jesus, and graciously he is calling and looking for us.  If your heart truly wants healing, you will find Jesus and He will find you.  Now clearly spiritual healing is far more important than physical healing.  And, even if we are physically healed, all will eventually grow old and die.  No matter how hard we pray for “healing” of old age, God is going to let us grow old and die.  Yet, he has promised The First Resurrection to those who believe.

The second thing we find with this leper is that he humbled himself.  He is not supposed to interact with people.  He is breaking the law and he knows it.  Yet, he has his face in the dirt begging Jesus for a miracle.  Now it is not as important that his face is in the dirt than that his heart was that humble.  Until we are spiritually humbled to the point that we cease worrying about what we look like, we may never reach the humility needed to receive salvation from Jesus.  We have to see ourselves and others as completely unable to fix the problem.  Jesus is my only hope!  This cry is the cry of the humbled and thus humble.  When we get to the place where we are humble enough we are free to ask him to do what we cannot do for ourselves.

Notice the word “clean.”  We must want to be clean.  It seems obvious that a sick person wants to be well, but it is not always the case.  Have you ever encountered a person with emphysema who needs to carry an oxygen tank around with them and yet still wants to smoke?  Often getting well requires us to give up things that bring on the problem.  Am I asking Jesus to clean the surface but not deal with the root of the problem?  Jesus heal my lungs so I can smoke them to death again!  Is this what we want?  “To want to be clean” is not wanting only our problems fixed, but rather, wanting the root of those problems and sin cleaned away.  The leper speaks of his skin being cleaned, but the same word is used of moral and spiritual cleansing in our hearts and life.

We must also believe in Christ’s ability or power to heal us.  He would have never approached Jesus if he didn’t believe that Jesus could actually heal him.  Now many look at Jesus, the Bible, and His Church as antiquated relics of a bygone era that never had any real power.  Now I would challenge you to recognize that no matter how ancient this culture was, these people understood the devastation of disease for which even today we do not have a cure.  We can only mitigate the effects and speed of progression.  It is quite patronizing to the point of idiocy to think that they couldn’t recognize and be amazed that one day a man who had been blind from birth could all the sudden see.  One day a man whose skin was obviously covered with leprosy was suddenly completely clear skinned.  This is something that takes real power.  This is the kind of thing that Jesus did frequently.

The man also cries out to Jesus.  It is one thing to want healing and salvation.  It is quite another to step out and ask.  Many people get to the tipping point of calling upon Jesus and yet hold back.  If you have been holding back from calling out to Jesus for salvation, don’t hold back any longer.  You must cry out to him for mercy in order to receive it.

What Jesus Shows Us About God

Now let’s look at the response of Jesus.  Now in Hebrews 1:1-3 we are told that Jesus is the “brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.”  The point is this: if you have seen Jesus then you have seen God the Father..  God who is invisible makes himself visible in Jesus.  Thus in this situation Jesus helps us to see the Truth about God’s heart for the hurting, both physically and spiritually.  The actions, thinking, and words of Jesus are exactly the actions, thinking, and words of God the Father.

First we see that God wants to touch the sick.  Though quarantines were involved to protect people from the sick, God can touch the sick.  He cannot be affected by sickness or sin and so he has no fear to touch them.  I mentioned Dr. Paul Brand earlier.  He tells a story of when he first went to India to work with lepers there.  He didn’t speak the language and had patted a leper to let them know that he would help them.  The person broke out in tears.  Why?  His Indian helper explained that the man had not been touched by anyone for many years.  Something so simple as human touch can convey a world of care, compassion, love, and help.  In Jesus God touches us.

God is also full of compassion.  Jesus couples his touch with the words, “I am willing.”  This is such a tender picture of God’s compassion toward mankind.  There is a part of us that might rebel and say that he hasn’t done that for everyone.  But the point is that the physical often is what brings us to see our need of the spiritual.  Even in the midst of our sinfulness and fallenness, God is compassionate toward the lost and works to bring them to himself so that he might heal them.

We also see that God is full of power to do what we need Him to do.  Jesus could heal the body, but also could heal the sin-sick soul.  Physical healing is never an answer in and of itself.  Even in perfect health, these bodies will grow old, decay and die.  Short of the Second Coming, we will have to face death.  It would be a tragedy to only be physically healed and yet not ask for our sins to be forgiven and covered; to not ask that our hearts be set free from sin’s grip.

Lastly, Jesus sends the man to go to the temple and be a witness to the priests and his community that God is still moving in power.  Has God touched your sin-sick soul?  Has he touched you and made you clean, and whole spiritually?  I testify to you today that he can take your life no matter how ruined, destroyed, and damaged it is and heal it if you will only cry out to him like I did.He

Spiritual Sickness audio