Luke 5:12…

It begins with a whitish spot on the skin. Eventually a scab forms.

It progresses slowly, almost imperceptibly, first affecting the extremities, and then moving to the body proper, along the way attacking the nerve endings.

You may think a disease that impeded the sense of pain would be a good thing. But when the sense of pain is muted, great damage is done the body, as it no longer has the alarm system properly employed to protect itself.

The skin begins to rot away, and the victim reeks of the smell of death and decay. The features become gross distortions of their former selves, as if melted. The nose and ears may no longer be present. Fingers and toes are lost to decay or damage caused by lack of the sense of pain referenced previously. Oozing, open, running sores eventually cover the entire body. Victims of the disease must be isolated because it is as contagious as it is detestable.

This is leprosy. There is no cure.

It is easy to see why the Bible employs leprosy as a type of sin. (In Bible ‘typology,’ something literal is used to represent something spiritual.)

This is the importance of what next takes place in Luke 5. Jesus encounters a man in an advanced state of leprosy. We are informed he is “full of leprosy.” This would mean he is in an extremely advanced stage of the disease when the body is fully engaged and he is experiencing damage to his internal organs as well as the grotesque appearance and stench of the body and skin.

From this condition, the unknown man cries out, imploring Jesus, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

Jesus responds by doing something astoundingly remarkable. He touches the man. This is something NO ONE would ever think of doing. No one would ever go anywhere near leprosy. Jesus did. He came into personal contact with it.

He cleansed the man, by His own will. What then, will He do with our sin?

-Pastor Bill