The Pure Purifies the Impure

Matthew 8:1-4

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him 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. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

When you think of Hawaii, you probably think of the white sandy beaches of Honolulu or the lush vegetation of Oahu. You think of hula, luaus and leis. You probably don’t think of lepers.

 Before Europeans began settling on the Hawaiian islands, the native people had never suffered leprosy. But by 1866, the legislature decided they had to do something. They chose the island of Molokai, and two towns there, Kalawao and Kalaupapa, to become leper colonies. From 1866 to 1969, 8,500 people who contracted leprosy, men, women, and children, were exiled to Molokai. They were even legally declared dead.

 The lepers of Jesus’ day weren’t treated much better. When God gave commands to his people the Israelites, he gave them instructions about what to do with people with skin conditions, including leprosy. He put the task of diagnosing skin conditions in the hands of the priests, the religious leaders. Since many skin conditions clear up after a time, those people only had to quarantine until their condition improved. But if it was permanent, if it was leprosy, those people had to live outside the camp, away from their family, away from their friends, both for sanitary reasons as well as religious reasons. They were unclean.

 Cut off from the people, they had to be very careful. If anyone passed by them on the road, they had to cover their face and shout, “Unclean! Unclean!” They had to keep their distance. Anyone who came in contact with a leper not only risked catching the disease. They risked becoming unclean themselves.

 Many people began to judge lepers’ hearts because of their skin. “She must have sinned against God to deserve this dreadful disease.” “He shouldn’t gone anywhere he might’ve come in contact with a leper.” “They didn’t live all that healthy before. It’s not surprising they got COVID … I mean leprosy.”

 Jesus knows all the regulations around leprosy. He’s aware of the stigma. When this leper approaches him and says, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean,” everyone expected Jesus to cross his fingers in the lepers’ face and shout, “Unclean! Unclean!” “How dare you approach me, you leper! I am not willing! Away from me!”

 Instead, Jesus has compassion on the man (Mark 1:41 in ESV, EHV, and others). He says, “I am willing. Be clean!” Jesus can’t be tainted by the man’s uncleanness. Instead, Jesus spreads his perfect purity to the man. He makes him clean.

 How will you react if you catch COVID? Maybe you already have, but you’ve kept it private because you don’t want anyone to know. You don’t want anyone to say, “Well, they probably didn’t wear a mask. They deserve it,” even if you always wore a mask to protect others. You don’t want them to say, “Well, they weren’t that healthy anyway, it’s not surprising.” You don’t want pity. You just want to be left alone.

 Maybe you’d be a little embarrassed. You didn’t take the pandemic seriously. You thought you would never get it. You talked big. But then you caught it.

 Maybe you’d take it a little personal. The question wouldn’t be, “Why is this happening in our world?” It would become, “Why is this happening to me?” Was there something I could have done better? Is there something I did to deserve this?

 All of these feelings, thoughts, and emotions show different aspects of shame. Whether you recognize it or not, shame plays a big part in your life. You don’t just do things because they’re right or wrong. You also avoid doing what you shouldn’t because it lowers your own self-esteem and even sometimes your value in other people’s eyes. You often do what you should because you want to value yourself and have others value you.

 But shame goes beyond just what we do. It’s tied up in who we are. You may not do anything that directly leads to you getting COVID. But you don’t want the label. “Patient.” “Super spreader.” “Sick.” “Weak.” “Vulnerable.” Those words don’t convey the image you want everyone to see.

 Was it shame that compelled the leper to go to Jesus? No, shame would force him to stay away from the honorable Lord. Then, was it arrogance or shamelessness, not knowing his place, that allowed him to come forward? It was not that either. In every word he defers to Jesus. “Lord, if you are willing.” Then what was it?

 It was Jesus’ honor that called him. The leper was drawn to this man so glorious, in fact, the all-glorious Son of God who came down from his heavenly throne to earth. The Lord of all who, even dealing with lepers, could not be made “unclean.” The true Son who by his miracles revealed himself as the Messiah. The one about whom the prophet said, “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases” (Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 8:17).

 Jesus comes to lay all your diseases on himself. He is willing. COVID. And cancer. And diabetes. And arthritis. And back pain. If you did something that led to your getting sick, he says, “I’ll take that, too.” If you have cirrhosis of the liver from drinking too much. If you have COPD from a lifetime of smoking. If you have high blood pressure because you haven’t taken care of the body God's given you. Jesus takes all of it. He even takes the shame, the embarrassment, and the worthless feelings on his shoulders. He carries your diseases, your guilt, and your shame to the cross. He dies condemned and shameful.

 But just as the leper couldn’t make Jesus unclean, he can’t be put to shame even in death. God declares him, “Not guilty.” He raises Jesus from the dead and exalts him “to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

 Jesus, the Son of God, cannot be put to shame. He sits at the right hand of the Father in divine glory. And by faith, you are united to him forever. He is the cornerstone of the Church and “the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame” (1 Peter 3:6). Not by society. Not by enemies. Not by God.

 You don’t have to hide your face from Jesus. You don’t have to hide from him because of COVID or because of any other disease. You don’t even have to hide from him because of your sin. Simply, go to him. “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” And he will say, “I am willing.”