Chapter 27—The First Leper to Be Cleansed by Christ
This chapter is based on Matthew 8:2-4; 9:1-8, 32-34; Mark 1:40-45; 2:1-12; Luke 5:12-28.
(HLv 169)
Of all diseases known in the East, leprosy was most dreaded. Its incurable and contagious character and its horrible effect on its victims, filled the bravest with fear. Among the Jews it was regarded as a judgment on account of sin, and hence “the finger of God.” It was looked upon as a symbol of sin.
(HLv 169.1)
Like one already dead, the leper was shut out from the habitations of men. Whatever he touched was unclean. The air was polluted by his breath. One suspected of having the disease must present himself to the priests. If pronounced a leper, he was doomed to associate only with those similarly afflicted. The law was inflexible. Kings and rulers were not exempt.
(HLv 169.2)
Away from friends and kindred, the leper must bear the curse. He was obliged to publish his calamity and sound the alarm, warning all to flee his contaminating presence. The cry, “Unclean! Unclean!” coming in mournful tones from the lonely exile was a signal heard with fear and abhorrence.
(HLv 169.3)
News of Christ’s work reached many of these sufferers, kindling a gleam of hope. But since the days of Elisha such a thing had never been known as the cleansing of one upon whom this disease had fastened. There was one man, however, in whose heart faith began to spring up. Yet how could he present himself to the Healer? And would Christ heal him? Would He notice one believed to be suffering the judgment of God? Would He pronounce a curse on him?
(HLv 169.4)
The leper thought of all that had been told him of Jesus. Not one who had sought His help had been turned away. The wretched man determined to find the Saviour. It might be that he could cross His path in some byway along the mountain roads or as He was teaching outside the towns. This was his only hope.
(HLv 169.5)
The leper was guided to the Saviour as He taught beside the lake. Standing afar off, the leper caught a few words from the Saviour’s lips. He saw Him laying His hands on the sick, the lame, the blind, the paralytic, and those dying of various maladies rose up and praised God for their deliverance. Faith strengthened in his heart. He drew nearer. The restrictions laid on him, and the fear with which all men regarded him were forgotten. He thought only of the blessed hope of healing.
(HLv 170.1)
He was a loathsome spectacle, his decaying body horrible to look upon. At sight of him the people fell back in terror, crowding upon one another in their eagerness to escape from contact with him. Some tried to prevent him from approaching Jesus, but he neither saw nor heard them. He saw only the Son of God. Pressing to Jesus, he cast himself at His feet with the cry, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.”
(HLv 170.2)
Jesus replied, “I will; be thou clean,” and laid His hand on him.
(HLv 170.3)
Immediately a change passed over the leper. His flesh became healthy, the nerves sensitive, the muscles firm. The rough, scaly surface disappeared, and a soft glow, like that upon the skin of a healthy child, took its place.
(HLv 170.4)
With urgency Christ enjoined on the man the necessity of silence and prompt action. Jesus said to him, “See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.” Had the priests known the facts concerning the healing, their hatred of Christ might have led them to render a dishonest sentence. Jesus desired the man to present himself at the temple before rumors of the healing had reached them. Thus an impartial decision could be secured, and the restored leper would be permitted to unite once more with his family and friends.
(HLv 170.5)
The Saviour also knew that if the healing of the leper were noised abroad, other sufferers from this disease would crowd about Him, and the cry would be raised that the people would be contaminated. Many lepers would not use the gift of health as a blessing to themselves or others. And by drawing lepers about Him, He would give occasion for the charge that He was breaking down the restrictions of the law. Thus His preaching would be hindered.
(HLv 171.1)
A multitude had witnessed the healing of the leper and were eager to learn of the priests’ decision. When the man returned to his friends, there was great excitement. The man made no effort to conceal his cure. It would indeed have been impossible to conceal, but the leper published the matter, conceiving that only the modesty of Jesus laid this restriction on him. He did not understand that every such manifestation made the priests and elders more determined to destroy Jesus. The restored man rejoiced in the vigor of manhood and felt it impossible to refrain from giving glory to the Physician who had made him whole. But his act in blazing abroad the matter caused the people to flock to Him in such multitudes that He was forced for a time to cease His labors.
(HLv 171.2)
Every act of Christ’s ministry was far-reaching in its purpose. He left untried no means by which the priests and teachers, shut in by prejudice and tradition, might be reached. In sending the healed leper to the priests, He gave them a testimony calculated to disarm their prejudices. The Pharisees had asserted that Christ was opposed to the law, but His direction to the cleansed leper to present an offering according to the law disproved this charge. Christ gave evidence of His love for humanity, His respect for the law, and His power to deliver from sin and death.
(HLv 171.3)
The same priests who condemned the leper to banishment certified his cure publicly. And the healed man, reinstated in the congregation, was a living witness for his Benefactor. Joyfully he magnified the name of Jesus. Opportunity was granted the priests to know the truth. During the Saviour’s life, His mission seemed to call forth little response of love from them, but after His ascension “a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Acts 6:7.
(HLv 172.1)
The work of Christ in cleansing the leper is an illustration of His work in cleansing the soul from sin. The man who came to Jesus was “full of leprosy.” The disciples sought to prevent their Master from touching him. But in laying His hand on the leper, Jesus received no defilement. His touch imparted life-giving power.
(HLv 172.2)
Thus it is with the leprosy of sin—deadly, impossible to be cleansed by human power. “From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores.” Isaiah 1:6. But Jesus has healing virtue. Whoever will fall at His feet, saying in faith, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean,” shall hear the answer, “I will; be clean.” RSV.
(HLv 172.3)
In some instances of healing, Jesus did not at once grant the blessing sought. In the case of the leper, no sooner was the appeal made than it was granted. When we pray for earthly blessings, the answer may be delayed, or God may give us something other than we ask. But not so when we ask for deliverance from sin. It is His will to cleanse us, make us His children, and enable us to live a holy life. Christ “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.” Galatians 1:4. “If we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of Him.” 1 John 5:14, 15, RSV.
(HLv 172.4)
In the healing of the paralytic at Capernaum, Christ again taught the same truth. To manifest His power to forgive sins, the miracle was performed. Like the leper, this paralytic had lost all hope. His disease was the result of a life of sin, and his sufferings were embittered by remorse. He had appealed to the Pharisees and doctors, but they coldly pronounced him incurable and abandoned him to the wrath of God.
(HLv 173.1)
Seeing no prospect of aid from any quarter, the palsied man had sunk into despair. Then he heard of Jesus. Friends encouraged him to believe that he too might be cured if he could be carried to Jesus.
(HLv 173.2)
It was not physical restoration he desired so much as relief from the burden of sin. If he could receive the assurance of forgiveness and peace with Heaven, he would be content to die. The dying man had no time to lose. He besought his friends to carry him on his bed to Jesus, and this they gladly undertook to do. But so dense was the crowd where the Saviour was that it was impossible for the sick man and his friends even to come within hearing of His voice.
(HLv 173.3)
Jesus was teaching in the house of Peter, His disciples close about Him. And “there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem” as spies. Outside thronged the multitude, the eager, the reverent, the curious, the unbelieving. “And the power of the Lord was present to heal.” But the Pharisees and doctors did not discern the Spirit’s presence. They felt no need, and the healing was not for them. “He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away.” Luke 1:53.
(HLv 173.4)
The bearers of the paralytic tried to push their way through the crowd, but in vain. Must the sick man relinquish hope? At his suggestion his friends bore him to the top of the house and, breaking up the roof, let him down at the feet of Jesus.
(HLv 173.5)
The Saviour saw the pleading eyes fixed upon Him. He understood the case. While the paralytic was at home, the Saviour had brought conviction to his conscience. When he repented of his sins, the life-giving mercies of the Saviour first blessed his longing heart. Jesus had watched the first glimmer of faith grow stronger with every effort to come into His presence.
(HLv 174.1)
Now, in words that fell like music on the sufferer’s ear, the Saviour said, “Son ... thy sins be forgiven thee.” The burden of despair rolled from the sick man’s soul; the peace of forgiveness shone out on his countenance. His pain was gone, his whole being was transformed. The helpless paralytic was healed, the guilty sinner pardoned!
(HLv 174.2)
In simple faith he accepted the words of Jesus. He urged no further request, but lay in blissful silence. The people looked on with awe.
(HLv 174.3)
The rabbis recollected how the man had appealed to them for help, and they, refusing him hope or sympathy, had declared he was suffering the curse of God for his sins. They marked the interest with which all were watching the scene and felt a terrible fear of losing their influence over the people. Looking into one another’s faces they read the same thought—something must be done to arrest the tide of feeling. Jesus had declared the sins of the paralytic forgiven. The Pharisees could present this as blasphemy, a sin worthy of death. “It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” RSV.
(HLv 174.4)
Fixing His glance on them, Jesus said, “Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your pallet and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—“I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.” RSV.
(HLv 174.5)
Then he who had been borne on a litter to Jesus rose to his feet with the elasticity and strength of youth. Every organ of his body sprang into activity. The glow of health succeeded the pallor of approaching death. “And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.”
(HLv 174.6)
Creative power restored health to that decaying body. The same voice that spoke life to man created from the dust of the earth spoke life to the dying paralytic. And the same power that gave life to the body had renewed the heart. Christ bade the paralytic arise and walk, “that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins.”
(HLv 175.1)
Thousands today suffering from physical disease, like the paralytic, long for the message, “Thy sins are forgiven.” Sin is the foundation of their maladies. The Healer of the soul alone can impart vigor to the mind and health to the body.
(HLv 175.2)
Jesus still has the same life-giving power as when on earth He healed the sick and spoke forgiveness to the sinner. He “forgiveth all thine iniquities”; He “healeth all thy diseases.” Psalm 103:3; see 1 John 3:8; John 1:4-10; 10:10; 1 Corinthians 15:45.
(HLv 175.3)
As the man who had been cured passed through the multitude bearing his burden as if it were a feather’s weight, the people fell back to give him room. With awestricken faces they whispered softly among themselves, “We have seen strange things today.”
(HLv 175.4)
The Pharisees were dumb with amazement and overwhelmed with defeat. Disconcerted and abashed, they recognized but did not confess the presence of a superior being. From the home of Peter, where they had seen the paralytic restored, they went away entrenched in unbelief to invent new schemes for silencing the Son of God.
(HLv 175.5)
In the home of the healed paralytic there was great rejoicing. His family gathered round with tears of joy, scarcely daring to believe their eyes. The flesh that had been shrunken and leaden-hued was now fresh and ruddy. He walked with a firm, free step. Joy and hope were written on his countenance. Purity and peace had taken the place of the marks of sin and suffering. This man and his family were ready to lay down their lives for Jesus. No doubt dimmed their faith in Him who had brought light into their darkened home.
(HLv 175.6)