Luke 5:12 ...behold, there was a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You can cleanse me. (13) And stretching out His hand, He touched him, saying, I am willing; be cleansed! And immediately the leprosy left him.
Here we see that the Man-Savior sympathized with the leper. According to the Old Testament, a leper was not to be touched by anyone. In order to keep others away from him, a leper was required to cry out, "Unclean, unclean!" Hence, a leper was altogether isolated. But the Man-Savior stretched forth His hand to touch this leper. The Lord's touching the leper reveals His human virtue. His divine attributes were expressed in the cleansing of the leper. It is impossible for any human being to cleanse a leper. Therefore, the One who cleansed this leper must be God. In the Lord's sympathy we see His human virtue, and in the cleansing of the leper we see His divine attribute. He was the genuine God-man. As man He was filled with the human virtues, and as God He had the divine attributes that enabled Him to cleanse the man's leprosy. A leper portrays a typical sinner. Leprosy is the most contaminating and damaging disease, isolating its victim both from God and men. To cleanse the leper signifies to recover the sinner to the fellowship with God and with men. It is significant that the leper was not only healed but cleansed. The one with leprosy not only requires healing as those with other diseases; he also needs cleansing, as from sin (1 John 1:7), because of the filthy and contaminating nature of the disease. (c) 2007 Living Stream Ministry.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Luke, pp. 109-110. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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