The Power of the Lord Was Present to Heal Them: St. Luke 5:12-39

St. Luke 5:12-39: "12 And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, 'Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.' 13 Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, 'I am willing; be cleansed.' Immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And He charged him to tell no one, 'But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.' 15 However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. 16 So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. 17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. 18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. 20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, 'Man, your sins are forgiven you.' 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, 'Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?' 22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, 'Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, "Your sins are forgiven you," or to say, "Rise up and walk?" 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins'--He said to the man who was paralyzed, 'I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.' 25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, 'We have seen strange things today!' 27 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, 'Follow Me.' 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him. 29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. 30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, 'Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?' 31 Jesus answered and said to them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.' 33 Then they said to Him, 'Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?' 34 And He said to them, 'Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.' 36 Then He spoke a parable to them: 'No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, "The old is better."'

We are told by the Evangelist St. Luke that in a certain city our Lord Jesus was met by a man full of leprousy. We learned from the Evangelist St. Mark that this "certain city" was Capernaum. Why does the Evangelist St. Luke leave out the specific name of the city? It is because he is showing that this healing of the leper, although a specific instance here, happened throughout the land wherever our Lord Jesus went. And so, this same event happened often in many different places, and St. Luke, by relating one instance, relates all curing of lepers done by our Lord Jesus.

What is interesting about this healing embraces two things. One, the manner in which the leper approaches our Lord. And two, the fashion in which Lord Jesus heals the leper. In the first instance, the leper "fell on his face, and implored him." He approached Him as one would approach God. Let us first look at the ceremonial laws regarding lepers, for it will give us a greater understanding of what is happening here. For the full description of these laws governing leprousy, one can find them in Leviticus 13-14. Leprousy is a disease of the skin, that involves sores. It is still around today, but it is called "Hansen's disease." It can also be treated with a simple cream applied to the sores.

But for the Israelites of our Lord Jesus' time, and for the time during Moses, a leper had no cure. And this disease was very contagious. So if a leprous person touched another person, they could also acquire the disease. For this reason, lepers were considered "unclean." If one was diagnosed as a leper, and they were diagnosed by the priests, who would look at the sore, and determine if it was just a rash, or some other skin irration, or if it was indeed leprousy. If it was leprousy, then the person would be declared unclean, he would then be isolated from the rest of the people, most likely with other leprous people, he was to tear his clothes, and shave his head, and cover his mustache, and if he was out and about, and other people passed by, he was to shout out, "Unclean, unclean!" So that the person who they passed by knew that he was not to be approached on account of his leprousy.

The same was true when the leper was healed of his leprousy. He was to show himself to the priest, he was to shave his head, and wash himself and his clothes, and wait seven days outside his tent but among the people to see if it would return. If after seven days, he was still clean, he would shave his head again, along with his beard and eyebrows, and wash his clothes and his body, and then he would be clean. There were also sacrificial rituals attached to this as well. The most interesting being the taking of two clean birds, along with some cedar wood, and scarlet, then killing one of the birds over running water in a earthen vessel, and dipping the other bird, the cedar wood and scarlet into the blood of the other bird, and setting the alive bird free in a field as an atonement for the leper. For the complete details on the sacrificial element, they are in chapter 14 of Leviticus.

What is interesting about the approach of this leper to Jesus, is that he doesn't call out "Unclean, unclean!" like he was supposed to but instead approaches our Lord and falls on his face before Him. The priests were the only ones who could declare a leper clean or unclean, so what this leper is professing with his actions, is that our Lord Jesus is the True Priest. For what does he say? "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." Now consider for a moment that this leper, on account of his uncleanness, could not worship in the synagogues, he could not approach let alone come into the Temple. He was by law forced to live by himself. Therefore this individual was forbidden to be anywhere near the people of God, or the Church. And only a priest could grant that.

We see in this individual his great desire to be a part of the Church, and so he goes to the One Man Who can grant that desire. So, he shows himself to the True Priest, to be declared clean, so that he might worship the Lord again with the other people.

Even more strange than the man's behavior, is our Lord Jesus' behavior, for our Lord does not run away, or take a few steps back, but instead proclaims that He is willing to make this man clean. Then He doesn't something which was forbidden by ceremonial law, that is, to touch the unclean person. But in this He shows that He, as true God, has power over uncleanness, for our Lord is so pure and clean, that He can pass that cleanness along to this leper, so that he may be healed. The leper is then told to go and show himself to the priests, and he would be declared clean, and be allowed to once again enter into the synagogue and the Temple. In short, he would be welcomed back into the Church.

In this we see a picture of Private Confession and Absolution. For on account of our sin, we are leprous and unclean. But when we confess our sins, we are approaching the True Priest through the man of God who serves in His place, and having confessed our sins, and asked to be made clean, the Lord Jesus, through the minister, pronounces that we are clean, by pronouncing us forgiven of sins. We then live no longer as one leprous and unclean, that is, we do not return and immediately keep doing the sin which we just confessed and professed to not do anymore, but we instead, seek to live according to God's commandments.

This healing of the leper also brings to mind the restoration of someone who has been excommunicated. For they have been barred from receiving Holy Communion, just like the leper was forbidden to approach unto the synagogue. But after repentance of the sin, and confessing that what he did was wrong, the Church welcomes him back with open arms, no longer considering him unclean.

Therefore, we as the Church desire, like our Lord Jesus, that all those who remain outside, full of leprousy, unclean from sin, may show themselves to the priests, that is, the ministers of Giod, and confess their sins, and desire for themselves to be made clean through the waters of Holy Baptism, that they, like this leper, may be made a part of the synagogue of our Lord.

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas