Living Dead No More - Luke 5:12-16

A man “full of leprosy” breaks every boundary to reach Jesus, and the crowd scatters—until a single touch rewrites his future. We walk through Luke 5:12–16 to explore the brutal reality of leprosy in the ancient world, why it isolated people physically, socially, and spiritually, and how one desperate plea—“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean”—reveals the shape of saving faith. The moment Jesus stretches out his hand, purity moves outward and uncleanness retreats, offering not only relief from disease but restoration to community and worship.

Together we unpack a core theological thread: the law diagnoses, priests declare, but only the Lord delivers. Drawing from Romans and Galatians, we trace how the law exposes guilt while Jesus fulfills its righteous requirement, justifying us by faith. We also tackle a question many ask: if miracles weren’t his main mission, why did Jesus perform them? The answer comes in two words—proof and preview. Miracles prove the identity of the King and preview the world to come, giving a living snapshot of God’s kingdom where the effects of the fall are undone. Along the way, we look at Jesus’ priorities—sending the healed man to the priest, yet withdrawing to pray—showing how communion with the Father and proclamation shape everything.

Transcript

Setting The Scene In Luke 5

SPEAKER_00 0:00

All right, if you have your Bibles, would you go ahead and open them as we continue our two-year-long study through the Gospel of Luke? We're in Luke 5, verses 12 through 16, the very passage and just read for us. Luke 5, 12 through 16. There are some conditions money cannot cure, or sorry, money cannot fix, medicine cannot cure, and reputation cannot hide. What do you do when your problem isn't fixable? While Jesus was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. This morning we're going to need to talk quite some time about leprosy and its effect in the life of one who had it. So in your notes, if you have your notes out, we're going to talk about the peril of leprosy. The first main point. See, leprosy was a skin disease that was extremely difficult to heal. There was no cure. Rabbis of the day referred to the disease, which in Hebrew I can try to pronounce as sakrat, as the living dead for two reasons. The first reason is because its effect in the life of those who had it made them look almost zombie-like, like living dead. And second, because the difficulty of healing someone or someone being healed from that disease was as difficult as raising the dead. In fact, in Jesus' ministry, he empowers the disciples to do some miraculous things one time, and he puts it right next to raising people back from the dead. In other words, leprosy was not something once you had, you could go to a doctor for. Leprosy was a life sentence. And as soon as you were diagnosed with it, it impacted you in three ways: physical, social, and spiritual. I want to walk through those just one at a time. Leprosy impacted you physically. Its symptoms would have started in the skin, in the nervous system, and then potentially spread to other parts of the body, such as the hands, the feet, the face, and the earlobes. A leper would often be covered with open sores. Over time, they could become numb to feeling things, and their facial structure could potentially change. Now, leprosy, this particular word, could refer to multiple skin diseases, but as Luke will tell us, this is a very visible case. Those with the worst of cases could experience disfigurement of the skin, twisting of the limbs, and a curling of the fingers to kind of form a claw. Their face could change, and one of the most common face changes was a collapsing of the nose. This is a very visible disease. It was seen. It was known. If you had it, it was not easy to hide it. Leprosy impacted you physically, but it also impacted you socially. Jesus' day, the first century, was a shame-honor society. You read from many scholars the impact of that sort of culture. Well, with leprosy, because honor and shame were central organizing principles in that culture, leprosy was uniquely defiling. People were ashamed of it, even if they didn't do anything to cause it. And then you think about the social ramifications of contracting the disease. The Levitical law said in chapters 13 of the book of Leviticus: the leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of their head hang loose. They shall cover their upper lip and cry out, unclean, unclean. They shall remain unclean as long as they have the disease. They are unclean. They shall live alone. Their dwelling shall be outside of the camp. Not because they could give you medication, but for the sake of the rest of the people, you would be kicked out, declared unclean, diagnosed ritually unclean, and you'd be kicked out of the camp, sent out of society, not to return so long as you have the disease. So not only are you in pain, in fear of losing physical feeling, scared for how it might affect the perception of your physical appearance, but you are also kicked outside of your community, out of the city, no matter your age, no matter your gender. So even though this is a right precaution in the law to protect the camp, one could imagine the social consequences were far greater than just the physical ones. And even in the New Testament, it seems like they lived in kind of like a little community together. Removed from their family for fear of infecting them. Probably not being able to hug anyone they had formerly been associated to after contracting the disease. Married. Kids. Some say it was instructed of them to be at least 50 paces from a non-leprous person for safety. They were to identify themselves by wearing worn and shabby clothing so that people would stay away from them. They were to yell their condition out loud, unclean, unclean as people walked by, so people would know to stay away or to run away should they come too close. They were forced to live a beggar's life, hoping for the benevolence of strangers or maybe family members to designate a spot they could keep food for a little bit, walk away, and then they could come and grab it. Not only did it impact you physically, not only did it impact you socially, but it impacted you spiritually. Because they were diagnosed by law unclean and declared so by those who taught the law, they could no longer worship like the regular person. They were not able to gather in the synagogues or at the temple like the rest of society. So for a moment, imagine as a believer, struggling with all you're struggling with, and not being able to gather with the people of God. Not being able to worship at the local synagogue or temple, at least not like everybody else. Imagine how devastating. Not only that, but consider this: in the Old Testament, there were a couple of occasions that God punished a few certain people with leprosy. Miriam in Numbers 10, when Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses or Azariah the king in 2 Kings 15, when he did not remove pagan shrines. And so some people misperceived that a person had become leprous because they had done something to disobey the word of God. And so not only are you ostracized for the sake of your community, not only are you not able to worship in difficult days, but some may consider wrongly that your condition was a result of your sin.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

All this to say a leper's life was dreadful. The plea of the leper.

The Leper’s Daring Plea

Faith Seen Beyond The Skin

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Back to the story in verse twelve. His plea. While a certain leper was in one of the cities, there came a man, or sorry, while Jesus was in one of the cities, there came a certain leper full of leprosy. And when the man saw Jesus, he fell on his face and he begged him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Now Luke, who we know by trade was a doctor, says this man was full of whatever skin disease he had. Full of it. That means it's safe to assume that some time has passed. He's had it for quite some time, and it's very clear from how he looks, he's a leper. And because some time has passed, he probably hadn't worshipped in the temple or in a synagogue in years. He probably hadn't seen his family in years, and he probably has not been in the city in years. Where is he in this story? The city. Where is he not supposed to be? The city. So imagine what's happening here with me. Jesus is walking into a city. We've just read in the Gospel of Luke that he had become so popular at this point in his ministry that he could not stand up straight without going and sitting in a boat so that all the crowds following him could listen. He's very popular. And now he's in a city. So you imagine there's probably crowds all around him, and all of a sudden a man, as Luke describes, full of leprosy, is running toward him, probably shouting, unclean, unclean. And so now you have all the crowds dispersing, running away from the man. This is a spectacle. Maybe some people are like kind of thrown wrong, get away. And the man gets right in front of Jesus and falls down. In pain, in loneliness, and spiritualization, spiritual isolation, he bows before the only one who can save him. There's no posturing, there's no pretending, there is only a plea. He does not approach Jesus with demands, but only in desperation. And he reveals three things he sincerely believes in one request. Do you see it? Lord, my king, curios. If you will, meaning I submit to your decision, for you determine the fate of every human being, you can make me clean. You have the power to do what no one else can. He does not come to Jesus showing how clean he is, for how can he? He comes unclean and desperate. So let's just talk about that for a minute. Everybody can see this man's problem. Everybody can see his outer appearance. Jesus can perceive in this moment his heart. He can see past the skin. And God, we know from the Old Testament, when we look at Saul and David, there's this statement made, 1 Samuel chapter 15, God judges the heart of man. He sees the heart. See, Jesus made clear in the Sermon on the Mount that the heart of the matter in the Old Testament law was the matter of the heart. What do we judge? Well, we judge what we can see. How else can we judge? We see fruit. So just like in Jesus' day, there are a lot of people whose lives look nice and clean. Like they have no problem. A sickness of the heart isn't always so visible, but it what does the Bible say? It's just as deadly. And Jesus can see right through any outer facade or mask any of us puts on. We can try to hide our sin from everyone, but nothing's ever hidden from Jesus. He sees everything we do, he hears everything we think, and he can see past any false pretense. None of us can hide our sin. So Jesus is walking there, imagine. And he knows, like he will say in Luke 9, in Luke 14, in Luke 6, the hearts of the men and women who are following him are far from him, even though they're just kind of amazed and perplexed and interested. And he sees a man, the man's running to him, fall on his face, desperate. He sees a man who has faith in Jesus. At least faith that he can heal. At least faith that he is who he says he is, that he's Lord, that he's curios. And so we see something in this story. We're reminded none of us can hide our sin. None of us. But there is something we can do. We can plea for the mercy of God despite it. We can see this leper, see him bow desperate before King Jesus, and see an example of faith. My Lord, I know you have the power. I submit to your will.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

You can change my life.

Touch, Cleansing, Immediate Healing

SPEAKER_00 15:23

I don't know this for certain, but he does not say heal me, he says make me clean. Which just makes me think that what he is very interested in is to get in that temple and worship God. The leper approaches Jesus, not caring what anyone else thought. What they thought was probably very loud. And what does Jesus do? Well, we see the power of the Lord. Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. And he said, I will be clean. And immediately the leprosy left him. I want you to see two things. First, and and and maybe you're not a very emotional person or a touchy person, but please see the significance here. Jesus touched him. He touched him. He didn't run away from him. He didn't throw rocks to try to keep himself clean. He touched him. Nobody, aside from maybe other lepers, had touched this man in years. I mean, can you imagine believing as this man did that Jesus is king? Kurios. And the first person to touch you is the king? Like, do you think you would have tried to stop him just in case Jesus might get sick? Stop, stop, stop, stop. What happened? Well, there's a second thing I want you to see. Jesus healed him. He healed him. I will be clean. And immediately leprosy was gone. So get this. The leprosy did not infect Jesus. Jesus affected the leprosy in the man. No one could do that. No one had seen that before. Instead of Jesus being made unclean by the leper's touch, the leper is made clean by his touch. So in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, he went from being sick to healthy, unclean to clean.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Hurting to healed.

Law Diagnoses, Lord Delivers

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Like, who is this Jesus from whom demons flee and diseases disappear. Let's see the good news, shall we? There is in this story yet another picture of the gospel. And I think it's intentional. Jesus is headed where he would be crucified on a criminal's cross, and his ministry mimics or shows his love. The love that will ultimately be displayed on that cross. So do you see in our story a picture of the gospel? If I may, let me show you. Because what we have here is the love of Jesus giving new life. Sure, this story is showing the miracle of Jesus over sickness. But you can also see the mercy of Jesus here toward a man that you will later see in his sacrifice. So let's think about it. The man was living dead, with no hope of salvation. The law had diagnosed the leper unclean. Unclean. The priest, whose mission it was to communicate that law, had declared the leper unclean.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

And then Jesus steps in.

Justification By Faith, Not Works

What Faith Looks Like In Need

Show Yourself To The Priest

Why Jesus’ Miracles Matter

Proof Of The King, Preview Of Kingdom

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Jesus mercifully delivers the leper. You see, the law revealed his condition. The Lord was his cure. So there's three things there. The law diagnosed, the priest declared, but the Lord delivered. Jesus did what the law could never do. He was once utterly hopeless, and now he was ultimately healed. He was saved from a sickness that no one, including himself, could ever save him from. Only Jesus. He was at one moment unclean, and after bowing before Jesus, recognizing his dependence on him and him alone, because of the merciful action of Jesus and Jesus alone, the man was immediately made clean. And then because of his uncle cleanliness or uncleanness, where he was once separated from the people of God, he is now able to worship with God's people. The law diagnosed the leper's problem. The priest declared the leper's fate, but the Lord delivered. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, he condemns sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And we see that those who trust in Jesus, Jesus who fulfilled the law, its righteous requirement will be saved. Galatians 2, we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we have believed in Jesus in order to be justified by faith, not by works of the law, which expose our sin, because by works of the law no one will be saved. The law points out our fate. Only Jesus can change our life. See, the law does not save. It can't. It's good, but it reveals to us we're not. It diagnoses. That is one of its main intentions. We need to hear and know that truth, that because of our disobedience, we are guilty before God. We deserve his punishment. We are spiritually like the leper was physically. And we are to Blame for that one. We're dead, deserving of punishment. And the message of the Bible, like the priest, declares you're sick. There's no hope. Not unless God intervenes. And he did. Jesus came to us, he met us where we are, in our sin, in our brokenness while we were dead, and through the cross, he took upon himself the full wrath of God. He has delivered us, as Colossians tells us, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved Son. We were once far off from the people of God. Now we have been brought near, and we are now his temple. We can enter into his sanctuary, into the holy of holies, not because of our righteousness, but because of the righteous one who was crucified in our place. Jesus, the perfect, spotless Lamb of God. And so what is our response to such news? Well, see again, the leper. What does he do? No hope but Jesus. He belines it to him. He falls before him. He bows and says, If you will, will you heal me? Desperate. What does faith look like? Desperately seeking the mercy of God, knowing he and only he can save. We all must come before Jesus, dead and unclean, desperately asking him to save us from a condition we cannot cure. And what does he say to those who bow before him, trusting who he is and what he can do? I will be clean. I mean, honestly, do you believe that? Listen to Scripture, John 6. All the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Christ came to save sinners like you and like me, and all who come before him, wounded and weak, sincerely seeking his mercy, he will not turn away. I believe this with all my heart. Those who sincerely seek the mercy of God, he will not turn away, he will forgive. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is curious. And believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Maybe that's you. And maybe that's today. Would you bow before him? Would you seek his mercy? Would you believe he saves? There's still a section left, and we learn in that section a couple more things. A couple more very important things. What we learn, we learn a little bit about the priority of Jesus and his ministry. In verse 14, it says that Jesus charged the man to tell no one but to go and show himself to the priest and to make an offering for his cleansing. This was what Moses commanded. And Jesus said, You need to prove what I've done, so that you can now enjoy the presence of God's people. Back at the text, verse 15, but now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear Jesus and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. So what does Jesus tell him to do? Hey, go to the priest, as the law had instructed, so that you might be pronounced clean, and so that you might enjoy the presence of the people of God. Go and show the priests my power. But as Jesus often said, He said, Don't tell anyone. And as the people who are impacted by Jesus' ministry often do, they kind of tell everybody. And so the word went out. And more and more people continue to gather it, it says, and be healed to hear his voice. However, as we so often see in the gospel, Jesus breaks away from the crowds. He does not heal everyone he could. In fact, it seems he chooses not to. He would step away from the crowds to pray and to go in another town and preach. He would go to spend time with his father and to reach other people. There were many people that Jesus could have physically healed that he did not, and he most certainly could have. And Jesus was in some way okay with that. Because Jesus' priority was not healing an individual's temporal physical health. Miracles were not his mission, not his main mission. They were signs. Preaching was his mission. So why did Jesus perform miracles? Well, I hope to help answer that today. Two reasons and two words. He performed miracles for a proof and to give a preview. Jesus performed miracles for a proof validating who he was claiming to be. Proof that validates the king. You see, Jesus' miracles were the type that no person could totally duplicate. So in stopping to see the miracle, the crowds had to stop and eventually make a decision about the man they saw. What do we say earlier? Around Jesus, demons were freaked out and diseases would flee. So what do you have to do with that? We have to do something. Even the Pharisees knew something was up. When Nicodemus visits Jesus in the night in John chapter 3, what do they say? They say, We know you have come from God. So the miracles provide proof that confronts people. That either leads them to conspire or confess. Miracles weren't the point, but they were the proof of the person of Jesus that led people to pause and consider. Confronted? Am I going to conspire? Or will I confess? Or I'll just go with the crowds. They were a proof. The second reason Jesus performed miracles was to give a preview. You see, the miracles foreshadowed kingdom life. What Jesus does in his miracles is he offers people a temporary visual experience of the eternal kingdom that will come. Through his miracles, he is showing his power to be able to undo the effects of the fall. Where did diseases come from? They're effects of the fall. What is Jesus doing? Well, he's not only allowing someone to come to him and seek his mercy, save their lives physically and ultimately spiritually, not only bringing them into the presence of God with his people, but he is showing, hey, this is no problem for me. He's showing all that you can see, he can fix. So he's not only acknowledging sin in his ministry, he's showing he's also after sin's effects in the heart and in the world. He gave people heart by helping them see that he can and he will eradicate sin's effects in the world. You see, Jesus' healing ministry gives us a picture, a glimpse of the kingdom to come where death and pain, sickness and sorrow are no longer a problem. So I say this morning to the unbeliever, hear from this story, you're not too unclean.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

You're not. He can save. I don't know what I don't know what you've done.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Jesus can see through any facade or mask you put on. He's not surprised. He can save. To the believer in the room. Some of you may be sick.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

Physically sick. And you may be really tired of being sick.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Here's what scriptures don't promise. They don't promise that your sickness will go away before Jesus returns. Here's what scriptures do promise. Your sorrow, your strife, your sickness, your wrestle with lust, your anxiety, and your anger, and most of all your sin has an expiration date that reads, When Jesus returns. It'll be done with. One of my best friends from a church that I just got to know over time, he served with me in student ministry, and he served with me at a camp. His wife battled cancer. And she just went home to be the Lord this week. I promise you, she knows, without a shadow of a doubt, Jesus heals.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

He chose not to heal her physically? That's okay. We will see her again. She loved him.

Hope For The Unclean And The Sick

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Jesus' ministry shows that in the end of all things, he will make all things new. Will you trust that? Do you believe it? Jesus is coming. He's gonna get rid of all of it. He's gonna keep you. You want a healer? You need only ask. He's willing. Let's pray. God, our father, you sit on your throne. You do as you please. This has been true from eternity past. But God our Father, we believe that in time you look down upon hopelessly sinful men and women, and instead of destroying us in right, righteous wrath, what you saw fitting and what pleased you was to send your Son for sinners. To send him to be the fulfillment of all the promises you had made, to be the Lamb sacrificed and slain for our sinner, to be the one who bore your wrath so that all who deserve it would not marry. To be condemned in our place, that we might be with you forever. Lord, for those who have not sought your mercy, I pray that you would convict them in grace of their sin. They might come before you and humbly bow. And for all of us this morning who are struggling but following you, God, would you remind us in our heart that though we see the pain and the suffering in this world, there will be a day that will be no more. Help keep us faithful by your spirit until that day. The day you've sealed us for, the day of our redemption, and the day of your return. We love you, God. We thank you for so deeply and dearly loving us. It is in your name we pray and praise. Amen.