Untouchable!

A man “full of leprosy” breaks every rule to get close to Jesus and that choice could cost him his life. The crowd expects rejection, distance, and disgust. Instead, we see a moment where hopelessness falls at the feet of hope and a single question hangs in the air: “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 

We connect the biblical fear of leprosy and the harsh reality of being labelled unclean with modern caste stigma and the tragedy of the “untouchable.” We talk through why Luke emphasizes the severity of the disease, why the rabbis believed only God could heal it, and why that matters for recognizing Jesus as the Messiah. Then we slow down at the detail that changes everything: Jesus does not only speak healing, he touches the man with compassion. 

From there, the story widens. The cleansing is instant and complete, and Jesus sends the restored man to the priest as proof that will spark investigation all the way up the religious ladder. We also linger on what Jesus does next: withdrawing to desolate places to pray, even while crowds press in, modeling a life anchored in the Father. If you feel stained by guilt, isolated by shame, or written off as a hopeless case, this conversation points to a different ending. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Explore all of our Biblically Faithful Resources at https://www.wisdomonline.org

Learn more: https://www.wisdomonline.org/

Transcript

The World Of The Untouchables

Leprosy’s Fear And Exile

The Leper Falls Before Jesus

Compassion That Touches The Unclean

Proof For Priests And Leaders

Jesus Prays And We Respond

SPEAKER_00 0:32

If Jesus doesn't heal him, this man is gonna be arrested. He's gonna be taken outside the city. He's gonna be stoned to death. He's violated the protocol. He has threatened others of defilement. He's violated the laws of excommunication. If Jesus is not the savior, this man does not have a prayer. This is this is the gospel, isn't it? Listen, if Jesus isn't the savior, you don't have a prayer. And neither do I. According to Buddhist and Hindu beliefs in reincarnation, these people were born into their station of life because of a former life of corruption, crime, some cruelty or sin, some great sin. So now reincarnated as Dalits, they are paying for their sin. Because they are considered broken, they have not been allowed only in recent years, are there some improvements? The opportunity to learn even how to read and write, they can't eat or drink in the same room as a caste member. In fact, they're not allowed to touch anyone in the caste system or be touched. Even their shadow is considered contaminated. They have come to be known by a term more and more familiar with, it is a simple, tragic term, simply this. Untouchable. In India alone, there are more than two hundred million untouchables. There probably wasn't any person in the ancient world more untouchable than a leper. The Bible records both Gentiles and Jews suffering from this dreaded disease. According to Levitical law, the leper lived outside the camp or village exiled. He would lose all contact with his family, his loved ones, his nation. His life could be characterized by the meaning of a delit. His world was indeed broken. His dreams, his hopes all dashed to pieces, his world shattered, broken. He would be viewed without pity, just as I have observed in my travels in India. Why? Because the prevailing belief would be that he was under the judgment of God. There has to be some horrifying, horrible sin somewhere in their past. Their decaying bodies are proof enough that their corruption has caught up with them. They're paying for their sin. One author put it this way: leprosy might begin with the loss of sensation to some part of the body. The nerves would be affected. The muscles would begin to waste away. The leper would develop ulcers on their hands and feet. Their hair and eyebrows would fall out, their vocal cords become ulcerated, so that when they talked, their voices would be raspy and hoarse and their breathing strained. Extremities like ears and noses and fingers and toes would become infected and diseased and often simply fall away. The duration could last 20 to 30 years. It was the kind of death in which a person died by inches. But death was certain. Even in the medieval period, the Middle Ages, if someone became a leper, the priest would bring them to the cathedral and read a burial service over them, because for all intents and purposes, they were as good as dead. During the days of Jesus, no one feared any disease like they feared leprosy. A leper's only friends were other lepers. Family members and people in general that took pity on them would deposit food at certain locations for them to eat. But whenever anyone approached a leper or a leper approached people, the leper was to shout that word we all know, the word unclean. Unclean. One author helped me by putting it into contemporary terminology to describe that sense of worthlessness that would have wrapped around them like a shroud, terrible despair. Imagine, he wrote, walking down a sidewalk. Imagine walking into a grocery store and having to shout, unclean, unclean. Imagine being so despised and exiled and feared and alone. We can't imagine the physical and emotional effects of being an untouchable. In fact, one author put it this way: a leper was hated by others, and he eventually came to hate himself. In fact, during the days of Christ, the rabbis were teaching that the cure of a leper was as difficult as raising a person from the dead. Get this. The rabbis were teaching, and I quote, leprosy can only be healed by God. This is going to be magnificent. Let me show you. Luke chapter 5 is where we left off. Jesus is continuing on with some of his newly called disciples. He's teaching in some unnamed city. Verse 12, rather suddenly, rather unexpectedly, Luke describes what happens. While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. Now, by the way, both Matthew's gospel and Mark's gospel record this account, but they only refer to the man as a leper. But Dr. Luke, the physician, says, oh no, no, he was full of leprosy. He was, we would say, eaten up with leprosy. In fact, Luke uses the same phrase he used back in chapter 4 and verse 1 to tell us that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. So he's telling us here that this leper is inundated. He's saturated. He's evidently in the final stages, Dr. Luke wants us to know, he's under the complete control of leprosy. Perhaps after living 20 or 30 years with this disease, he probably doesn't have much time left with this kind of descriptive phrase, literally eaten up with this horrifying disease. Let's not go too quickly. Let's imagine the unwritten volume here of this man's life. It's possible that he's now gone 20, 25, 30 years since he's held his children, talked to his wife, eaten a meal in his home, slept in his own bed. He'd watched his family grow up at a distance. No closer than about 50 yards. We cannot imagine, frankly, this man's broken heart and his broken world, he was in every sense of the word and untouchable. This is now the moment that you need to understand with me, which is nothing less than an act of total desperation. Verse 12, again. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Now we're not told here, you notice that we have no idea how he got this close to Jesus. That'll remain a mystery. There's no mention of him warning the crowd by shouting as he approaches, unclean. He has evidently made up his mind that it does not matter anymore. This is the last act of a desperate, broken life. I'm sure people saw him coming. They parted, you know, like the Red Sea. He gets close to Jesus. Everyone, I'm sure, would have expected Jesus to tell them to get lost. This is one of those amazing Bible moments to me when you have a terminal man encountering the true Messiah. This is the essence of filth meeting, the essence of purity. You're watching hopelessness fall down at the feet of hope. Did you notice what he says here in verse 12? Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He didn't say, Lord, if you can. Lord, if you will. Lord, curios, God incarnate. He's making an incredible statement here. Well, Lord, it is entirely in the power of your will to make me clean. Luke tells us here that he falls on his face. The verb means to bow, literally to kiss the ground. It was reverence. He's on his face. No doubt the disciples have pulled back their 50 yards away, and the crowd is shocked. They're disgusted. Did you notice he's not asking to be cured? Leprosy was viewed as a spiritual judgment from God. Maybe he'd come to believe that I probably deserve this. I'm corrupt and sinful. The rabbis, even in this generation, were calling leprosy the stroke of God. He's asking to be cleansed from the inside out. Lord, it's entirely in your power to clean me from the inside out. See, what you have is an unbelievable statement of faith. Lord, if you want to, I know you can. And can I just, you know, add this? This is this is putting his life at risk. If Jesus isn't the Messiah, if Jesus doesn't heal him, this man is going to be arrested. He's going to be taken outside the city. He's going to be stoned to death. He's violated the protocol. He has threatened others of defilement. He's come without warning. He's violated the laws of excommunication. If Jesus is not the savior, this man does not have a prayer. This is the gospel, isn't it? Listen, if Jesus isn't the savior, you don't have a prayer. And neither do I. Mark's gospel adds to the emotion of Jesus. It says in that encounter, Mark chapter 1, verse 41, moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. Couldn't Jesus have simply said, He did it before, do it again. Just the words. Why touch him? Have you ever thought about the fact that this is perhaps the first time in 30 years this man has been lovingly touched by another person? Have you run out of options? Have you decided there's no other alternative? No other choice? Have you arrived at that desperate place in your life where you've realized that religion and a little water and maybe a candle or two or some ceremonies or good deeds or whatever I can do, I'm going to do my best. Have you come to understand you are terminally infected with sin and it will kill you? Because the wages of sin is what? Death. Terminally infected. If you come to the point where you in desperation know it's burying you, that terminal sin is destroying you, the guilt and the shame, and you don't want to live with it any longer. And you go to Jesus and say, I believe you can, but will you save me? The Bible says, Whosoever will may come. Have you. Luke writes at the end of verse 13 that the leprosy immediately left him. No, now, Luke, he saw the immediate physical effects of leprosy reversed. We need to understand that there's a lot that that little phrase implies that we would love more commentary on, but let me tell you what he's saying. This indicates that one moment you would have seen this man with his body eaten up, ravaged by this corrosive disease, but immediately he's literally restored. This is a cascading series of miracles, and it's no wonder that the word takes off following this. One author puts it this way: the flesh that had been eaten away, the fingers that had decayed and fallen off, the raw sores that spread over his body, all of it was instantly cleansed, restored, and made whole. We can't imagine this scene. Curved limbs are suddenly straight, missing toes and fingers. No fingers, suddenly, boop fingers. Toes, ears, nose, all of the corrosive signs. Here's someone in the final stages of this disease, and Jesus says, be clean and wow! Entirely, physically made whole. By the way, Jesus did something similar. It occurred to me as I thought about this in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's going to do this later. Remember when they they come as a mob to arrest Jesus? And you know, Peter pulls out a sword. Peter is evidently much better with a fishing pole than a sword because he takes one swing and he knocks this guy's ear off. And I can just sort of picture time freezing at that moment. What do we do now? And we're told Jesus steps forward. He doesn't pick up that ear. He touches the man who is restored. There's a new ear created. See, this is incarnate God capable of creating something out of nothing. This is God the Son. We're told in Colossians, who was the one, the member of the triune God in Genesis 1. He was saying, Let there be light, and light was, you could render it. He speaks the word, and earth is swarming, creating everything out of nothing. He's demonstrating he is creator God. This is the Messiah. In fact, this is one of the reasons why Jesus is going to make this demand of the leper. Look down at verse 14. We're told, and he charged him to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded for a proof for them. But now, even more, the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. Isn't it a little convicting, if not a lot convict, by the way, that Jesus commands this man to tell no one, and yet the word is spreading, and Jesus commands us to spread the word, and we tell no one. Now we have to understand that even though Jesus has cleansed this man, he's in this social religious limbo, so to speak. Until a priest examines him and declares him clean, he can't re-enter his life. He can't rejoin his family. He can't go back to the synagogue. He's still in exile, and the Lord here essentially tells him to follow the directions of Leviticus chapters 13 and 14. You can read on your own if you want to at some point for the restoration processes of a leper. But here's the point I want to make. Jesus knows what's going to happen. He knows that some priest, boy, I wish I could have seen him. You know, some priest is going to encounter this man. He's going to be totally mystified, totally shocked beyond words. He's going to want to know, ha, ha, tell me again now, who was it? He did what? He touched you? What was his name? See, Jesus understands here. He's sending this man back to the priesthood because he is beginning. He's going to begin. He is going to generate an investigation of himself. See, this priest would collect the evidence. And then he's going to take it to the Sanhedrin. And this is the meaning of Jesus telling him to take the proof of his cleansing to them. Latter part of verse 14. And Jesus knows this is going to generate a firestorm. Why? Because the priests and the rabbis and the religious leaders have been teaching the people already for generations that healing leprosy, get this, is a sign that the Messiah has arrived. Here comes this man. Guess what? The Messiah has arrived. He's here. And Jesus says, You're going to be proof to them. All the way up the ladder to the Sanhedrin. It occurred to me when John the Baptist was languishing in prison by order of Herod, soon to be executed. He sent a message to Jesus because he was doubting. I find that very encouraging that the great prophet would doubt in despair and discouragement. Are you the one we've been looking for? And what did Jesus do? Jesus sends a message back recorded in Matthew. Matthew chapter 11 that essentially said, John, haven't you heard the lepers are being cleansed? Doubt no more. With this stunning demonstration of divine power, Jesus now does what every believer ought to do. He models for us this quiet time with the Father. Verse 16 tells us what Jesus did next. He would withdraw to desolate places and pray. He withdrew. Wait, the crowds are thronging. The paparazzi are, you know, you know, lined up outside. You know, everybody wants you to write a book. They're clamoring to see you, Jesus. They want to hear you, he would say, Oh, I need to hear the Father. First and foremost. It's ironic, perhaps. Maybe you play on this scene that the word for desolate places he would withdraw to desolate places can be translated lonely places. Struck me that Jesus voluntarily went to lonely places, and in this in this case, he went to a lonely place after ending the loneliness of this man. Luke doesn't give us any details, but here's a man reunited with his family, who'd no doubt stopped praying for him years and years ago. The rabbis ran from him. The synagogue had long ago taken his name from the roster. He's as good as dead. His friends had stopped waiting for him, but here came Jesus. And into the shock of this massive crowd, here comes this untouchable, and their paths cross, hopelessness bowing at the feet of holiness, sinfulness, prostrate at the feet of grace. And whenever we come to the realization that we are terminal and we are incurable and we are untouchable, but we come and bow at the feet of Jesus and we say, Lord, I know you can. Will you save me? We are immediately and permanently and completely forgiven in every case. There's no such thing as a hopeless case at the feet of Jesus. In every case, just as we sang earlier, broken lives in your kingdom are made new. Every time. Every untouchable sinner who comes to Jesus is forgiven forever.