Jesus Touched Him

In Leviticus, a person with a bad skin disease lived alone outside the camp. Hundreds of years later, people with that disease still lived apart. Then Jesus came. What did He do?

A man kneels. “Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, ‘If You are willing, You can make me clean’” (Mark 1:40). Imploring means begging with all his heart.

Can and willing. The man believed Jesus could heal him. He was not sure Jesus would want to. Sometimes we feel that way about God too. We know He is strong, but we wonder if He cares about us.

Moved with compassion. “Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him” (Mark 1:41). Compassion is a deep, kind feeling for someone who is hurting.

The touch. Under the law, touching an unclean person made you unclean. Jesus touched him anyway. Jesus was not made unclean. The man was made clean. That had never happened before.

I am willing. Jesus said, “I am willing; be cleansed.” “As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed” (Mark 1:42). He did not have to wait.

Full of it. Luke, who was a doctor, says this man was “full of leprosy” (Luke 5:12). His disease was very bad. Jesus was not afraid of it.

Show the priest. Jesus told him, “show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded” (Mark 1:44). Jesus wanted him welcomed home in the right way, just as Leviticus 14 said.

Ten more. Another time, “ten men who were lepers” stood far off and called, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (Luke 17:12-13). He sent them to the priests, and they were cleansed on the way.

One came back. Only one returned to thank Jesus. He “fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan” (Luke 17:16). He was an outsider twice over, and Jesus welcomed him.

A sign. When John the Baptist asked if Jesus was the one God promised, Jesus said, “the lepers are cleansed” (Matthew 11:5). It was part of the proof.

Still willing. Jesus has not changed. He still cares about people who are sick, left out or ashamed. He is still willing to make people clean from sin.

What we learn. Jesus goes to the people others avoid. He touches, heals and welcomes.

What to do. This week, think of someone who is often left out. Be kind to them the way Jesus was kind to the man who knelt.

In Leviticus, “outside the camp” was the lonely place. It was where unclean people lived. But the New Testament says something surprising about that place.

Burned outside. In Leviticus, some sin offerings were not eaten. Their bodies were burned outside the camp (Leviticus 4:12). The place of the unclean was also the place of the sin offering.

Jesus went outside. “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate” (Hebrews 13:12). Jesus was crucified outside the city walls of Jerusalem.

Why outside? Jesus went to the place of the outsider. He took the place of the unclean, the shamed and the sinful, so that we could be brought inside.

Sanctify. To sanctify means to make holy. Jesus' death makes His people holy and clean before God.

Come to Him. “Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Hebrews 13:13). Reproach means being looked down on. Following Jesus sometimes means being looked down on too.

Clean from all sin. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). That means not just some sin, but all of it.

White as snow. God says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). Scarlet was a bright red that would not wash out. God can wash it out.

David's prayer. David prayed, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7). He used the words of Leviticus 14 to ask God for a clean heart.

Brought near. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13). The outsider comes all the way home.

A new start. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Like the washed and shaved person in Leviticus 14, we get a fresh start.

Not by our works. God saved us “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy” (Titus 3:5). We cannot clean ourselves.

What we learn. Jesus went outside the camp so that we could come in. His blood makes us clean.

What to do. If something you did makes you feel dirty or ashamed, tell God about it this week. Thank Jesus that He makes you clean.