THE Lord Jesus comes down from the mountain and great crowds follow Him. “And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.” Leprosy, that dread disease which only God could heal, is a type of sin, and only God can cleanse from sin. The leper was a type of Israel as they appeared in the presence of their Messiah, and indeed is a type of all men everywhere — sinners before God. But here we have Messiah as the great Physician come near in grace to heal.
The leper recognizes in Jesus, One who had the power to heal, but he seems to doubt His willingness to do so, and this seems to be the way that men in general think of the goodness of God. It was back in the garden of Eden that Satan succeeded in implanting in the heart of man that distrust of the goodness of God. But the gospel is God’s answer to the lie of Satan, for it tells of how God, in the gift of His Son, has come out in the richest display of His grace and goodness toward lost, guilty man, now under the power of Satan. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son... " (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)), and the Cross is the measure and the pledge of that love.
The leper says, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.” The Lord does not take offense at being approached in this way. Not only was there in Him the power, but He is also “the sympathizing Jesus” — the need of man but drew out the compassions of His heart. He responds immediately to the poor man’s request and says, “I will.” Stretching out His hand He touches him. He was the only one who could touch a leper and not be defiled by the dread disease. His whole pathway was through a defiled world, yet in no way was He defiled by it. He could say as He neared the close of His pathway down here, “the prince of this world [Satan] cometh, and hath nothing in Me.” John 14:3030Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. (John 14:30). He was holy, harmless and undefiled. He alone could go to Calvary’s cross that He might bear our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Pet. 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)). There He bore the sins of those who put their trust in Him.
“And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” No medicine was needed; it was the Lord of life Himself come down to heal. “And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.” Had the man gone telling every one instead of the priest, Satan might have got busy and tried to misrepresent the work, perhaps sought to make out that it was not he who had been the leper but another man, and so deny the miracle. He was to go to the priest, for it was he who had first pronounced him unclean and put him outside. Now he would see the unmistakable evidence that the man was now healed. It was to be a testimony to him that Jehovah was Himself in the land, and that Jesus was God.
ML-04/15/1962