Over the years, the Lord has been faithful to remind me that a teachable spirit is a great trait in the life of the believer. If my heart is in the right place, I can learn an invaluable lesson from a toddler.
I was reminded of this recently during a family devotion. I was walking my family through the narrative of Matthew 8 where Jesus heals the leper. Approaching this, my aim was to obviously explain everything as clearly as I knew how as well as provide clear outlets of application for everyone. But the Spirit of God really began to deal with me regarding the immensity of what was before me in the text. Like my wife and children, I became a student of the lesson and find that as I continue to meditate on the text, I’m still fascinated at what the Lord is teaching me through this desperate man.
Matthew 8:1-4 records the narrative of the leper who came to Jesus as Jesus was coming down from the mountain at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. Leprosy was a debilitating and extremely painful skin disease. It would start gradually but eventually spread over the body and even work its way down to the bones. One would be covered with ulcers and sores. In the Old Testament, until pronounced clean by the priest, lepers had to be removed from the camp/city and were prohibited from the sanctuary. During the ministry of Christ, if a city was not enclosed, lepers were allowed but had to abide by the law of Leviticus 13:45 which called for the renting of the clothes, a head that was bare, a covering of the upper lip, and as they walked by others, they were to say, “Unclean, unclean.” Can you imagine? In the words of a wise man, lepers were a “walking tomb and a hopeless wreck.”
Leprosy is as clear a type of sin as you’ll find in the Scriptures. Like leprosy, sin starts small but grows in intensity. At the toddler stage, it’s fighting over toys or touching something that has been clearly defined as forbidden by mommy and daddy. But by adulthood, sin becomes much more widespread and more mature and elaborate in its application doesn’t it? We realize that at every turn sin is looking for an opportunity to express itself.
As I studied Matthew 8:1-4, I could clearly see myself in the leper and there are three lessons that I learned from him that I think are invaluable:
Lesson 1: We Must Bow
Matthew 8:2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him,
Did the leper break out in the singing of Amazing Grace or How Great is our God? The word worshipped means that he fell to the ground in homage. He recognized that he was desperate! So often, we find ourselves frustrated or disappointed with God but what we overlook is that our approach is off. There’s really only one way to approach the Lord and that is ON OUR FACE. This could be as literal is we see in Matthew 8 or an inward heart attitude in prayer and communion with God.
Lesson 2: We Must Believe
Matthew 8:2 saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
If you’re looking for one of the clearest examples of unadulterated faith, look no further than the leper in Matthew 8. Notice that the leper does not ASK to be healed. Instead, he speaks to the Sovereignty of the Lord by declaring that if Jesus so desires, He could make him clean. For the leper, it was not about IF Jesus could make him clean, it was WOULD Jesus do it? This is huge when it comes to faith. Faith is not prayerfully rushing into the presence of God with a “God owes me mentality.” The leper understood that the Jesus could heal him but as important, he did not believe that Jesus HAD to. We must be so careful here as we tend to view God’s Mercy, Love, & Grace as debts that God owes us and this is very twisted. Our faith should be that God can do anything BUT, God does what He deems best and I believe that whatever that is, is truly the best.
Lesson 3: We Must Be a Witness
Matthew 8:3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 8:4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
Jesus touched him! How do you think that must have felt to the leper? Jesus in His grace rewarded the leper’s faith and cleansed him. According to Mark’s account (Mark 1:45), the leper went out and published and blazed abroad the matter. I’m sure he eventually got around to the priest to show himself clean, but for now, this man had a story to tell and so do we!
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