Leprosy is a skin disease and used in the Scriptures to
indicate what sin is. Leprosy has been eliminated from 119 out of the 122
countries where the disease was considered a public health problem in 1985 (WHO
Factsheets). But the symbolism still remains to show how much sin terribly
disfigures humanity. In the Book of Leviticus, leprosy was pronounced unclean and
defiled and anyone who was infected by the skin disease was unclean. So, they
couldn’t participate the commonwealth of temple life at all but must be
separated and isolated from the community.
"Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn
clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry
out, 'Unclean! Unclean!' As long as they have the disease they remain unclean.
They must live alone; they must live outside the camp.” (Leviticus 13:45-46)
They were socially forced to be outcast and cut off from the
society and even families because of uncleanness and defilement. That’s exactly
what sin causes humanity to be isolated and separated from all the resources
available in God. Sin is diabolically rebelling and opposing to the Lordship of
God. Sin makes man think that he is God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5). It
never be true. It’s the lie which is originated from the devil. God used
leprosy as the symbol of sin because it deadly disfigures humanity. Sin hurts
and injures humanity fatally until it destroys it permanently. Here is a
desperate and urgent help wanted for the humanity under the deadly influence of
the lie. So, God sent the mediator to rescue the perishing before it gets too
late.
“Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the
border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who
had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice,
“Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” (Luke 17:11-13)
Our Lord Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem and traveled
along the border between Samaria and Galilee. There he was met by ten men who
had leprosy as he was going into a village. These lepers couldn’t get into the
village according to the law, so they lived outside. They stood at a distance
and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” They were
supposed to shout, “Unclean, unclean!” It may be thought as a violation of the
law but is not because it is the same language. They shouted, “Jesus, Master,
have pity on us!” They were crying out, “We’ve been unclean and defiled, Lord.
Please have pity on us!” Our God is the God of compassion and pity forever. He is
compassionate and merciful that he gave his Son for the sin of the world. Those
who admit their uncleanness like the ten lepers and ask Jesus for pity, Master,
will be outpoured with his mercy and compassion in full and more abundantly.
This is a significant truth that that’s all what humans can
say to God, “Have pity on us!” Ironically, history proves that it has been one
of the most difficult things for the fallen race to ask for pity to God because
being deceived by the mastermind of the lie they ignorantly and unwittingly
believe that they don’t need his pity. The wisdom of the world says that we
have what it takes and can sort things out. The proud mind of humanity has been
deceived and says that they can handle the lives without God’s pity. They also
say that it may take a while but somehow they can make it work all like peace
on earth. That’s human pride which has no ground and is against God. It is the worst
thing for anyone to stubbornly and proudly reject God’s pity.
But if anyone asks for his pity in any circumstance, God
never questions back why we have been infected such a horrible disease like
leprosy because he knows everything even before we ask. The compassionate and
merciful Father to those who repent is so beautifully demonstrated in the
parable of the lost son recorded in Luke’s Gospel Chapter 15. The younger son
in the parable squandered the wealth and completely broke and ended in as a pig
herder. In the deepest discontent and thirst he remembered the father’s house where
even a servant was well treated and fed and returned home with a repentant
heart. The father recognized his son in a distance and ran to him and embraced even
before the prodigal son uttered a word, not to mention the prepared statement.
The Father fully restored him as the son, wearing him a robe and ring and
sandals. Our God is compassionate and merciful unconditionally to anyone who
comes to repent and ask for his pity.
“When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the
priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed.” (Luke 17:14)
There was no moment of hesitation for our Lord of mercy to
help them out. God’s help is always immediate and prompt but mostly answered in
an unexpected way. Jesus saw them and said, “Go, show yourselves to the
priests.” Jesus said them to go and show to the priests because according to
the Moses’ Law they were the right office to diagnose the disease. It was most
likely that they were told unclean by the priests when the skin sores had been
found in them. The priests must examine carefully each case in due process
according to the Law before they finally declare them ‘unclean.’ In order to be
eligible for reevaluation, they must prove that they were healed and be shown
to the priests.
Surprisingly enough, Jesus didn’t even take a look at the
sores but simply told them to go and show to the priests. They might have been
puzzled by that, doubting their ears, maybe looking each other and saying “What?”
Remarkably though, they obeyed and went. But while on their way they might have
regretted that they didn’t push Jesus hard enough to heal them on the spot.
They might have been worried about how the priests would react when they were
presented with all those ugly outfits and the smelly sores. They had to walk on
the streets and roads and must have encountered many people, every time
shouting, “Unclean, unclean!”
It is obviously a test for them whether they continued to
trust in the words of the Lord Jesus, Master. It had happened to the nation
Israel under the leadership of Joshua before the invincible city, Jericho, who
were told to walk around the fortified city once six days and seven times on
the seventh day. Why did God command them to walk seven days? It’s not because God
couldn’t do on the first day but because he wanted this people to believe in
him. It could have been on the first day or any day if they had believed in
him. After the first day of walk around Jericho, nothing happened and the city
may have looked more invincible. No changes occurred at on the second, the
third, and the fourth, and the fifth day, not even a slightest sign displayed. Nothing happened
until they fulfilled the seventh walk around the city on the seventh day. But something
happened in them that the faith in God who delivered them from Pharaoh and let
them cross the Red Sea and the Jordan River on foot had been growing and
blossoming in their heart. At the shout of their faith, the city was crumbled
and the men of Israel just took it.
The people of Israel didn’t have to wonder around in the
wilderness forty years but actually did because they didn’t believe in God who
brought them out of Egypt and all perished (Numbers 14:32-35). They could have
entered and possessed the land just forty days after the Red Sea experience. After
those long forty years, the new generation of Israel entered the Promised Land
because they believed in God Almighty. For those who didn’t believe in God were
all perished in the wilderness except Joshua and Caleb. Likewise, many a
Christians doesn’t have to go through the wilderness experience in the
pilgrimage journey in Christ but they do almost inevitably. The wilderness
wondering could be avoided only if they believe in God. The forty years of
wilderness wondering of the people of Israel stood as a warning to all
Christians that if they do make their heart stubborn and disobey God they too
shall perish. Only those who believe and obey God shall enter his rest in
Christ Jesus.
“So, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of
testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for
forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I
said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So
I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” (Hebrews 3:7-11)
Take another example. Why did God bless Jacob, not Esau though
they were twins? It’s hard to believe that God loved Jacob whose name means
‘holder of the heel.’ There is no favoritism in God based on race, blood,
color, status, and whatever. Only reason God loved Jacob is because he is love.
He is love forever. He never changes, bends, compromises in any circumstance. At
the same time he is just and faithful because his love is truthful and honest. Our
God is lovingly kind, lovingly truthful, and lovingly just forever. So, God
hated Esau because he was love. Not a slight untruth can be tolerable before
God. Jesus loved his disciples to the end including Judas Iscariot who betrayed
him (John 13:1). Jesus knew him from the beginning that he would sell the
Master. But our Lord showed him the true love by being the Son of Man who was
God and yet emptied himself and became a servant in the likeness of man. God
sent the Son Jesus Christ just as he promised in the Law and the Prophets, so
that anyone who believes in him shall have eternal life.
“But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is
the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his
name.” (John 20:31)
God loved Jacob because he believed in him. It took him
years and years to come to believe in the God of the fathers. He refused to
believe in him despite of the manifestation and revelation of visions and
dreams. He wanted to fulfill his life on his own, mustering all the wits and
schemes. He is truly the representative of the fallen race. Even after he
struggled with a man at the Jabbok River and was named newly as Israel and
called the place Peniel, he skillfully and cleverly organized his families and
possessions into several groups to avoid the loss as minimum as possible from
the possible attack of his brother Esau. That was the kind of man Jacob was. But
God loved him truthfully and bluntly that whenever he used his wits and skills
all turned out the frustrations and failures. In the end, he fully surrendered
to the God of the fathers and accepted him as the true God.
“And Jacob said to Pharaoh, ‘The years of my pilgrimage are
a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not
equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.’” (Genesis 47:9)
As the ten lepers was on the way to the priests, they were
healed and cleansed. It’s because they remarkably obeyed Jesus and went to the
priests. As they went, probably two thirds a way or much more, they were healed
and cleansed. They couldn’t believe it. All rejoiced at the miraculous healing
and cleansing. All rushed to each home to share the joy of healing and freedom
with their families except one person.
“One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising
God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was
a Samaritan. Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?
Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Then he said
to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’” (Luke 17:15-19)
One man, a Samaritan, when he saw he was healed and came
back to Jesus, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet
and thanked him. All ten of them were cleansed but no one returned to give
praise to God except the Samaritan. Why is it so significant to praise God and
thank him? First of all, God is forever praised and honored and glorified as he
is. Without him nothing was made that has been made. Without him nothing can
exist at all. He made all things and nothing can come out without him. He is
the Lord and Father of glory, the author of all glory, honor, praise, and power
forever. Praising God as he is in glory forever is the first and last thing for
humanity to do.
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the
matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all
mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden
thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
Giving thanks to God is not optional but mandatory as our
duty because it is the reminder of God’s abundant provisions. It is not
possible to force someone to thank. Nevertheless, God commanded his children to
give thanks to him. It’s not for him but for us. If we do not keep on giving
thanks, then we might think that we have done or achieved things which have
originally come from God. Not giving thanks to God is the same as robbing and
stealing someone else’s property. Our Lord Jesus kept on thanking the Father
for he knew everything came from him. He thanked the Father before he fed five
thousands with five loaves and two fish (Luke 9:16). Jesus thanked the Father
before he raised Lazarus from the dead.
“So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said,
‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me,
but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may
believe that you sent me.’” (John 11:40-41)
Our Lord Jesus praised and thanked the Father who hid the
mysteries of God from the wise and learned but revealed them to little
children. The Father in heaven was willing and pleased to reveal and do all
things the Son asked. The Father in heaven is forever giving and his children
is forever receiving. God is forever praised and thanked no matter what. Humanity
shall forever praise and thank God in Christ no matter what.
“At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit,
said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden
these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.’” (Luke 10:21)
Prayer: Thank you once again Father in heaven for your
unfailing and faithful love and revelation that we shall keep on praising and
thanking you in all circumstance. Help us Lord to praise and thank you forever.
In Christ’s name. Amen.
February 5, 2016
© 2015-2016 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.
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