Luke
5:12-14 Jesus was in a city and encountered a leper. Immediately the Jews would
have known this was wrong, because the Mosaic law specifically said that lepers
were to dwell outside the city. (Lev 13:46). The leper calls out in faith for
healing, and Jesus heals him. Jesus then tells him to go show himself to the
priest and make the appropriate offering for cleansing that Moses commanded
(Lev 14:2-32). The fact that Jesus touched the man is startling because
according to the law, this would have made Jesus ceremonially unclean. (Lev
5:2-3, and many other passages). Yet Jesus showed the He is the healer because
He healed the man of leprosy and did not Himself become contaminated. (I Peter
2:24, Isaiah 53:5)
Leviticus 13-14 give a lengthy set of
rules for dealing with leprosy. Lev 13:1-44 gives a detailed set of rules for
evaluating skin conditions to diagnose if a person has leprosy (as opposed to
some other skin ailment). Lev 13:45-56 give specific instructions that a leper
is to warn others away from himself, and live alone outside the camp. Lev
13:47-59 give instructions for dealing with a garment with the mark of leprosy.
Lev 14:1-32 gives detailed instructions for the ceremonial cleansing of a
leper. Lev 14:33-53 give direction for dealing with a house that has the mark
of leprosy. Lev 14:54-57 summarize this passage.
In reading these passages, one has to
wonder a bit about the meaning of leprosy here. Hansen's disease has its unique
set of symptoms and people were well-advised to take extreme measures to avoid
contracting it or spreading it. In the modern day many other diseases have had
epidemic runs requiring similar levels of heroism to contain, for example
Bubonic plague and the Black Death several centuries ago, more recently
influenza and acquired immune-deficiency syndrome. But to the best of my
knowledge, Hansen's disease does not cause a mark on a garment or on a
building. So I would infer that the Levitical treatment of these deals more
with conditions of mold or mildew or some similar condition. The treatment
prescribed for garments and houses may indeed be appropriate, because there are
certainly health impacts resulting from these conditions of things (not
people), even if they are not Hansen's disease.
Symbolically, leprosy has been used as
a type or parable for sin. It is insidious, transmitted often unknowingly, and
ultimately fatal. And so Jesus has power over sin as well, to heal the sinner
of his sin, on top of forgiving him for it. Jesus told the leper to go make
offering according to the Law of Moses for the cleansing of his leprosy.
Interpreted typically, this would suggest that when Jesus delivers us from the
power and penalty of sin, we need to make a similar public attestation to it.
And in Luke 3, we saw that Jesus was baptized by John, although Jesus did not
need to repent, but John was baptizing for repentance. And in Acts 2:38 Peter
instructed his listeners to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins,
and that they would then receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The metaphor is
completed by the gift of the Holy Spirit, which gift of an indwelling God gives
the individual believer who has repented and been baptized the power to live
above sin.
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