And behold, a leper came up to Him and, prostrating himself, worshiped Him, saying, Lord if You are willing. You are able to cleanse me by curing me. And He reached out His hand and touched him, saying I am willing; be cleansed by being cured. And instantly his leprosy was cured and cleansed. And Jesus said to him. See that you tell nothing about this to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, for a testimony to your healing and as evidence to the people.
Matthew 8:2-4
What a beautiful testimony of worship, healing and restoration. Leprosy was as a horrific disease in Biblical times. Leprosy affects the skin and peripheral nerves. It creates these unattractive sores on the skin but probably the worse part is the nerve damage that can lead to loss of feeling in arms and legs and muscle weakness.
As I was reading about leprosy, it really did speak to me about some Daunters. You see leprosy is a slow growing bacterium. It usually take 3 – 5 years for symptoms to appear so finding the source of the infection can be near impossible after that length of incubation.
Some of us are spiritual and emotional lepers, walking around. Somewhere in our past we came into contact with the bacteria. Now, this is not just casual contact, it’s usually prolonged exposure. Something happened, a tragedy, an abuse, a hurt, a place we got stuck with an infected Daunter. We got out of the situation, but we were carrying around the bacteria, slowly growing and developing.
Then a sore would appear but we wouldn’t pay attention. Our nerves would start to show signs of damage. Our spiritual muscles got weaker, the spiritual nerves in our eyes were damaged so we start having vision problems. As the sores continued to appear, the moments we snap at people or take our frustrations out on others, or the other manifestations in our relationships, meant people didn’t want to or couldn’t be around us anymore. So now we are secluded, hiding away with our leprosy.
But we need to be like the leper in Matthew 8. He had heard about the healing miracles Jesus was doing. He KNEW that if Jesus cured him he would be cleansed and could return to normal life.
His prayer started with WORSHIP! He threw himself prostrate, the highest form of worship he could do, before Jesus, asking for healing. He knew something many of us forget when we pray, “IF YOU ARE WILLING”, God’s will. I do believe that if Jesus had said “No, it’s not my will” the leper would have accepted it because he understands something about God’s sovereignty and will.,
You can read about the offering he had to make at the temple to be cleansed, it’s a beautiful process, in Leviticus 14. If was a blood offering and he had to be sprinkled with the blood.
Hebrews 9:13-14 explains how much more the power of the blood of Christ has, to cleanse us. “For if the mere sprinkling of unholy and defiled persons with blood of goats & bulls & with the ashes of a burnt heifer is sufficient for the purification of the body, how much more surely shall the blood of Christ, Who by virtue of His eternal Spirit has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observations to serve the ever living God?”
Our Daunters are dead works and lifeless observations that are hindering our service to God. Can we sing a Hallelujah and lay ourselves down prostrate in true worship to God and let Him cleanse us by curing the leprosy a Daunter left behind? If He is willing to cleanse you, are you willing to ask?
