Luke 5:12-16
The Man With Leprosy
12While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
13Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him.
14Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."
15Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
------------------
I'm going to try to post more frequently here (key word is "try"), with shorter passages.
Now, we're getting into the meaty part of Jesus' life and ministry. And now, we get to some of the stories that those of us (me, for instance) that grew up in church have heard so many times, our eyes begin to gloss over and we don't really take the time to focus on what is written here.
If what is written here about Jesus is true, he is nothing short of an amazing, supernatural man. The word "leprosy" is used in the Bible as kind of a catch-all for all sorts of nasty diseases affecting the skin, but most of those diseases were just that... pretty nasty. Skin sloughing and falling off, boils, whatever. These people usually had to live outside of the towns because they were "unclean." People wouldn't want to touch them or be near them, for fear of catching their disease.
This leper had some amazing faith in Jesus, though, didn't he? "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." He knows Jesus CAN do it, but he isn't exactly ASKING him to do it. This is in stark contrast to how we pray today, I think.
It actually reminds me of an Old Testament story in the book of Daniel... three Jewish teenagers are captive in the nation of Babylon. They are serving the king (Nebuchadnezzar), who has created a huge statue of himself and ordered everyone to bow down to it. These three boys refuse to do it, and the king is furious. He orders them to be killed by being thrown into a blazing fire. Here is the boys' response to the king:
- "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
Note also that Jesus reached out and touched the leper. I would think that people may have been holding their breath as he did. "What? He's going to TOUCH the leper? But he might catch something!" Another good example of how we need to be getting our hands dirty. How we need to be "down in the gutter," where hurting people are.
Jesus heals him, and then tells him to go and not tell anyone! Why do you think he did that? He also tells him to go to the priest and perform some of the rituals that were required for cleansing. News of Jesus continues to travel, so more and more people come to him to hear him talk, and to hope that he would offer healing.
The last verse in this passage: "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." This one is tough for me. I'm a group person. I know some people really have no trouble taking time every day to sit down in a "lonely place" and spend time with God in prayer. This is one that I struggle with, however.
posted by FTN @ 12:32 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."
I don't read this as literal as you do, FTN. I read this as the "lonely places" in his soul and heart.
~~Surfie~~
Surfie -- The text uses the Greek word "eremos" (Strong's concordance #2048 of uncertain affinity; lonesome, i.e. (by implication) waste (usually as a noun, cwra - chora 5561 being implied):--desert, desolate, solitary, wilderness.) which, if used as a descriptor, could support the idea of Jesus having "lonely places in His heart and soul", but... when used as a noun as here, implies a meaning in line with "chora" (#5561 feminine of a derivative of the base of casma - chasma 5490 through the idea of empty expanse; room, i.e. a space of territory (more or less extensive; often including its inhabitants):--coast, county, fields, ground, land, region.)
That's not to say that Yeshua never felt isolated or alone... but to a Jew, prayer is rarely a time of introspection or wallowing... it is a deeply reverential experience, a service to God, for His benefit -- not our own. I'm certain that Yeshua would have held close that same sentiment.
And, really, for Yeshua to have reason to often retreat into His own loneliness... makes Him a bit of a milqtoast, know what I mean?
Just my .02, your mileage may vary!
I love these next bits in the Gospels; to harmonize the events (see... I did learn something in Bible College!!) these next things happened relatively soon after the Sermon on the Mount.
Interestingly, these events confirm and demonstrate the Authority that Yeshua has. Remember how one of the pivotal essences of His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount was about His authority? Well, now the people are not only hearing, but seeing!
There are many "layers" of understanding revealed through this event. I will post an excerpt from a FFOZ commentary on this passage as I learned a lot from it.
This is taken from a FFOZ commentary and speaks of some of the spirtual parallels of leprosy and why on of Yeshua's first public miracles was to heal leprosy. Enjoy.
Leprosy in the Gospels
Thought for the Week:
In the Torah, leprosy is an archetype for all human sickness. Sickness results from the breakdown of the flesh. Death follows. Leprosy graphically represents that progression. In God’s eternal sanctuary there is no sickness, no death and no decay. His sanctuary on earth is meant to be a reflection of that eternal reality. Therefore, lepers are banned from the sanctuary.
Commentary:
"He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp." (Leviticus 13:46)
Why was the healing of lepers such a central concern in the ministry of the Master? Not only did He heal many lepers himself, but He gave His twelve disciples authority to heal leprosy as evidence of the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 10)
Aside from leprosy, no other human disease or ailment renders a person ritually unclean. Why is leprosy associated with uncleanness? The symptoms described in the Torah that might potentially be diagnosed as biblical leprosy involve decomposition, decay and putrefaction—corruption of the flesh.
The Temple worship system seems to shun corruption and decay. In keeping with that tendency, the Torah commands that the flesh of the sacrifices must be burned up after two days. If the sacrificial meat is allowed to turn rancid, the entire sacrifice is invalidated. The same impulse toward incorruptibility lies behind the laws of the grain offerings. The grain offerings are all made without leaven. Leaven represents corruption because the leavening process is actually a fermentation of the dough. For the same reason, the sacrifices were all salted. Salt is a preservative, which slows down the decomposition process.
God’s sanctuary is about immortality and incorruptibility. In His presence, there is no death, no decay, no decomposition. Therefore, the disease that represents a living decomposition is banned from the sanctuary. Leprosy is an ongoing, visible progression toward physical corruption. It is the antithesis of the immortal and incorruptible world represented in God’s sanctuary.
Yeshua is the solution to the leprosy problem. Spiritually, He did not suffer the leprosy-like infection of sin. Physically, His flesh did not suffer corruption. “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay,” Psalm 16:10 prophesied about Him. Through His resurrection from the dead, His flesh passed from the mortal to the immortal, from the corruptible to the incorruptible. His body is still real human flesh, but it is regenerated as an imperishable spiritual body.
Leprosy symbolizes the sin-laden human condition, destined for death and decay. Each time the Master healed a leper, it betokened a reversal of that corrupted, mortal state. Every leper healed of his affliction was a testimony that the kingdom of heaven had indeed appeared among men.
*******end of commentary********
When the Sages studied the Scriptures about the coming Messiah, they quantified the qualities revealed about Him under titles. Throughout the Talmud, these headings are listed and discussed at length. It is most interesting to see that the Sages had cause to label the Messiah in part as "The Leper Messiah" (b.Sanhedrin 98a). This was obviously something that they thought would play a big part in recognizing the Messiah, and here... we see Yeshua healing leprosy. In fact, some scholars believe that this may well have been the first incidence of leprosy being healed since the time of Naaman (2 Kings 5). Regardless, it was sure to have stirred an uproar amongst the people. This man? Yeshua? He was very, very special.
It always touches me, the way the leper comes to the Lord - "You can heal me, if you want to." No demand is made; he is very aware of who he is and who Jesus is, and exactly how much of a 'claim' he has on Jesus' attention - '. . . if you want to."
And all the more amazing, then, Jesus' answer - "I do want to; be clean." We come to God 'without one plea', and we encounter His grace and His mercy, freely given. The Lord of the Universe wants to get involved in our lives. And that is nothing short of amazing. . .
Thanks for all of the info, Flutterby. I was thinking, Oh, great, now I'm gonna have to find a way to look up the original Greek word to see what it says. Lo and behold, you've done all the hard work! Yer so shmart!
Interesting stuff about leprosy and its parallels with the human condition. There's nothing like a bit of rotting flesh to remind us that we're sinful. And the term "The Leper Messiah"... I had no idea they were expecting out of the Messiah. That's quite telling.
And of course, as Desmond mentioned, the way that he prayed. I might have been stretching with the mention of Nebuchadnezzar, but it's the first thing I thought of when I saw how the leper talked to Jesus.
Is is possible to take "information/messages" in the bible both symbolically and literally?
Where does one draw the line between the two?
~~Surfie~~
Good question Surfie --
I'm a little bit rusty on such things, and I hope others will chime in. But, to my understanding, Hermeneutics (the science of the interpretation of Scripture) has as a guiding principle that when there is a plain literary meaning... don't bother looking further.
To take it to the next step are the terms "exegesis" and "isogesis".
Exegesis is extracting the meaning from the text to apply to your thinking, worldview, bias, etc.
Isogesis is the reading into Scripture's meaning, by applying your thinking, worldview and bias.
So, we see in the passage disucussed that Exegesis simply points us to the fact that Jesus often prayed in solitude, perhaps even removing Himself from the population around Him. This meaning is true and literal no matter who is reading the Scripture, or what their current thought, worldview or bias is.
Your interpretation of the passage was an Isogetical one. Your worldview, bias and thoughts compelled you to reach a conclusion which satisfied them; thus the "lonely places" spoken of were considered to be lonely places of the heart.
Isogesis isn't totally without merit and we all do it from time to time. But, it isn't solid Biblical interpretation as it is subject to the whims and bias of each individual reader.
This is a topic worthy of more discussion, but I've said enough for now. :)
Thanks for writing all of that out. Wonderfully comprehensive!
The Bible is sometimes a bit of a conundrum for me, because Jesus' message and the gospels were written simply enough that no deep study was needed. Yet at the same time, a person could spend his whole life studying the Bible, in an attempt to more fully understand the depths of Jesus and God. So what's a person to do?
Jesus did often speak in parables, and there are metaphors sprinkled throughout the Bible. I won't deny that. But just because that's true, doesn't mean we can take any account written and not know for sure if it was literal.
Especially with the gospels. Luke was a doctor, and I believe he really tried to write things in a matter-of-fact tone, as much as he could at the time. He wanted his writings to be a biographical account of what Jesus did and said. So while you are right -- many things in different books of the Bible can be taken symbolically -- as Flutterby said, in most cases we want to figure out the basic meaning first.
Although with the limited language of Hebrew (and Greek, I suppose) as well as the vast differences between our English language, even that can take some study.
Thank you both Flutterby and FTN for your explanations. I have another question, though.
"Jesus did often speak in parables, and there are metaphors sprinkled throughout the Bible. "
Why? Why bother? Really.
If I am a teacher (especially a very, very important spiritual teacher), I want to teach and lead in the most clear and concise method possible, not in parables, metaphors and rhymes.
To do so only confuses the message and the student, especially those who are weak, sick, poor and under-educated.
~~Surfie~~
Hmmm... another good question. :)
While it is true that over the divide of time and culture in would seem that Jesus didn't use the best method of teaching (ie: parables), history shows us that this is simply an observation from this side of the divide. In His time, He simply used the most common, prevalent and understood method of teaching Scripture. Generations of Rabbis and Sages before had employed parables; and careful comparison will see Jesus often re-using the previous parable, teaching and adding a new facet or authority to it. The teachings of the Talmud and rabbinic commentary were replete with parable-style teaching.
So, what seems somewhat obtuse and indirect to us; was truly the most effective way of teaching in that time and culture.
And, I daresay that if our Western culture was able to divest itself of it's Hellenistic mindset and linear-type logic, the Scriptures would make a whole lot more sense.
We keep striving to fit a Hebrew God into a North American box... and it just doesn't fit.
I should also add that the Hebraic view of Scripture holds fast to the idea of Torah (or in a broader sense, "God's teaching and instruction") as a treasure; and only those that are willing to dig and search and examine will be rewarded with the deeper truths and understanding.
This is evidenced in the Master's comments in the likes of "May those who have ears to hear, hear."
God's ways are not ours. Like a bridegroom wooing a bride, it doesn't seem that He is prone to flashing His naked truth before everyone, regardless of their appreciation. Rather, there seems to be a dance, a tension. Will you seek? Will you take Him as He is?
And, I believe that Jesus' teaching is exemplary of that very dance. He tosses out a treasure chest, but it is up to us to commit and try to open it to receive what is inside.
Just my .02 as usual.
Thank you (again!) for the explanations, free teaching, and analogies. You most certainly RAWK!
I still have a hard time with the whole "why does everything have to be so darn complicated" thing, though.
I'm a simpleton at heart, I guess.
On the upside, the series, "Planet Earth," has really rejuvinated me spiritually. Strange, but true.
~~Surfie~~
Post a Comment
<< Home