“A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.” (Matthew 8:2-3)
Jesus does something here that would have made the Pharisees shriek. He touched a leprous man, which according to the law, would have made Him ceremonially unclean.
Now, the Law of Moses is very specific. Leviticus 12-15 makes it clear that the unclean always contaminates the clean and makes it unclean. It is never the reverse. The clean never has power to cleanse the unclean. But when the clean touches or is touched by the unclean, it itself becomes unclean. Therefore, under the Law, the ceremonially clean person must always be on his guard. The ceremonially clean person dwells in a dangerous world against which he must be vigilant. For there are so many sources of defilement. He does not have the power to lift up others from defilement. Instead he is always vulnerable to being dragged down.
There is, of course, one great exception in the Bible – Jesus Christ. In Leviticus 14, whatever touches or is touched by the unclean leper, becomes unclean. But Matthew’s Gospel tells us that when a horribly leprous man fell before Jesus and asked to be healed, Jesus deliberately touched him. The result? Jesus was not defiled. Instead, the leper became clean and was healed of the source of his defilement (Matthew 8:2-3).
The same thing happens in the next chapter of Matthew, when a woman, defiled by a chronic discharge of blood, reaches out and touches the hem of Jesus’ garment. According to the Law (Leviticus 15:19-33), this act should have defiled Jesus. Instead, a cleansing and healing power instantly flowed from Jesus, making her clean and healing her of her source of defilement (Matthew 9:20-23).
And it happens again in the same chapter. Jesus takes the hand of a dead girl, a defiling act. But instead of becoming unclean, Jesus cleanses her defilement and raises her from the dead (Matthew 9:25). Obviously, this was an important aspect of Jesus’ ministry for Matthew. Matthew was a tax collector for the Romans and was therefore considered a defiled sinner by the devout Jews. But Matthew saw that our sin and defilement has no power over Jesus. Rather, the touch of Jesus both cleanses our defilement and sin and takes away the source their sin – He transforms our sinful hearts and makes us a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).
RELECTION
Is Jesus threatened by or afraid of our sin – when His divine touch can so easily remove it?
Is there anything so evil that it is beyond Christ’s power to forgive and cleanse?
Reach out and let Jesus take your hand. He will cleanse you. He will save you.
