You see, Jesus touched him.
You see, this is Jesus's whole ministry.
He touches the untouchables.
He has compassion for the shameful.
He loves the despised.
He welcomes the outcast and he touches the leper.
Hey, welcome back to our Bible devotional
in the book of Matthew.
Whether you're starting your day with us or winding down,
join us as we dive into Matthew chapter eight, part one.
For this video, we're gonna be breaking down
verses one through four in a well-known story
about Jesus healing a leper.
So starting in verse one, it says this.
When he came down from the mountain,
great crowds followed him.
And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him
saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying,
I will be clean.
And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
And Jesus said to him, see that you say nothing to anyone,
but go show yourself to the priest
and offer the gift that Moses commanded for proof to them.
And we're gonna stop reading right there.
All right, so what's happening here?
You see, Jesus just finished preaching
the Sermon on the Mount
and he's come down from the mountain
with the crowd still following him.
And then this man with leprosy did something
that would be considered against the rules at that time.
You see, this man with leprosy came into the crowd
to get close to Jesus.
You see, he risked his life and any compassion
that these people in this crowd would have had for him
to get near to this man who was going from city to city,
healing all kinds of people
from all different kinds of sicknesses and ailments.
Why is this a bad thing?
Well, because this man had leprosy.
You see, leprosy was one of the most feared diseases
in the ancient world.
Leprosy was a skin and flesh disorder
that brought about a literal decay of a person's body
while they were still living.
It was an ailment and it was a sickness
that caused the person's fingers to fall off
because of the decay.
It would cause their toes to fall off.
It would cause even pieces of their nose to fall off.
And then they were constantly itchy.
And what they would use is they would use sticks,
pieces of metal, pieces of broken pottery
and rub against the sores that were causing itches,
hoping to find some relief.
But not only that, you see,
leprosy also affected a person socially,
not just physically.
You see, the leper also suffered anguish.
Leprosy was highly contagious
and it had no known cure.
Lepers were considered unclean
and they were outcast from society.
When they would walk down the street,
they were to yell, unclean, unclean,
or they were to wear bells around them to let others know,
hey, I'm sick.
Hey, I'm disgusting.
I am unclean.
Watch out, get out of the way.
Otherwise, my disgustingness will touch you.
And in addition to the physical torment
and the social isolation,
the leper also had to carry a heavy amount of shame.
You see, lepers were often thought
to have contracted the disease
as punishment from God for their sins.
And so they had to carry the shame
and they had to carry this doubt in their mind
that there was something messed up with them,
that they must've done something wrong
for God to punish them in this way,
to give them this terrible disease.
And the amount of shame that they had
because they were ripped away from their families,
they were ripped away from their friends
and they were outcasted from society
only made matters worse.
You see, they were ripped away from their families
and looked at as some type of rabid animal
that people would go out of their way
to avoid and to harass.
And so this man who came to Jesus was risking everything
because this man had leprosy.
He was willing to risk judgment.
He was willing to risk his shame.
And he was even willing to risk his very life
because it was actually against the law
that Moses gave to the people,
that if you had leprosy,
you actually had to be excommunicated
and not talking to people.
And you actually wouldn't even let it be around your family
because leprosy made people unclean.
But his faith is what kept him going one step closer
to this healer he heard about,
to this one that he more than likely heard stories
about going city to city, healing those who needed it.
You see, his faith outweighed his fear and shame.
You see, there was a chance that this man,
this Jesus could heal him
and he had to at least ask and take that chance.
By asking to be made clean,
the leper was not just asking to be cured
from any physical affliction of his disorder.
What he was actually asking was to be restored
to his community amongst his family and friends.
What he was actually asking was for healing
from this shame and from this doubt.
You see, the healing of the disease
was the means to the end.
And here's the thing, Jesus understood the leper
and he was moved by this request.
And so the Bible says that he stretched out his hand
and he touched him saying, I am willing, be clean.
Notice how Jesus chooses to heal this man.
The Bible says that Jesus touched him.
You see, this man who people were afraid of,
this man who people were.
afraid to even be near of this sickness that people wanted nothing to do with
and they actually isolated these people, Jesus said, no, no, no, I'm gonna heal you
and I'm going to touch you. Something that you probably haven't felt in a long
time, you probably haven't felt someone be able to look at you, look at you in
your eyes and touch you to let you know that that something's not wrong with you.
You see, Jesus touched him. You see, this is Jesus's whole ministry. He touches the
untouchables. He has compassion for the shameful. He loves the despised. He
welcomes the outcast and he touches the leper. Listen, whatever your situation,
whatever your shame, whatever your leprosy, if you will, that you think you
carry, come to Jesus. Come to the one who can heal you. Come to the one who will
reach out his hand and touch the shameful areas of your heart. The one who
touches the lepers. The one who gives compassion to the outcast. The one who
welcomes those who are sick with open arms and doesn't shut them away. Bring
whatever it is to Jesus. Well, that's it for this video. I pray it encourages you.
The Lord bless you and we will see you next time.