Sermons Based on the Lectionary of the Church

Jesus Touched a Leper

by Dn. Monsy Manimalethu Jacob, Boston

JESUS TOUCHED A LEPER

'"Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." Then he put out His hand and touched him, saying, I am willing; be cleansed. Immediately the leprosy left him.'

Who was this leper and what is leprosy in a biblical perspective?

According to our late lamented Mor Clemis Thirumeny, this leper was a descendent of Gehazi; 2 kings 5. So this was an acquired SIN from Naaman (outsider), passed on for generations unto this leper. This leper knew Jesus is the only answer to the sin of mankind, whether inherited or self acquired.

Was Gehazi doing something very bad? The wealth was brought for Elisha and rejected. Gehazi got something the prophet did not want, and Naaman was happy to give up. The blessings that Elisha received as a prophet could not be sold for a profit.(Saujanyamayi kittiyathu saujanyamayi kodukkan kadappettavananu pravachakan.) That which was received free has to be handed out free. This is the degree of righteousness a Christian is expected to be.

What was our Lord's response?

He touched him. A leper is forbidden to be touched. Anybody who touches a leper is unclean according to the law. Our Lord broke the Law for the sinner; because the purpose of His incarnation is the sinner. He did not become man to make bad people good or to save the good from the bad. He became man to make dead people live. He will touch any sinner with a broken heart.

There is no discrimination based on the intensity of our sins. Our broken heart and repentance are the only things our Lord is looking for; let our sin be one we are carrying for generations like anger, resentfulness, alcoholism, haughtiness by inheritance; or acquired sins as a result of our acts and deeds.

What did Our Lord ask him to do as penitence?

"But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded." He kept the reason for the law by breaching the law itself.

He upheld the royal priesthood.

My dear brethren; repent, make use of John 20: 20-23, go to your priest and confess before your sin finds you.

Only the will of Our Lord can cleanse me.

See Also:

Great Lent Resources - Home
Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy
by: Rev. Dr. V Kurian Thomas, Valiyaparambil
Garbo Sunday or Sunday of the Leper
by Rev. Fr. Paulose T. Peter, New York

Devotional Thoughts for the Sunday of the Leper
by Jose Kurian Puliyeril

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