Introduction
As Jesus moves throughout the Galilee of the Gentiles, sharing who He is, He comes across a man covered from head to toe with a fatal disease. What will happen and how will this lead to a teaching experience and a fishing expedition for His team? Let’s dig right in.
Reading [You can read as much as you can, depending on your availability]
Luke 5:12-16
(or)
Matthew 8:2-4
(or)
Mark 1:40-45
Meditating [Use these questions to start your thinking]
- Where is Jesus fishing?
- Who is Jesus fishing for?
- What is Jesus modelling about fishing for men in a city?
- How is Jesus fishing?
- What other questions do you still have?
Sharing: Text ONE of your answers to the questions above to your team. Each team should post a sharing from a team member in the comments below.
As Jesus makes His way from city to city and from town to town he encounters a little bit of everything. In one of the cities He meets a man covered with leprosy. I wonder who Luke heard this story from? Maybe it was the man who was healed, who was then active in the church. Who knows? What we do know is that whoever told Luke was an eyewitness to the event (Luke 1:2).
In the Old Testament, in Leviticus 13:1-59, God gives the official test for leprosy. It is a very detailed and long process to determine if someone has leprosy. Leprosy was a very contagious disease, and the priests, who were the keepers of the public health of the community, had the responsibility to protect the people from the spread of this disease. God gave them very specific things they had to do and observations they had to make when confronted by the reality of this deadly disease. This man was covered with leprosy and had been ostracised from his people because of the disease. The people were deathly afraid of any kind of contact with lepers, so much so, that they made leper colonies live outside the city to keep all the people with this disease together and away from the healthy people. They also made the leprous people yell out “Unclean” whenever anyone would approach them. Can you imagine this kind of existence?
It is interesting to note that Luke says that this man approaches Jesus while He was in the city and doesn’t record that he cried out “Unclean.” Why not? How did this leper make it into the city? However it happened, he must have made it past the city fathers at the front gate. He is here in front of Jesus with his face in the dirt begging for a touch from the Master. Jesus, moved with compassion, and unafraid of this man’s leprosy, extends His hand and touches him. Can you imagine the look on the disciples’ faces? They must have been freaked out. What is Jesus doing, reaching out to a leper? Doesn’t he know if He touches this guy He will get his leprosy? What a lesson to His young followers! Don’t miss it. Jesus loved the outcast, the unlovely, the socially rejected and fished for them as well. This is not the only leper Jesus heals. In fact, I, Mark Edwards, was a leper, spiritually speaking, spotted and stained with sin, when Jesus found me, reached out to me and saved me from sin’s deadly disease of self centredness that covered me. How I praise Him for the day He saved a sin-covered kid from the inner city of Chicago.
Jesus embraces this leper and removes his leprosy at once from him. He heals him on the spot and orders the healed man to tell no one, but to go and show himself as clean to the priest. Meanwhile, Jesus slips away to spend some time with His Dad and ask for direction and the next steps in His ministry (Luke 5:16). This was His habit, His way of life, His lifestyle. Jesus modelled a lifestyle of meeting with the Father, listening to His voice and obeying Him in everything.
Think about this for a minute: Who are the lepers in your life? Who are the people in your life that you treat like lepers? We all know a group of people that are outcasts. We avoid them like the plague of leprosy. Go ahead — take a moment and identify the group. God calls you to reach out and fish for lepers. Jesus modelled for you how to do it. You have to reach out and touch them. Maybe God would have you do your fishing expedition to a group of lepers.
Now think about this. You are a leper for some other person. That’s right. As good looking, as popular and as great a person as you think you are, you are a leper to someone else. We were all lepers at one time to God, yet He loved us, touched us and paid the ultimate sacrifice to make us clean. He paid with the life of His only Son — Jesus. How is your fishing expedition coming? Keep moving forward. Spend some time praying with and talking to your friends as you finalize the plans.
So Jesus is working in the cities now. And as with all cities there’s poor and/or sick people. The thing about leprosy though is that it’s very contagious, so people literally avoided lepers like the plague. This never fazed Jesus though, and he even touches this man to heal him. Jesus shows us that even the people we dehumanize or tend to ignore are still worthy of God’s love. The story also shows the faith this leper had that Jesus could heal him. Lepers were supposed to call out “unclean” when people approached in order for them to avoid him, but he walks up to Jesus and asks to be made clean. Jesus gave him his life back with this.
How is Jesus fishing?
Jesus is fishing men as He travels from town to town. The man had leprosy and in those times it was very contagious and nobody wanted to touch these people, let alone around them. But Jesus was different. He was willing and did not fear the disease. He touched the man to heal him & make him clean. Jesus in all these stories showed love to those that were unseen and rejected. And Yet again in this story, Jesus tells the man to tell no one. He does his miracle in silence. At the end, Jesus withdrew to a desolate place and prayed. Jesus did this in the last story too. I think it shows His strong relationship with the Father and the importance of hearing from the Father and following His will.
May we be like Jesus, spreading the Gospel & healing with all glory be to God and always make time to sit & hear our Father.
I def want to have the ability to be like Jesus in this situation. I think sometimes I can be judgemental and dismiss people. But here Jesus interacts with this man as if it was nothing. As if there was no disease. He heals him and sends him on his way. I think for me I can take a first step by learning to drop my pride and listen to those I find weird or awkward.
I thought today’s passage was pretty cool to dissect. What caught my attention was how the leper instantly knew that Jesus was Lord and that he can heal him from his sickness. This kind of shows that the man had faith but also showed that Jesus was able to heal him because he believed. I realized that I will only recognize God’s goodness and grace if allow God the chance to be in my life and if I accept him. Today’s mission was for Jesus to fish for men and that is what he did through this interaction with the leper. Towards the end, we see how much he prioritized his time with God. It was like God was his only source of energy to fulfill tasks like these but also to speak to God to see what he had planned for him next.