Cleansed
“When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 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 cured of his leprosy.
Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” Matthew 8:1-4.
Here we have one of many incidents in which Jesus healed a person. In this case a person with Leprosy the only other record of an Israelite being healed of Leprosy is Miriam in the Old Testament (Numbers, 12:10-15).
We don’t known from the narrative how the man knew Jesus healed people. However the man had obviously heard that Jesus had healed people. That he had faith in what he had heard or perhaps seen.
The key is the man’s faith. He didn’t just have an intellectual knowledge he had a heart knowledge. The key being the man said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” it showed an act of faith on the mans part. He also left his healing up to the will of Jesus. As a result the man’s faith was rewarded.
Jesus then told the man,
“See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
Jesus told the man to obey the law of Moses. To keep silent until he’d seen the priest who would testify to the healing. Then offer the sacrifice to God. Ensuring God received the glory for what had happened.
This was a key to the ministry of Jesus he did not break the Law of Moses or abolish it. Jesus himself said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17.
The law in the Old Testament is eternal. They are universal truths for all time.
One commentator I read said what Jesus is saying here is he has come if you will to “fill out” the law.
Jesus fulfills the law in several ways,
1/ He obeyed it perfectly and taught it’s meaning correctly.
2/ He will one day fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies.
3/ He provides a way of salvation that meets the requirements of the law.
The reason for Jesus coming to this earth was to show the way to heaven. The miraculous healings were there to show he was anointed of God.
The Gospel of John records Jesus as saying,
“The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.” John 10:24-30.
John the Baptist is recorded as saying of Jesus,
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29.
C. S. Lewis one of the great English Christian teachers had strong words to say about Jesus in his book Mere Christianity. He said,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
The Choice as to who you think Jesus is, is entirely up to you the reader.
Please take some time to think about it.
“When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 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 cured of his leprosy.
Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” Matthew 8:1-4.
Here we have one of many incidents in which Jesus healed a person. In this case a person with Leprosy the only other record of an Israelite being healed of Leprosy is Miriam in the Old Testament (Numbers, 12:10-15).
We don’t known from the narrative how the man knew Jesus healed people. However the man had obviously heard that Jesus had healed people. That he had faith in what he had heard or perhaps seen.
The key is the man’s faith. He didn’t just have an intellectual knowledge he had a heart knowledge. The key being the man said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” it showed an act of faith on the mans part. He also left his healing up to the will of Jesus. As a result the man’s faith was rewarded.
Jesus then told the man,
“See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
Jesus told the man to obey the law of Moses. To keep silent until he’d seen the priest who would testify to the healing. Then offer the sacrifice to God. Ensuring God received the glory for what had happened.
This was a key to the ministry of Jesus he did not break the Law of Moses or abolish it. Jesus himself said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17.
The law in the Old Testament is eternal. They are universal truths for all time.
One commentator I read said what Jesus is saying here is he has come if you will to “fill out” the law.
Jesus fulfills the law in several ways,
1/ He obeyed it perfectly and taught it’s meaning correctly.
2/ He will one day fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies.
3/ He provides a way of salvation that meets the requirements of the law.
The reason for Jesus coming to this earth was to show the way to heaven. The miraculous healings were there to show he was anointed of God.
The Gospel of John records Jesus as saying,
“The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.” John 10:24-30.
John the Baptist is recorded as saying of Jesus,
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29.
C. S. Lewis one of the great English Christian teachers had strong words to say about Jesus in his book Mere Christianity. He said,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
The Choice as to who you think Jesus is, is entirely up to you the reader.
Please take some time to think about it.
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