“. . . I am willing; be cleansed. . . “ – Matthew 8:3
Hopeless is a word not found in the vocabulary of Jesus. There’s always hope with Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew is a manual for discipleship and one of the especially important truths Jesus our Supreme Disciple-Maker wants His disciples to learn is that there is always hope with Him.
This truth is illustrated in a life circumstance recounted in the Gospel of Matthew chapter eight. This circumstance occurs right after Jesus preaches His greatest sermon, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), just as He descends from the mountain where He had been teaching. A leper comes to Jesus and asks Jesus to heal him. Leprosy in Jesus day was an incurable disease. Provisions were made in Leviticus 13-14 for a ritual to follow in case of healing, but such healing was only possible through Divine intervention. Naaman the Syrian was healed of leprosy (2 Kings 5:1-14). Miriam (Numbers 12:10-15), and Gehazi (2 Kings 5:27) were healed after being afflicted with leprosy for disciplinary reasons. Moses was healed of leprosy when God afflicted him briefly with the disease to show him how he would use it to get the attention of Pharoah (Exodus 4:6-7). But for all intents and purposes leprosy was a disease that had little hope of being cured outside of a miracle and because it was believed to be highly contagious made the one afflicted with it a social outcast.
Healing Begins with Worship
Matthew 8:1-2 – “When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Jesus has been up on the mountain teaching His greatest teaching and now He descends into the multitudes who follow Him for what will be an incredibly busy day. This descent of Jesus is a symbol of a greater descent of Jesus captured by the apostle Paul in his inspired letter to the Philippians where he writes:
Philippians 2:5-11 – “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
When we consider the humility of the incarnation of Jesus we come to the conclusion that Jesus is worthy of worship. The leper, at this point, didn’t fully grasp the significance of Jesus emptying or kenosis, but He did sense that Jesus was special, extraordinary, from above, other worldly. So impressed was he by Jesus that he fell down at Jesus’ feet and worshipped.
Jesus, Worthy of Worship
The passage states, “a leper came and worshiped Him,” which is a humble act of giving Jesus the highest honor and reverence. The Bible tells us that God alone is to be worshipped (Exodus 20:1-5; Deuteronomy 5:7; 6:13). Jesus Himself said as much in responding to the Devil’s temptation to worship him in the Wilderness (Matthew 4:10). Since Jesus is worshipped here, and elsewhere (Matthew 2:11; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25; 28:9) and Jesus receives this worship, it is a significant attestation to the deity of Jesus Christ, evidence that He is God in the flesh. The leper may not have been aware of all the theological significance of who Jesus was, but we can surmise that He knew that Jesus was Someone unique and special from others. The leper simply sensed that Jesus was special, from above, other worldly, and worship was his spontaneous response to what the Holy Spirit was communicating to his heart.
The word “worship” here is translated from the Greek term proskuneo and means, “to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand; to fawn or crouch to.” It is the perfect picture of the pure unconditional exuberant response of a dog to its master. If you own a dog, worship is like the welcome home dance of happiness your dog gives you when you’ve been away for a period of time. Having said that, I don’t want to leave you with the impression that worship is somehow disorderly or out of control. God is orderly and our worship should be orderly (1 Corinthians 14:33 and 40). Our worship should be inwardly exuberant but not outwardly wild.
Worship is, “. . . to prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to adore) . . . worship.” [1] This leper came to Jesus like an injured, castoff, dirty and dying dog looking for help. It is a pitiful scene of great neediness. Jesus is always open to those with the greatest needs. Maybe this leper had exhausted other avenues of healing. Maybe he had been disappointed in the past. In such a case worship becomes surrender. Perhaps as you’re reading this you are doing so with a skepticism based on past absence of healing. Worship is a heartfelt expression of devotion, but it is also a heart healing emptying of disappointments and doubts. Worship is when we put all our baggage of emotions and memories at the foot of the cross of Jesus. Worship is releasing our will to “Thy will be done.”
“Lord, if You are willing”
Hurts and the need for healing take many forms. You may have a physical ailment, a psychological confusion, a spiritual need. People need the healing touch of Jesus in many ways. Please understand that there are many reason why we might put ourselves in this leper’s shoes.
Fallen at the feet of Jesus, the leper says, “, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” This leper didn’t seem to doubt that Jesus could heal him, he seemed to question or doubt whether Jesus would heal him. The leper didn’t doubt Jesus’ ability; he doubted Jesus’ willingness. The leper is a lot like us in that we accept that Jesus is able to do the miraculous or bless us, but we doubt or question His willingness to do so. We might think: Lord, will You heal my body? Will you heal my mind? Will You heal my heart? Lord, will You forgive my sin? Lord, will You heal my marriage? Lord, will You help me parent my child? Will You save my child’s soul?[2] Lord, will You bless my work? Lord, will You take away this addiction? This sinful habit? Will you free me from this bondage? Lord, will You bless Your church? Lord will You add new converts to Your church, will you multiply Your disciples? Will You send workers out into the harvest? Lord, will You heal our nation, our land? We make such prayerful requests, but do we expect God to grant our requests? Are you like this leper?
We believe God’s word and the accounts of the miraculous in the Gospels and Acts and other portions of the Bible; we see the history of His church in Acts and how it was grown by Him. but today, in the here and now, we oftentimes doubt, not his ability, but His willingness to work in us.
Is Jesus willing? Is He willing to work in and through us?
The Willing Touch of Jesus
Matthew 8:3 – “Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”
Jesus said, “I am willing.” That should be greatly encouraging to us. The courage and boldness of the leper to ask Jesus to help him was met with the most wonderful of response from Jesus, “I am willing.” What are you asking Jesus about? What do you desire Him to heal? To deal with? Are you doubting His willingness to work in and through you? Have you lost hope? There’s always hope with Jesus.
If you doubt that God wants to heal or work in and through you, that He is some withdrawn, aloof and snobbish God, if you see God as unwilling to get involved with your life, unwilling to work, you need to consider: “The LORD is my light and my salvation” (Psalm 27:1). “God is our refuge and strength, a very present hep in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. . . The LORD of hosts is with us; . . .” (Psalm 46:1-3, 7, 11). “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.12 O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!” (Psalm 84:11-12). “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9a). “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32). These are only a very few of the portions of the Bible which express the fact that God desires to bless rather than to withhold blessing. God wants to work in your life, and He is willing to do so. When we seek His help, God never brushes us off with a “Don’t bother Me.” Jesus always had time for those seeking His help. That hasn’t changed. If you seek Him, He will be found by you.
Why Don’t I See God’s Healing, His Work In and Through Me?
If Jesus is so willing to help me, why don’t I see Him helping me? Why don’t I see His healing, His work in and through me?
Maybe the lack of healing or action by God is because our motives for seeking His intervention are out of whack. The passage goes on to state:
Matthew 8:4 – “And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
The purpose of miracles and healing is not primarily to attract attention. While miracles and healing do attract attention, attracting attention is not their primary purpose. In 1986 John Wimber, in his book Power Evangelism, popularized the idea of using miracles or healing to attract people in order to share the gospel with them. This Signs and Wonders / Power Evangelism strategy was further popularized by C. Peter Wagner, Reinhard Bonnke, Todd White, and Heidi Baker.
While the miracles of Jesus were evidentiary proof of His messiahship, Jesus never used miracles to attract attention. There is an unbiblical practice of seeking to heal or manufacture a healing in order to attract people to then hear the gospel. Jesus never did that. If we look at the context here, Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount first, and then second He healed people. God does heal and healing, genuine healing does usually attract a crowd, and we should share the gospel with them when the opportunity presents itself, but we don’t need a miracle to share the gospel.
Jesus on more than one occasion told the person healed to not share with others what Jesus had done for them (Matthew 9:30; 12:16-19; 16:20; 17:9; Mark 1:43-44; 5:43; 7:36; Luke 5:14; John 5:41; 7:8,18; 8:50). Why did Jesus do that? Jesus doesn’t want people to follow Him around like some new circus act that performs entertaining feats, He wanted people to follow Him for deeper spiritual reasons. He doesn’t want people to follow him around like a dog because he has a treat to offer them.
The KJV Bible Commentary makes the following remark regarding this verse, “The purpose of Jesus in giving this command was to call attention away from the miracle itself and to appeal to the spiritual need in man. It is clear in the gospel accounts that the crowds were often attracted by Jesus’ miracles, but not always by His message.” [3] Jesus knew His time had not yet come to set up the kingdom of God. Before that would happen, He must go to the cross and be resurrected, birth a Church, and carry out a Church Age prophetically. Therefore, though He healed people, and those miracles significantly indicated He was and is the Messiah, His emphasis was on His message more than His miracles.
Healing is a holy act of God. Healing is a holy act of God and should never be reduced to a common circus side show. The word “holy” means uncommon, extraordinary, special. Healing is holy in that not everyone who prays for healing receives healing. Healing is not common. God determines who and when someone is healed. We cannot control or manipulate God with our words. To think that is the height of pride and presumption. To think that is to bring God down and lift us up.
Too many people, even Christians, have a magical worldview. A magical worldview holds that reality, and destiny can be determined and controlled by the words that are used. When we think our words control reality we have been reduced to a magician or witch-like manipulator relying on incantations and word formulas to get our will done. As a Christian our objective should be to prayerfully get God’s will done. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
God forbids His people from resorting to magical practices or techniques (Leviticus 19:26 and 31; Deuteronomy 18:10-12; Galatians 5:19-21; Revelation 21:8 and 22:15). Thinking that God’s healing is based on the words you say rather than on His sovereign will and determination is not only carnally manipulative but presumptive.
When we approach healing in a magical way we cheapen it. Magic puts the focus on the magician. True miraculous scripturally sound healing puts the focus on God, on Jesus in whose name we pray. And when you truly experience the power of the gospel, you’ll burn your magic books like the Ephesians did and the word of the Lord will grow mightily (Acts 19:19-20).
Why aren’t I healed when I pray for my healing or the healing of others? Does God still heal today? ABSOLUTELY! There’s nothing in scripture that says God no longer heals today. So why don’t we see healings? Well, we do see healing today. There are examples. I have seen the Lord heal firsthand. But we need to understand that even in Biblical times healings were not commonplace. The accounts of healings found in the book of Acts are a condensed account of what took place over about 30 years. So while miracles and healings did take place, we may have a false impression of how frequent or common they were. A healing is a miracle and by definition a miracle is something extraordinary and uncommon.
So, why when we pray for healing does God not always heal? The key to answering that question is “God.” God may not heal for the following reasons:
- God is sovereign and His ways are high above our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). We can’t expect to understand all of the reasons why God does what He does (Deuteronomy 29:29).
- God may not heal to demonstrate the sufficiency of His grace (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
- He might be using difficulty to prove to us and others the genuineness of our faith (1 Peter 1:6-9). Trials help us to arrange our priorities with eternity in mind (1 Peter 4:1). When life is in the balance and our judgment is at hand, the incidentals of life and the sins we are so easily prone to indulge in, are put in perspective.
- God may be using an illness or trial to maneuver us into a position or circumstance where He wants to use us (1 Peter 3:15-16). He may allow an illness to continue to a hospitalization because there is someone, a patient, a doctor, a nurse, someone, He wants to use you to reach out to with the sufficient grace you are experiencing.
- Or God may simply have some other plan He is fulfilling which for some unknown reason to us, is necessary (John 21:22). Healing depends on God, more than it depends on us.
Healing does not entirely depend on me. When we look at healing in the Bible we see that God blesses and works in people in spite of themselves. The paralytic lowered by his friends through the roof to be healed by Jesus, was healed with the words, “Son, your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:2; Mark 2:5). Jesus connected the paralytic’s condition with his sin. Not all illnesses are a result of personal volitional sinful choices. Some illness comes from the planetary sinfulness of our fallen world. But in this case, paralysis was apparently the consequence of this person’s sin. Yet Jesus healed this man. What does that tell us?
No one ever deserves God’s healing or work in and through them. There are times when it isn’t that God has said “No,” but only that He is saying “Wait.” But there are times when God makes His presence known by not working. What might God be trying to teach us by not healing us? Why wouldn’t God work in a person?
Our part in healing. There are two reasons why God may not heal or work in a person’s life. God is always working in our lives. But there are times when he withholds His work. What might our part be in such a situation? The Bible states:
James 4:2-3 – “You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
First, God doesn’t heal or work in and through us when we don’t ask Him to, “Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” God created us with a free will, and He honors that free will in us. He is not intrusive in the sense that if we are satisfied to go about our business on our own with no thought of Him, He will allow us to do so. There were probably thousands of lepers in the region where Jesus was, but only one leper came to seek help from Jesus. That was and is the key, the leper asked and He received. It is those who “Ask. . . seek. . . knock” who experience the hand of God in their lives (Matthew 7:7-11). The promise is, “everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Prayer brings understanding.
Secondly, God does not work in and through us when we ask selfishly, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” In truth it is not that God does not work, but that He does not work the way we ask Him to work. There are some things that we ask Him to do that are wrong and God loves us enough to say, “No” to us. When we ask with a heart to bless and minister to God, when we ask with a heart to minister to others, rest assured that God desires to work in those situations. When we ask selflessly, God is for us and will work incredibly on our behalf. It truly is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).
Jesus Is Willing and Able To Work in Hopeless Situations
Matthew 8:2 – “And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
That the one who approached Jesus was leprous is significant in two ways. First, leprosy was an ugly incurable disease. There were varying degrees and kinds of leprosy as indicated in Leviticus (Leviticus 13). Leprosy is not just a skin disease like psoriasis; it is a deep debilitating disease. Leprosy involves the deadening of the nerves which causes the body to lose its sensitivity to pain. The result is that extremities are injured, and the injury is often overlooked which leads to infections and the wearing away of the extremities such as fingers, toes, noses, etc. When extremities would fall off, it led to a gross disfigurement of the leper. The leper’s face would become swollen, and a very strong odor of rotting flesh could be smelled from 100 feet away. So deformed were lepers by their disease that they would cover themselves hiding their faces from onlookers. Since leprosy was thought to be contagious and by some the result of the direct judgment of God, when a leper came to a city they had to announce themselves by calling out, “Unclean! Unclean!” When in relative closeness to people they were required to cover their mouths because it was thought infection spread to others by their breathing out germs. Leprosy is spoken of as incurable (2 Kings 5:7). This disease was socially as well as physically debilitating.
Second, leprosy is a type of sin. It is fitting that the first miraculous healing of Jesus involves leprosy since it is used as a metaphor of sin in the Bible. When Isaiah was inspired to write of the sin of Israel he used a description of leprosy to do so (Isaiah 1:5-6). In Leviticus 13 leprosy is described as a disease that begins beneath the surface of the skin. Sin begins beneath the surface in the heart (Jeremiah 17:9-10). Leprosy, like sin, can perhaps be held in check for a time, but eventually it spreads to the entire body. We are all born in a leprous sinful condition (Psalm 51:5). When people try to fight against sin in their own strength, they find that any victory is short lived. If left unattended, sin, like leprosy, will lead to death. The only difference is the death caused by sin is eternal (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Someone has said, “We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.” You don’t have to teach a child how to sin, it comes naturally to them. Sin on a small scale in children will develop into full-blown rebellion and lust if left to grow in adults.
The Touch of Jesus. Being a leper in Jesus’ day was seen as a curse. Lepers were the untouchables of their day. A leper was commanded to announce their present 150 feet before entering a community so that people could flee their presence. They were dirty, decayed as their flesh wasted away. They were repugnant. But Jesus didn’t stay at arm’s length from the leper. He could have just spoken a word and healed this leper like He would later do with the centurion’s paralyzed servant (8:8,13). But Jesus wanted to communicate His love to the leper, so He reached down and touched him. It didn’t matter that the leper was contagious, a health threat, an outcast, a repulsive and ugly member of society. Jesus was willing to touch the untouchables.
It’s interesting that 21 times in the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus is shown to have used touch in His healing ministry (Matthew 8:3,15; 9:20,29; 14:36; 17:7; 29:34; Mark 1:41; 5:27,30,31; 6:56; 7:33; Luke 5:13; 7:14; 8:44,45,46,47; 22:51). On one occasion Jesus raised a young man from the dead by simply touching the coffin that carried the dead body (Luke 7:14).
Why does God use “touch” to minister to us? What does a “touch” communicate? When we look at Scripture we see that God uses touch in the following ways:
First, God uses touch to purify and prepare His servants for ministry by making His presence known to us. Isaiah wrote of the cleansing touch of God concerning an experience he had. God touched the mouth of Isaiah to purify his lips and prepare them to speak His holy message to His people (Isaiah 6:1-8). When Thomas doubted that Jesus had been raised from the dead, Jesus invited Thomas to touch Him, to put his hands in the wounds of Jesus (John 20:26-31). Jesus touches us and makes Himself touchable to us. Have you been touched by God? Maybe not a physical touch, but have you felt the inspired touch of the Spirit in your heart? Disciple, make contact with God in Christ.
Second, God uses touch to strengthen and encourage His servants for ministry. In the book of Daniel we have a beautiful example of how the touch of God strengthens His servant. In the book of Daniel we read of an incident where Daniel sees a vision and is exhausted because of what the LORD has revealed to him. God uses touch to strengthen Daniel. The prophet said, “no strength remained in me; for my vigor was turned to frailty in me, and I retained no strength” (Daniel 10:8). But then, “a hand touched me” (Daniel 10:9). Daniel says, “one having the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips” (Daniel 10:16). “Then again, the one having the likeness of a man touched me and strengthened me” (Daniel 10:18). Whether this was an angel or Jesus Himself I will leave that up to you to decide. But one thing is for sure, the message touched Daniel and said, “O man greatly beloved, fear not! Peace be to you; be strong, yes, be strong!” So when he spoke to me I was strengthened, and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.” (Daniel 10:19). That touch and message were just what the prophet Daniel needed. The touch of God is a wonderful thing.
Third, the greatest touch of God was through the incarnate Son of God. God reached down to touch humanity through the incarnation of His Son. This was the utmost revelation of God’s intimate personal love. The Apostle John spoke of Jesus the Word becoming flesh (John 1:1-2, and 14). He spoke of Jesus as the one “our hands have handled” (1 John 1:1-4). Jesus touches and is touchable. Have you been touched by Jesus? Have you reached out to touch Him? Hurt and heartache, situations where healing is required and sought, these are the circumstances where we can know God best. Reconciliation means bringing two parties together. Our commission from God is a ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). Illness, neediness are the circumstances God allows to create an environment which facilitates reconciliation of sinners with Himself. When we are reconciled to God, it leads to healing reconciliation with others.
Jesus reached down and touched the leper. The touch of God reveals His presence and His power; it purifies us and points us in the right direction to fulfill His plans. The touch of Jesus was a touch of love. That’s the way Jesus does things, He does things in love. As repulsive as the leper was to society and physically, Jesus reached out and touched Him. The leper was healed and the love of God revealed.
Do you see yourself as untouchable? Are you keeping your distance from Jesus? Are you afraid of what Jesus might say or do in response to your request for healing or help? Have you been deceived by the devil or others into thinking Jesus doesn’t want to touch you? If that describes you, just remember, there is no sin so repulsive, that when repented of, Jesus will not heal. There is always hope with Jesus.
Father I come to You in Jesus’ name. I confess my unworthiness to You, my sins. I am asking for Your healing touch. Please reveal to me anything that is preventing Your healing in my life. Help me to understand and trust You whether You heal or not, whether I understand or not. I pray for Your will to be done. Please make me what I need to be, to do what You desire to be done, for Your glory, until Jesus returns. In Jesus’ name. Amen
[1]James Strong, New Strong’s dictionary of Hebrew and Greek words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1996.
[2] When we pray for God to save someone’s soul, we need to keep in mind that a person must respond to the offer of salvation presented to them by God. The Holy Spirit convicts sinners of their sin and shows them their need of the gospel (John 16:8-11). But God does not save a person apart from their response in faith to Jesus and his Gospel. Our prayer then should be along the lines of Acts 26:18 and Jesus words to the Apostle Paul, “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”
[3]Jerry Falwell, executive editor; Edward E. Hinson and Michael Kroll Woodrow, general editors, KJV Bible commentary [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1994.