Hey, what does this spot look like to you?

I’ve been reading Leviticus for the past couple of weeks, learning about the instructions given to God’s people, through Moses, concerning offerings to Him – all the what’s and why’s, and especially the how’s. That, along with the anointing of the priests, covers the first ten chapters. Chapter 11 begins talk about what is, and who are, “clean” vs. “unclean,” which is a ceremonial designation that God created, peculiar to the Jews, partly to teach them obedience and to set them apart from other nations.

I enjoy the revelations in these chapters, almost always surprised by what, by title, seems to be rather bland ends up being very intriguing. After reading about clean and unclean animals in chapter 11, I turned yesterday to chapter 12, and a presentation on women and childbirth, and thought, ‘finally, a chapter that doesn’t seem so bland’. I was surprised, anyway, though. First, by the fact that it is only eight verses long, and second by the differences in cleansing whether a woman had a male or female child.

Then…. I hit chapter 13 – leprosy. I think, ‘I’m back to bland’ (again, in title… I know I’ll always find intrigue regardless). I snuck a peek ahead (something I don’t normally do), and saw that not only is this whole chapter dedicated to leprosy, so is the next! Two whole, and long, chapters, 116 verses on leprosy – and only eight verses on women and childbirth! Alright God, this has gotta be good.

He didn’t disappoint.

Here’s the deal – some people back then had leprosy. Some people today have leprosy, but it is a different leprosy. The disease we know of today, also known as Hansen’s disease, is indeed a disease. The leprosy of Leviticus was not a disease, but an infliction. The original Hebrew word meant a mark, or a striking, or touched. It was known as a marking, by God, on a person due to particular sin. Like Hansen’s disease, though, it needed to be treated.

Since it was a spiritual infliction, not a disease, if you had a mark on your body that you suspected (or someone else pointed out) you went to the priest for diagnosis, not a doctor. The priest would make a very close inspection and, educated by God in this chapter, decide if the mark was leprosy or a scab. The inspection process was especially thorough and critical. Though his responsibility, the priest could enlist the assistance of a “common” person to help with the inspection. There were very particular marks that they were looking for,

·        that the mark (or, sore) was “deeper than the skin,”

·        that is was spreading, and

·        the presence of raw flesh.

A diagnosis of leprosy set treatment into motion. The patient was sent into isolation for “cleansing.” A positive diagnosis also stigmatized the person as “struck by the justice of God.”

So, that’s leprosy in the Old Testament.

We don’t see that kind of leprosy today, or do we…? We still have sin. God still cares about sin. We still need to be cleansed, or we will still be isolated, if not.

What does leprosy (this type) look like today? It looks like,

·        a mark, “deeper than the skin,” settling in our soul,

·        it spreads, infecting us by a deepening of the sin or by taking us into others, and

·        it bares a raw flesh, the result of our resistance to the healing Word of the Spirit.

A diagnosis of leprosy also carries the same effects for us that it did for the Israelites of Moses’ time. Deep in sin, we are “stigmatized” as such, as a hypocrite, falling out of the fellowship and communion with His people. And we are isolated from Christ. Unclean, we will not receive “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” that are waiting for the clean (Matthew 16:19).

The leper (sinner) today needs to get treatment. The Good News is that Christ has healed the leper. He did it through His healing power in Matthew 8:1-4.

… a leper came to 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.  

Notice the remedy in this passage. The leper didn’t say, “if you can,” but, “if you will.” He knew that Christ could, just not if He would. It is because he knew He could that He did. That’s what we need, so that we will be cleansed of our leprosy. To know that Christ can, and has, healed us, to know that He did it through His actions on the cross.

Getting to that remedy, though, is on us. We, also, must go to the priest. But in this case, the priest is a “spiritual priest.” It is ourselves. WE are responsible for the deep and thorough inspection. The mark may still be pointed out by someone else (and that’s not the “affront” that we’ve made it, culturally), and we may still enlist the assistance of ministers, or others, to help us with the diagnosis, but WE, ourselves, must make the claim that it is, indeed, the mark of sin that we bear. Only then can we be healed, by Him, through our confession and repentance.

Finally, and with a twist, how we know that we’ve been cleansed - after all the detail regarding the markings and identifications of leprosy in Leviticus, verses 12 and 13 say, “If the… leprosy covers… from his head even to his feet, the priest… shall pronounce (him) clean…” So, if he has the positive markings of leprosy, including its spreading, then he has leprosy, and is unclean. But, if it covers his whole body, now he’s clean? Ok, that doesn’t make any sense, you say. I did too. Here’s why it does, though – sin is at its worst when hidden. Uncovered sin is a good thing. Yes, it’s still sin, but it is like a good work that is seen, as it is being done. Bad works are done in secret, uncovered after the fact, and are deeper than the skin, and spreading. Once the markings cover the whole body, they are uncovered, they are seen, and they can spread no more. Then, when this happens, can the leprosy (our sin) be made clean.

I don’t know about you, but I need to get to the doctor, er, priest, the “spiritual priest.”