The Outcast

Luke 5:12-16

Opening

How long does it take you to ask for help? What’s the trigger for you? I don’t like asking for help. It feels like failure. A man should be able to find the mayanaise in the grocery store. It can’t be that hard, can it? And you know the other thought going through my mind when I should be asking for help? Is there anyone in this store who can help anyway? Will the person I ask know? And then sometimes, you ask one of those people who are sent in from a company place their product in a certain place and they don’t know where the mayonnaise is.

I fear that many people live their spiritual lives this way. They feel like they should be able to figure it out themselves. Or they think there isn’t anyone who can help anyway. Oh, listen, Jesus came to deliver the help you need through His church. That’s what this church is all about. . Because we were all spiritual lepers. We were all outcasts. The title of th sermon today, “The Outcast” from Luke 5:12-16.

Exegesis

The Condition and the Plea

Luke 5:12 (ESV) 

12While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

Luke doesn’t name the city because it’s not important and likely because Luke’s source didn’t share it. But this happens during Jesus’s Galilean ministry. The city would have been in the region around the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Gennesaret. Jesus is continuing to build His ministry away from Jerusalem, the seat of the religious establishment of the Jews. This is a less populated area and an area considered unlikely to birth a leader capable of challenging the Romans or the Jews.

So, it’s in this relatively unimportant area that a man filled with leprosy approaches begging Him to make Him clean. But, what is leprosy? 

The Condition

Leviticus 13 describes how leprosy was to be diagnosed and how people with leprosy were to live. Leprosy was a group of skin diseases that were at least somewhat contagious and may have been very contagious. The person with leprosy developed sores and wounds. It effected their nervous system so that they could not feel pain in the area affected. This made sores worse. They would often lose body parts like fingers and toes and even their nose and ears. Leprosy was fatal but it generally took a long time to die.

Because of the contagious nature of the disease, lepers had to live separated from the rest of the community. Leviticus lays out the rules for how lepers had to live:

Leviticus 13:45–46 (ESV) 

45“The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ 

46He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

Not only did a leper have sores and wounds that identified him as a leper, but he also had to warn people of his disease everywhere he went. He was to shout, “Unclean! Unclean!” Today, we might say “Contaminated!” or “Contagious”. During COVID we tried to distance ourselves on the chance someone might have the illness. Anytime we think we may have the flu we are careful to not infect others. 

The leper lived life as a permanently contaminated person. They were never welcome among the general population. They were seldom, if ever, welcome around their family. And, they were never allowed in a place of worship. They lived as outcasts who looked disgusting. They were an oozing, bloody, disgusting mess, and they placed everyone around them at risk. One commentator described the overall effect of the disease as a form of “living death.” Leprosy was the outward symbol of death that was happening spiritually inside of almost everyone. 

The Plea

Anyone with leprosy was aware of their condition. The longer they lived with the disease the more it dominated their life and the more they knew that it would one day end their life. This is state of mind this man had as he came to find Jesus. We don’t know exactly how he heard about Jesus but we can safely assume the leper heard someone talking about this new miracle worker. Perhaps a family member saw Jesus healing the sick and told him he must get to Jesus. 

So, he comes to Jesus, falls on his face begging Jesus saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” This is such an interesting approach and tells us a lot. First, it tells us the leper was humble. He falls on his face and begs Jesus to act. There was no effort to preserve any kind of self-esteem. He was all in on Jesus. He would be embarrassed if Jesus refused. 

Second, It tells us the leper believed Jesus was a prophet like Elisha who could heal leprosy. He did not question the power of Jesus. His only question was whether or not Jesus would use His power to heal him.

Third, the leper asks to be made clean, to remove his contaminated status. This shows how leprosy was the picture of sin in outward form. Humans have been contaminated by sin since the Garden of Eden. In the same way, leprosy contaminated everyone it touched. Healing meant being made clean or uncontaminated. To be clean meant the leper could move back into the community. He could interact with family and friends and he could approach God in worship.

The Response

Luke 5:13 (ESV) 

13And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.

Jesus didn’t need to touch him to heal him, but He touched Him anyway. In doing so Jesus entered into the leper’s uncleanness. Jesus is demonstrating His care for the leper. Jesus came to touch and connect with the outcast. 

The leper was immediately healed. Jesus demonstrated authority over even the most horrible disease and symbol of sin and death. It was a stunning and visible miracle!

The Charge

Luke 5:14 (ESV) 

14And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

You couldn’t just claim you were no longer contaminated and re-enter society. One who had been healed of leprosy had to be examined by a priest and go through an 8 day process that included sacrifices. The priest would confirm the healing and clear the person to interact with others. 

Jesus tells him to go through this process in order to be cleared but also to provide proof to the priests that what Jesus was doing was real and valid. Jesus wanted the the priest to know and declare that He was not a con man. He wanted everyone to wrestle with what God was doing through Him.

Jesus also tells the man not to tell anyone. He frequently does this and has we have said previously, Jesus wanted to limit His popularity knowing that the people would try to make Him and king and thereby threaten the Romans who would quickly put down any threat of a rebellion. 

But the crowds increase anyway.

The Results

Luke 5:15 (ESV) 

15But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities.

Jesus had healed the ultimate illness. He had reversed the trajectory of the outcast. Now everyone is eager to get to Him. 

But, He didn’t come to be popular. He came to save those who were dying an eternal death. Popularity gets in the way of rescue because people focus on the healing not on what the healing actually means. Jesus healed to reveal who He was and the power He possessed. Cleansing a leper was a way to say, “I came to cleanse you all from sin.” It was not a way to say “I came to keep healing your outward illnesses.”

So, Jesus doesn’t stay among the crowds. He retreats.

The Withdrawal

 Luke 5:16 (ESV) 

16But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Was Jesus an introvert? Did He not like crowds? No. Jesus had already said no to Satan’s offer to receive the kingdoms of the world if He would only worship Satan, if Jesus would only do things the worlds’ way, Satan’s way. Jesus refused to accept the glory He deserved so He could take the punishment we deserved. 

Jesus went to a desolate place outside the community as the outcast leper took his place inside the community.

Kevin DeYoung puts in this way:

“The leper, who was an outcast, comes to Jesus so that he might be cleansed. Jesus gives him his cleansing and restores him to community. He has a new life. But after this great miracle where do you find Jesus? He’s alone. He’s out in desolate places. He’s become an outcast. The leper and the Christ have traded places: the outsider is brought in as the Chosen One is cast out.”

Kevin DeYoung

Pastor, Author, Theologian

Jesus is foreshadowing the sacrifice He will be outside the city walls of Jerusalem. His sacrifice as an outcast would provide the way into paradise for the outcast.

Applications

We are all outcasts.

We all exist as spiritual lepers until we encounter Jesus. But we might not know it. We know something is wrong, but we might not understand just how bad it really is. As we get older and the disease dominates more and more of our lives we become more frustrated, more filled with emotional pain, and some areas of our lives like the leper less feeling.

 Spiritual lepers are unclean and contaminated. They make people around them unclean and contaminated. But in these days, Jesus is available. Jesus will make you clean if you will ask Him.

Sometimes people will come and express interest in Jesus and in receiving His incredible gift of salvation but when talking with them you wonder if they really feel like it’s really necessary. It’s like they want to add Jesus to their already virtuous life. As we will see in a couple of weeks, Jesus came for the sick, not for the healthy. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

It is a tremendous blessing to have a clear understanding of your spiritual state. We were all spiritual lepers. We were all outcasts. And some in this room, right now, remain spiritual lepers. But, like the leper, you don’t have to remain an outcast. Jesus came to take your place. 

If you’re still an outcast, beg Jesus to take your place.

If Jesus has taken your place as an outcast, worship Jesus.

We all encounter outcasts.

Jesus touched the outcast and healed him. There are outcasts all around us. Most don’t know it. They know something is not right. They know they live in brokenness. Our goal is to help them move from outcast to insiders, from brokenness to wholeness.

Close

Would you ask, no beg, Jesus to make you clean? To forgive you of your sin? To heal you of the terminal disease of spiritual leprosy?

If you are a cleansed leper, would you spend some time thanking Jesus for saving you from that horrible terminal disease?

In a few moments we will share the Lord’s Supper. We will partake of the bread and juice that symbolize the body and blood of Jesus. This sacred opportunity is open to those who have been healed of spiritual leprosy, those who have received the gift of salvation through repentance and trust in Jesus and have been baptized by immersion.

Lord’s Supper

Luke 22:19–20 (ESV) 

19And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 

20And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.