A Man Full of Leprosy - Luke 5:12

The beloved physician Luke shared how, “it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at your word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth you shall catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him”, and in chapter five and verse twelve of his book Luke shares about, “a man full of leprosy” where we read:

And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.

The verse reads, “And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy:” Luke began with the words, “And it came to pass” or “and it happened or came into being”, “when he was in a certain city” which means “at the time and moment Jesus was within a particular abode, dwelling place, habitation or town”, “behold a man full of leprosy” or “lo, see and consider a male human being who was permeated, completely covered and filled with leprosy which was a most offensive, annoying, dangerous, cutaneous disease, the virus of which generally pervades the whole body, common in Egypt and the East”. Luke shared how Jesus went into a particular town where there lived a man who was completely covered with dangerous and offensive disease known as “leprosy”.

The verse goes on to say, “who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” Luke continued with the words, “who seeing Jesus” or “when the man with leprosy observed and noticed Jesus whose name means Jehovah is Salvation and is the Son of God, the Savior of mankind and God incarnate” “fell on his face” which means “descended from an erect to a prostrate position with his face down to the ground”, “and besought him” or “and begged, desired, prayed and made supplications to Jesus”, “saying” which means “uttering, declaring and proclaiming” “Lord” or “One to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, and the title given to God the Messiah”, “if you will” which means “whether and by chance Jesus desired, wished, took delight in and had pleasure in doing so” “you can make me clean” or “Jesus, you are able and capable of cleansing, purifying, and freeing the man with leprosy from defilement”. Luke shared how the “leprous man” prostrated himself before Jesus and begged Him by declaring his belief that Jesus could free him from all defilement of his leprosy.

When we meditate upon Luke's words in this verse, we see the powerful affect Jesus had upon people. This man with leprosy must have heard of Jesus or perhaps saw Him work, and his faith was so strong that he knew Jesus could “cleanse” him. Leprosy was an incurable disease as far as mankind knew at that time, but Jesus was the Creator of the earth and no disease was more powerful than He. Jesus came to the world to “save” people from the “incurable spiritual disease” known as “sin”, and everyone is infected. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (See Romans 3:23), and “there is none righteous, no, not one”. (See Romans 3:10) The pending result of the disease of “sin” is death - “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (See Romans 6:23), and only Jesus is able to “give” a person “eternal life” by believing and trusting in Him. Those who examine themselves shall find they are “full” of sin, even as this man was “full of leprosy”, and they shall bow before Jesus and ask Him to “cleanse” them and make them whole.

Next time Luke shares how Jesus, “put forth his hand, and touched him”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".