Chapter 27—“Thou Canst Make Me Clean”
This chapter is based on
Matthew 8:2-4
;
Matthew 9:1-8
;
Matthew
9:32-34
;
Mark 1:40-45
;
Mark 2:1-12
;
Luke 5:12-28
.
Of all diseases known in the East the leprosy was most dreaded.
Its incurable and contagious character, and its horrible effect upon its
victims, filled the bravest with fear. Among the Jews it was regarded
as a judgment on account of sin, and hence was called “the stroke,”
“the finger of God.” Deep-rooted, ineradicable, deadly, it was looked
upon as a symbol of sin. By the ritual law, the leper was pronounced
unclean. Like one already dead, he was shut out from the habitations
of men. Whatever he touched was unclean. The air was polluted by
his breath. One who was suspected of having the disease must present
himself to the priests, who were to examine and decide his case. If
pronounced a leper, he was isolated from his family, cut off from the
congregation of Israel, and was doomed to associate with those only
who were similarly afflicted. The law was inflexible in its requirement.
Even kings and rulers were not exempt. A monarch who was attacked
by this terrible disease must yield up the scepter, and flee from society.
Away from his friends and his kindred, the leper must bear the
curse of his malady. He was obliged to publish his own calamity, to
rend his garments, and sound the alarm, warning all to flee from his
contaminating presence. The cry, “Unclean! unclean!” coming in
mournful tones from the lonely exile, was a signal heard with fear and
abhorrence.
In the region of Christ’s ministry, there were many of these suffer-
ers, and the news of His work reached them, kindling a gleam of hope.
But since the days of Elisha the prophet, such a thing had never been
known as the cleansing of one upon whom this disease had fastened.
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They dared not expect Jesus to do for them what He had never done for
any man. There was one, however, in whose heart faith began to spring
up. Yet the man knew not how to reach Jesus. Debarred as he was
from contact with his fellow men, how could he present himself to the
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