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Touch of Faith
41
“Thou Canst Make Me Clean”
Of all the 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. Whatever
he touched was unclean. The air was polluted by his breath. Like
one already dead, he was shut out from the habitations of men. 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 doomed to associate with those only who were simi-
larly afflicted. Even kings and rulers were not exempt. A monarch
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.
“Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
not one.”
Job 14:4
. “Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me.”
Psalms 51:10
.
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In the region of Christ’s ministry were many of these sufferers,
and as the news of His work reached them, there is one in whose
heart faith begins to spring up. If he could go to Jesus he might be
healed. But how can he find Jesus? Doomed as he is to perpetual
isolation, how can he present himself to the Healer? And will Christ
heal him? Will He not, like the Pharisees, and even the physicians
pronounce a curse upon him and warn him to flee from the haunts
of men?
He thinks of all that has been told him of Jesus. Not one who has
sought His help has been turned away. The wretched man determines