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Mark 1:40
And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." The Torah spends a considerable amount of time detailing a condition called leprosy. It tells us about people’s leprosy, but also about leprosy in beards, fabrics, and houses (Leviticus 13:18–59). Leprosy in the Bible seems to relate not only to the loathsome disease by that name, but also to all sorts of corruption and decay. The term seems to be used to refer to the advance of death and corruption in matter (Leviticus 13:4–8). On a metaphorical level, Jewish sages referred to leprosy as the disease the snake inherited as part of the curse. Ritual contamination and mortality is part of the curse brought on man because of sin so the metaphor is certainly befitting. Leprosy is also associated with one of the most important sin in the Bible, the one called lashon harah which literally means the evil tongue. The term refers to gossip and slander because after slandering Moses, her brother and divinely appointed leader of Israel, Miriam was afflicted by this leprosy (Numbers 12). Leprosy and the state of ritual impurity are irrelevant today because they technically only relates to the Temple in Jerusalem which does not exist at this present time. At the time when religiosity accorded undue emphasis to ritual purity, Yeshua came to put it back in its proper perspective. In the days of the Master, Priests and Levites were so obsessed with ritual purity that they would ignore the commandments about mercy and helping those in need for fear of defiling themselves. We can see this in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33). Yeshua on the other hand was not afraid of being defiled by leprosy. On some occasions he even voluntarily touched a leper to heal him (Matthew 8:2-3). He even entered the house of Simon the Leper to eat with him, and this is where he met Mary-Magdalene (Matthew 26:6-7). The Talmud tells of one called, The Leper Messiah. It presents a supposed discourse between the great Rabbi Joshua ben Levi and the prophet Elijah. The rabbi asks "When will the Messiah come and by what sign may I recognize him?" Elijah tells the rabbi to go to the gate of the city where he will find the Messiah sitting among the poor lepers. The Messiah, says the prophet, sits bandaging his leprous sores one at a time, unlike the rest of the sufferers, who bandage them all at once. Why? Because he might be needed at any time and would not want to be delayed (Sanhedrin 98a). While this may seem to be a far-fetched story, it is not the only Jewish text which associates Messiah with leprosy. One of the names of the coming Messiah in the Talmud is: ‘The Leper Scholar’. Unlike the exclusive religious leaders of his days who stayed away, Yeshua came to us and voluntarily put on the decaying condition of mortality. He even contaminated himself by touching our leprosy. While were still in our mortal decaying condition, he entered our house to fellowship with us. But the story doesn't end here; the most wonderful part of it is that as he goes back to his Father and our God, he takes us with him to partake of his pure resurrected body. What a wonderful Messiah we have. Amen and Amen. May it be soon, even in our days! P. Gabriel Lumbroso www.thelumbrosos.com For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.
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John 3:3
Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Finding connections with an ostracized declared-clean leper, we follow his path of rehabilitation in the presence of the Almighty and amidst the community. One of the last stages is immersion, commonly called in Greek: baptismo. Our sages have always understood ritual immersion as an illustration of being born-again. The whole idea was an illustration of returning into the maternal waters in order to be reborn. In a sense, this pronounced clean leper shaved from head to toe looked like a new-born baby and was going to immerse in baptismal/rebirth waters (Leviticus 14:9). In ancient Israel, the idea of the born-again ritual immersion was used as a mode of proselytization, for people desiring to become Jewish. The idea is that they went in the water as gentiles and came out the other side reborn as Jewish, as ‘members of the commonwealth of Israel’ (Ephesians 2:12). When Yeshua therefore tells Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3)," He actually tells the great teacher of Israel that unless he goes through a procedure of conversion to Judaism, he cannot be a part of the Kingdom of God. That explains the shocked teacher’s answer, ‘"How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born (John 3:4)?" By this he meant, ‘How can I convert to Judaism if I am already Jewish? To which Rabbi Yeshua wisely answers, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:5-6), or in other words, “It is not enough to be well bred; you must also have an immersion of repentance from sin!” This was the reoccurring theme in both John the Baptist and Yeshua’s teaching (Matthew 3:9-11). Peter compares the Great Flood as a baptism of the whole earth, and Paul speaks of the crossing of the Red Sea as the baptism of Israel (1 Peter 3:20-21;1 Corinthians 10:2). We have to be reborn in order to enter God’s new world! As the season of Passover approaches, as we think of our forefathers (biological or by adoption) crossing the Red Sea, may we also put away the old leaven of the old worldly culture. May we think of all the ways we can leave the ‘Egyptian’ behind and enter the Promised Land of His will and Kingdom as new reborn creations for His glory! Mark 1:41
Moved with pity, he (Yeshua) stretched out his hand and touched him (the leper) and said to him, "I will; be clean." Rabbi Yeshua touched the leper, declared him healed and therefore cleaned, then told him to go through the purification process as instructed by Moses (Mark 1:41-44). Doing so, Yeshua purposely made Himself ritually unclean thus fulfilled the Messianic hope, the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). The ritual to declare a healed leper cleansed is very mystical and the Torah does not give us any explanation to help us understand it. We are therefore left to define it by association. The ritual required that a bird should be killed over a vessel of water thus creating a blood and water mixture. Another live bird was tied up with a scarlet yarn and bound with hyssop to a cedar wood board. The entire package was then dipped into the clay pot of blood and water. The priest then sprinkled the leper seven times with the blood and water mixture, then released the live bird who did not need any more encouragement to quickly flee the scene. It was not finished. The priest then had to shave the healed/cleansed leper from head to toe and anoint him with the same markings as those of a priest. It is only after our now shaved and anointed man went to offer the required offering at the Temple that he was restored to full fellowship in the community (Leviticus 14). Looking at this whole ritual, it is hardly possible to miss the messianic symbolism. The live bird tied to a piece of wood with a tie of red (blood) yarn then dipped in a vessel of blood and water of a dead bird (Messiah shed blood and water from his side after His death), and then released to fly to the heavens, speaks so clearly of the death and resurrection of Messiah. This event creates in us a rebirth represented by the totally shaved man, and an anointing into the priesthood call promised through of Moses seen in the particulars of the oil application. Biblical leprosy representing death, corruption and sin, the issue of the leper is therefore a good illustration of how we are to God in our unredeemed state. Yeshua, as he touched the lepers took upon himself our sins and iniquity. The Messiah became a leper as the Talmud points out. He then subjected Himself to stripes and his bloody body was tied to a wood from where he died shedding blood and water to finally rise and ascend to the heavenlies where He sits, interceding for us at the right hand of His and our Father (Luke 24:26). Mark 1:40
And there came a leper to him, beseeching … saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. The Torah spends a considerable amount of time detailing a condition called ‘leprosy’. It tells us about people’s leprosy, but also about leprosy in beards, fabrics, and houses (Leviticus 13:18-59). Leprosy in the Bible seems to relate not only to the loathsome disease by that name, but also to all sorts of corruption and decay. The term seems to be used to refer to the advance of death and corruption in matter (Leviticus 13:4-8). On a metaphorical level, Jewish sages referred to leprosy as the disease the snake inherited as part of the curse. Uncleanliness and mortality is part of the curse brought on man because of sin so the metaphor is certainly befitting. Leprosy is also associated with one of the most important sin in the Bible, the one called ‘lashon harah’ which literally means ‘the evil tongue’ and which refers to gossip and slander. After slandering Moses her brother, Miriam was afflicted by this ‘leprosy’ (Numbers 12). Leprosy and the state of ritual impurity is irrelevant today because it only relates to the Temple in Jerusalem which does not exist at this present time. At the time when religiosity accorded undue emphasis to ritual purity, Yeshua came to put it back in its proper perspective. In the days of the Master, Priests and Levites were so obsessed with ritual purity that they would forget the commandments about mercy and helping those in need for fearing defiling themselves. We can see this in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33). Yeshua on the other hand was not afraid of being defiled by leprosy. On some occasions he even voluntarily touched a leper to heal him (Matthew 8:2-3). He even entered the house of Simon the Leper to eat with him, and this is where He met Mary-Magdalene (Matthew 26:6-7). The Talmud tells of one called: The Leper Messiah. It "records" a supposed discourse between the great Rabbi Joshua ben Levi and the prophet Elijah. The rabbi asks "When will the Messiah come?" And "By what sign may I recognize him?" Elijah tells the rabbi to go to the gate of the city where he will find the Messiah sitting among the poor lepers. The Messiah, says the prophet, sits bandaging his leprous sores one at a time, unlike the rest of the sufferers, who bandage them all at once. Why? Because He might be needed at any time and would not want to be delayed (Sanhedrin 98a). While this may seem to be a far-fetched story, it is not the only Jewish text which associates Messiah with leprosy. One of the names of the coming Messiah in the Talmud is: ‘The Leper Scholar’. Unlike the exclusive religious leaders of His days, as He came to us, Yeshua voluntarily put on the decaying condition of mortality. He touched our ‘leprosy’, and even entered our house to fellowship with us while in our mortal decaying condition. As He goes back to His father and our God, He takes us with Him to partake of His resurrected body. What a wonderful Messiah we have. Amen and Amen. May it be soon, even in our days! |
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