We pick up our study of Matthew’s Gospel in Matthew 8:1-4 . . .

“When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. 2 And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." 3 Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

Jesus had already performed many miracles but this time he takes on the disease which is said to be worse than death. Leprosy was relentless and almost always fatal in Christ’s day. Its subjects were like the walking dead, separate from the rest of humanity, without human contact, love, home, country, or employment. Everything we take for granted, was taken from them at the time of diagnosis.

Leprosy is not a pretty disease. Its spread cannot be slowed or stopped. It changes one’s appearance day to day until its victim is unrecognizable. It melts away fingers, toes, facial features, and limbs, inches at a time, and at last it destroys the vital organs. Leprosy is the embodiment of what the curse has done to us physically and the representation of what sin has done to us spiritually. Death is the result on both counts, one physical, the other, spiritual. One leads to the grave, the other, to the second death, meaning eternal separation from God!

That a Leper made his way to Jesus by pressing through a great crowd is astonishing! He just wasn’t supposed to be there. He was to have no contact with healthy humans. It was the law of God! Yet, driven by desperation, by life and death, he was there, in the presence of Jesus, his only hope, and he . . .

Matthew 8:2 “. . . bowed down before Jesus, and said, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."