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While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged Him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”  But now even more the report about Him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear Him and to be healed of their infirmities.
Luke 5:12-15

    In Leviticus chapter 13 we are told that any person with leprosy had to wear torn clothes, had to have his beard and mouth covered at all times, and would have to go about yelling, “Unclean, unclean.” These things in the Old Testament symbolized that a person was ritually dead.  Anyone that came into contact with an unclean person, or anything that they touched became unclean. I have been told of the worst cases of leprosy that you can smell an infected person before you can see them.  Moreover, lepers had to live in caves and tents outside of the city and were never permitted to enter the temple.  To a Jewish man or woman the temple was everything.  The temple was the dwelling place of God.  If a person were unable to enter the temple they would be completely separated from God.
    Jewish people would avoid a leper at all cost.  Here comes Jesus, the cleanest Jew ever to walk the face of the earth, God Himself, and he touches the leper.  Jesus touches the leper.

And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before Him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
Luke 8:42b-48

    This woman was pretty much in the same predicament as the leper.  She too would have been made to dwell on the outskirts of the city.  She would have had to go about yelling, “Unclean, unclean,” so everyone would know to stay away from her because anything she touched or came in contact with would become unclean.  She had spent all that she had to be healed, and still would never see the temple.  And now she sees Jesus in the crowd, and she risks everything to touch His garment because she knows that He has the power to heal her.  And what does Jesus do?  He lets her touch him.  Jesus calls her daughter.  Having spent the last 12 years on the fringes of society and separated from the presence of the Lord, Jesus calls her daughter. “Daughter.” With this one word, she is welcomed into the family of God.

 

    Growing up, at dinner time, when my mom was almost finished preparing the meal, she would yell at either me or one of my sisters to, “Come wash your hands and get ice and tea for everyone.”  She always said it, and she always said it the exact same way. You knew exactly when she was going to say it.  One night, a few years ago, from in another room I heard my mom yell just as she always had…
      A couple summers ago I went up to Wisconsin to do disaster relief after many towns had been flooded by an accumulation of record snowfall, record rainfall, and a levy breakage.  While in Wisconsin, I would go into people’s flooded homes and clean out the waste that had been brought in by the flood water, at times even handling raw sewage. Some of the stuff was so disgusting that you could smell it before you could see it.  Now, my mom is yelling at me from the other room to come wash my hands so that they will be clean for when I handle the ice that is going into everyone’s drinks and a thought enters my mind, “If my mom only knew the filth that has been handled by these hands she would never want me to touch the ice again, no matter how hard I scrubbed my hands.”
    As a young child rage was sort of my thing. If something didn’t go exactly as I wanted it to all hell would break loose.  As I got a little older I realized that if I really wanted to get my way that there were much better ways to manipulate people.  By the time I entered middle school I had become a pervert, and manipulation was the least of my transgressions.  Now, out of high school my mom is yelling at me from the other room to come wash my hands so that they will be clean for when I handle the ice that is going into everyone’s drinks and a thought enters my mind, “If my mom only knew the filth that has been done with these hands, she would never want me to touch the ice again, no matter how hard I scrubbed my hands.”  In fact, I don’t think anyone would. Not only would they not want me handling their ice, but they would seek to avoid me at all cost.

    I had been a filthy person all of my life, stained by the leprosy of sin.  And then Jesus came down into human history, and he touched me.  Amidst all of our sin and filth, Jesus Christ, the God of the universe came down from heaven bearing all of my sin, my shame, my guilt, and he nailed it to the cross.  God killed His own son on my behalf, and raised Him from the dead, requiring my repentance and that I trust in Him.  No longer unclean, and free to dwell in the presence of the Most High, He touched me. Jesus touched me.