What kind of person am I, Quarantined or Pronounced Clean?

1. In Matthew 8:1-4, is an account of a Leper, a covenant Jew who approached Jesus in the presence of a great multitude of Jews, but it’s how he approached Jesus that caught my attention. You see, according to God’s law under Moses (Leviticus. 13:45), he should have been pronouncing himself as “Unclean! Unclean!” Instead, he approach Jesus “prostrating himself before him in full dependency and submission, Matthew 8:2. According to God’s law through Moses, when someone was found actively Leprous, the priest would pronounce him to be ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 13:3, 8, 11, 14, 15, 20, 22, 25, 27, 30, 36, 44), and if anyone approached him he was to warn them by “pronouncing out” Himself as unclean, in (v. 45). So why didn’t the Leper cry out “Unclean! Unclean,” when he came to Jesus? Should he have warned Jesus of Leprosy? Can Jesus, the Author of cleansing be overcome by viruses, diseases, or sins? In 2020, there were people among us crying out “Corona! Corona,” in and around our communities, states, and continents, around the world. Many are pronounced “unclean” and therefore quarantined. Some may have the virus and are not aware of it, some may have it and are aware but feel too embarrassed or ashamed to warn anyone. Why didn’t he warn that he had a plague spot on his body and that he was quarantined because his condition was contagious? Not fit for entrance to the Tabernacle of God or among the community of God’s people. He was not safe for anyone to be with. He may have felt like the plague, a contagious disease, a rejection, separated from God and man. He may have felt unclean spiritually, morally, mentally, physically, and socially. No sacrifices were made to pronounce him clean or atone for his trespasses and sins. This is the condition that sin against God can put us in when we are devoted to it. “Spiritual and moral Quarantine.” Take example from Moses’ sister MIriam’s rebellion against God’s appointed leader due to envy in her heart is willful quarantine (isolation) from God’s direction in (Numbers 12:1-15). Gehazi who was Elisha’s servant, out of his covetous disposition tried to take wrongful advantage of God’s servants Elisha’s and Naaman’s agreement in (2 Kings 5:20-27). Gehazi’s imagination quarantined his heart from respecting Elisha’s decision. Uzziah’s prideful presumption to act as a self-appointed priest quarantined him from being faithful to the Lord (2 Chronicles. 26:16-23). For each of these unfaithful servants, God cursed their behavior with Leprosy. So, what is it that drew the Leper to Jesus? Was it that to him Jesus was the fulfillment of every offering that God in the O. T. required: two birds (one of them sacrificed), cedar, scarlet, hyssop, above flowing fresh water; the wave offering, trespass, grain, burnt (sin) offerings, for cleansing and atoning sin, (Leviticus 14)? So, did he violate the Law or act according to faith? His statement to Jesus says that he believed in His power to cure his condition.

2. Nevertheless, feeling the way that he did about his condition, he did reveal himself to Jesus in his statement in Matthew. 8:2, saying “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” He knelt before Jesus admitting his unclean condition! To Him, Jesus is the Essential Priest! It is important to humble oneself to recognize when we are in conditional or practical terms, “unclean” before the Lord’s presence. It is only at that realization that we can receive His cleansing pronouncement and touch for our lives. The Leper came to Jesus fully confident in His power to restore him to a cleansed state. He did not ask to be healed from leprosy, but, cleansed from it. Why? Because, he was ceremonially defiled, fleshly polluted, unclean, a desecrated man. This man approached Jesus with reverence and uncertainty. He is confident in His power, but, not sure concerning His willingness to do his specific request. It is true that while we can know that which is written to us (in God’s word) for our learning and admonition, but, there is still unwritten freedoms of the divine prerogative and actions of God in real time. That is, we may not know what His specific will is in the present time as it may pertain to His eternal purpose. That’s why we are to state from (Matthew. 26:39) “thy will be done, not mine.” In other words, though God and Jesus care about our specific matters, and we claim Him as our personal Savior, it doesn’t mean that when I come to Him requesting His help, that “He is my personal Genie in a bottle” to fulfill my interests. God is not subject to anyone’s request! In kneeling to Him, I recognize that He is greater than I, everyone and everything. Jesus called on His Father’s help, whether He was willing in His circumstances or not willing. Jesus still trusted in His Father’s plan beyond his circumstances. If God had delivered Jesus from the cross, there would be no true sacrifice, atonement, or redemption, of human sin and disobedience. We would remain unforgiven, unclean spiritually and morally, without true salvation. According to the gospel of Mark 1:41, of this same account, he says that Jesus was moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched (hugged) him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Jesus felt something in His bowels (pity in His heart) for him. Maybe what Jesus had pity for was a man who recognized that in the sight of God, he had shame and distress about his “unclean desecrated condition,” even though a covenant Jew. Yet, He was pleased with the faith of the unclean Leper. Because of this, Jesus touched him with divine compassion to declare him cleansed from Leprosy. Now, able to present himself before the Lord and the Israelite community as a man who belongs. Leprosy was no longer lord over his life. In this matter, Jesus’ compassion superseded the Mosaic code of ceremony. Religious faith should produce the work of caring compassion for human needs rather than the work of ceremony. In COVID-19 circumstances, buying up all the water and toilet tissue for one household, giving big businesses billions of dollars of bailout money because of some economic loss at the expense of smaller businesses, the common taxpayers, and the working poor, shows no compassion. In Proverbs 11:1, Solomon teaches that “Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight.” The point here is to be honest to all of their neighbors, as they would want to be treated being in less favorable circumstances. Not to mention, that the wealthy and powerful officers of our government no matter what party, are able to get themselves and their families tested immediately for the virus, passing up others who can’t afford healthcare. There are different reasons for each individual’s circumstance of course. But, the system is money-driven not compassion-driven! This is a quarantined mindset. Souls are classified economically by society according to net worth, not according to being God’s gracious creation, (Gen. 1:27). This is a different kind of “Leprosy,” but, it produces the same results, “Isolation” from needed services based on financial class, which will ultimately affect ethnic classification. What is not needed is “Quarantined Christians,” but “Christians who are Pronounced Clean spiritually and morally,” are needed to call out that which is “unclean in politics, business, and services, also upholding these entities that are doing good towards all as “pronounced clean,” based on first-hand knowledge, and bless the needy who want to get better by doing compassionate services to help improve based on our experience, gifts and talents that God endowed to each of us. These are some of the ways that we can represent Jesus in showing the willingness to be a part of the cleansing process in the new normal future of our communities.

3. After being cured by the words and touch (hug) of Jesus, the cured Leper was directed to go to the priest to be examined and offer sacrifices that would pronounce him cleansed and atoned. The leper had the responsibility of traveling to the location of the priest, and after examination, he was to follow all of the instructions of the appointed priest under the Mosaic covenant. Jesus had not yet, died for the sins of mankind. It was the Lepers responsibility to participate in the service of his own restoration with the Lord and His priest. He was to follow the same descriptive ceremony as Leviticus 14. The purpose of the sacrifices to God is not just to do a ceremony, the ceremony is a message to God and His community concerning the leper’s restored covenant identity. He was to buy two birds alive and clean, cedar, scarlet, hyssop, and earthenware. He was to slaughter one of the birds and place the blood in the earthenware. Then, he was to dip the living bird into the slain bird’s blood where he also put some cedar, scarlet, and hyssop, over fresh flowing water, then, the living bird flew away. Some of the meanings taken from these objects speak about the effect, power, value, and integrity, of the sacrificial services through the priest of God. The living bird dipped into the dead bird’s blood can signify both “rebirth and living sacrifice,” the cedar, for its “strong roots which can stabilize the tree,” scarlet known otherwise as Crimson, which is a blood red colored dye produced by a Crimson Grub Worm that attaches itself to a tree trunk to have babies and leaves this precious dye when she dies, hyssop is a plant or herb that contains purging properties, the flowing water is about “freshness,” and the living bird flying away is about taking away the unclean condition and status of the leper before he enters the camp and the tabernacle. As the leper follows the priest’s instructions, the significant importance of this offering is that it is an act of his humble obedience which is acceptable to God because through it his covenant rebirth, stability, value, and purity, are restored of which he participated. He was also to remove and wash the leprous clothing and cut off all the hair on his whole body from the leprous condition and then bathe himself in water to be clean. He also had other sacrifices to offer on behalf of dedication, trespasses, sins, guilt, thanksgiving, and oil of anointing for him, (Leviticus. 14:10-18). At the fulfillment of these responsibilities, according to his new condition and practice, he would be atoned for and dedicated to the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle and the Israelite community again, pronounced by the priest as cleansed from Leprosy to live as a covenant child of God, citizen, to be a responsible man, husband, father, brother, friend, neighbor, employee, example to others on how to remain clean in life choices and decisions relating to any matter whether personal religious and moral integrity, the marriage, the household, family issues, friendships, fellowships, work ethic, ethnic cultural issues, socioeconomic class and political issues, etc. Because he was made clean and participated in his responsibilities in the process of cleansing, he is now responsible for remaining clean in all of his endeavors. He is now a safe person to be with again. He has the purpose of being an example among and with the Israelites to the surrounding nations and the world. So again, “Who are we, Quarantined Christians or Pronounced Clean Christians?” Like the Leper, once we are or were “pronounced clean,” we are and were given the responsibility of participating in our own life devoted to sanctification, righteousness, holiness, and remaining in God’s anointing for us. In this state, we are a people relevant to improving circumstances by proclaiming and sharing God’s counsel as it applies to any aspect of life and society. Our daily lives will bear witness to how and where we stand with the question. But remember, that as cleansed people of God, we should not be people of pure and continuous “worldly pride, envy, covetousness, partiality, hatred, lust, politics, deception, etc., among each other nor among any part of the world. There is no place in this for us because in the cleansing, these were spiritually quarantined from us in Christ. Because of this, we have been “Made Essential ” by God in Christ. So as a person pronounced clean by Jesus’ words, take His cure to everyone and into every life and societal matter that needs to be addressed.

By: Gary Patton