PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.
Jesus, We belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Luke 5:12-15 (NIV)
While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.
Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
CONSIDER THIS
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.
He didn’t have to touch him.
But he did. These nine words not only carried the day they changed history.
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.
All he had to do was anything other than touch him. He could have said, “Be clean!” and been done with it. This was the worst thing he could possibly do. Leprosy was considered to be highly contagious and the kiss of death. People with leprosy were commonly referred to as lepers and were exiled to a leper colony, completely cut off from their family, friends, and entire community. Anytime they were anywhere near other people they had to shout “Unclean! Unclean!” And worse, they were regarded as suffering from the disease because of their sin. It was the ultimate expression of shunning and shaming. It destroyed not only the body of the sick person but their very core identity. In short, it ruined them, and there was really no coming back from it. To touch this person is to take the grave risk of joining them in their walking grave.
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.
That’s what Jesus did. He joined the entire human race in our personal and collective walking graves. Jesus had to touch him. Otherwise, why did he even need to come? Words could have been spoken from a distance; even from the great distance of the heavens.
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.
Do you see it? The kingdom of heaven is no longer in heaven. It is quite literally, at hand.
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.
I want us to go to the instant replay on this scene and watch it in slow motion.
Jesus . . . reached . . . out . . . his . . . hand . . . and . . . . . . touched . . . . . . the . . . . . . man.
See the desperate man at the feet of Jesus with his face to the ground. He won’t even look at Jesus. He begs him, pleading, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Notice how Luke, the physician, never refers to the man as a leper? He calls him “a man.” He was not his condition or sickness. He was “a man” the doctor diagnosed as “covered with leprosy.” This is the real problem isn’t it? The leprosy was a skin condition that had seeped into his soul. Now listen as Jesus speaks:
“I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”
Practice saying it aloud. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” It will come in handy someday. Now behold what happened.
And immediately the leprosy left him.
Immediately! Just like the demons, the leprosy had no choice. In the presence of Jesus and his “at hand” kingdom, light expels darkness; life envelopes death; wholeness embraces brokenness.
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.
This is love; love at the level of power. Love touches the untouchable and turns it into total embrace. Note this last bit:
Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
Jesus touches the man and now the whole community will embrace him.
It’s amazing how in touching this man he touched all of us.
And we are changed.
THE PRAYER
Our Father, how overjoyed and proud you must have been to see your Son Jesus reach out his hand and touch this man suffering with leprosy. How long you waited for such a scene to unfold. What a blessing to behold it still to this day. We get the sense that not only did it happen then but it is still happening everywhere and every time one of his agents reaches out and touches those who suffer in faith and love. Just help me take it in. Just let me take it in, no agenda. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man and the leprosy flees. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.
THE QUESTION
Are you allowing yourself to uncritically behold the scene today? We are meant to take it into our deepest self. Can you see Jesus reaching out his hand to touch you? Can you see Jesus in yourself reaching out your hand to touch another with this kind of love becoming power?
THE HYMN
I know, you are thinking we should sing the Gaither favorite, “He Touched Me.” It feels a little too on the nose, but we will do it anyway. And good news! It’s in the Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise, as hymn 578.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
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3 Responses
This posting is a reminder that Jesus took on our flesh to become one of us so that in turn we could become more like Him. If we are truly in Him, the only barrier to more truly displaying His image is our failure for self to decrease while He increases within us. Lord help us to have a servant’s heart. Jesus said that His disciples would do the same works as He had been doing. (John 14:12)
The presence and the touch of Jesus continue into this now moment and every now moment to come. He remains ever-present and willing. Perhaps the only thing missing is people who are consciously overwhelmed by their brokenness and alienation, face down and begging for His healing. I saw hundreds of people in that condition on the final morning of the Seedbed New Room Conference last year. What I saw and felt then continues to burn in my heart and to overwhelm me to stay face down crying out for the risen Jesus. “Lord Jesus, I behold that you are willing. The question is, am I?”
This story in the Book of Luke is more than physical healing. It’s a soulful and spiritual revelation. I agree wholeheartedly that the man’s condition is not his identity.
“Notice how Luke, the physician, never refers to the man as a leper? He calls him ’a man.’ He was not his condition or sickness. He was ’a man’ the doctor diagnosed as ‘covered with leprosy.’ This is the real problem, isn’t it? The leprosy was a skin condition that had seeped into his soul.”
In the FREE IDEED program, first and foremost I teach about our identity in Christ. If we don’t get this, nothing else is gotten. How can we walk, live and pray in the spirit if we don’t understand we are a spirit, who has a soul, who temporarily lives in a body? We must learn about, then believe and behold, know without a doubt our identity is in Christ, and His identity as Lord is in us. This knowledge beyond our understanding is essential to living life as a spirit. We must know we are a spirit with a soul, who temporarily dwells in a body, experiencing a physical life for a brief moment in physical time. Our sinful nature would have us believe we are a body, with a soul, trying to figure out this idea of spirituality. We search for our identity in the world. Ultimately, we never find it in the world, because our identity is inside us.
In this distortion, we believe that our identity is found in our experiences and conditions. We call a person without a house, homeless. In reality, they are a spirit, a child of God even if they don’t know it, experiencing homelessness. The same goes for an alcoholic, workaholic, etc. these conditions are not their identity, but a temporary experience. Even if they choose to stay in this conditional experience for their human lifetime, it’s still temporary because everything in the physical realm has an exploration date. You do not.
By the way, Jesus and his apostles experienced at least three years of homelessness. But, Bible never refers to them as homeless.
Staying 💪’ n Christ,
Doc