A Study of Luke 5:12: The Willing Hand of Jesus
By Nancy Duarte, Bible Teacher & Founder of Life on Earth Ministries and Bible Chicks
There’s a moment in the Book of Luke which is so quiet that you could easily overlook it; there is no storm being calmed and no large number of people being fed, merely one man kneeling on the ground with one hand stretching down to him. Yet if you take the time to think about it, you will discover the spirit of Jesus in that single verse.
In one of the cities there was a man who had leprosy, and when he saw Jesus he fell on his face and asked him, ‘Lord, if you wish it, you can make me clean.’ — Luke 5:12
What Jesus did is shown in the next verse. He did not retreat. He did not put his face to the man. Instead, he reached out and touched him.
How about we take a moment to think about that in unison?
Three Years of Love in Motion
For approximately three years Jesus walked around in Galilee and in Judea, carrying out the work for which God had sent Him. He preached the Kingdom, forgave sins, raised the dead, and gave sight to the blind; He fed the hungry and calmed the storms. However, if you examine His journey carefully, you will notice that His miracles were not simply demonstrations of power but rather acts of love.
Whenever Jesus went somewhere, He revealed something regarding the character of God: God is not remote, not indifferent, and not so holy as to be unable to come near and hurt people. Time and again, both His actions and His words conveyed the same message: I see you; I am willing; come to me. The healings were the lesson, and the love was the purpose.
The love for him is most clearly seen in the way He treated a man whom everyone else had rejected.
What Leprosy Meant Back Then
If you want to understand this miracle, you need to know what leprosy meant in ancient times, since it wasn’t merely a diagnosis but a sentence.
According to the Law, a person suffering from leprosy was considered ceremonially unclean (as stated in Leviticus 13). This meant that they were not allowed to live in the camp, could not take part in worship in the temple, and could not hold their children, sit at their own family table, or feel the arms of the people they loved. They had to keep themselves at a distance, wear clothes that were torn, and shout out “Unclean! Unclean!” as a warning to anyone who came near.
To think about living like that for years—years with no one touching you, years during which people crossed the road to avoid you—the disease affected the body, but the isolation damaged the soul. In many respects, a person suffering from leprosy was treated as though they were already dead, being mourned, avoided, and forgotten while still alive.
When the man fell on his face and said, “Lord, if you wish it, you can make me clean,” he was not only requesting that his skin should be healed but was also asking to be accepted again—back into the community, back into worship, and back into the human family.
The Point Jesus Was Making
There is a point that ought to cause us to stop and think.
Jesus cured a great many people merely by speaking a word; when he spoke to a man who was paralyzed, that man was able to walk again, and when he replied to a Roman officer, a servant who was far away was healed. He ordered the storm, and it obeyed him; and he did not feel it necessary to touch anyone in order to heal them, for his word alone was sufficient.
Jesus decided to touch him, the man who was considered untouchable and who had not had a hand touched for a long time.
Consider this. The Law stated that if you came into contact with someone who had leprosy, you would become unclean, and that was the way everybody observed it. However, when Jesus put His hand on this man, the uncleanness did not pass to Jesus; rather, healing went from Jesus to the man. Jesus did not contract the disease; it was the man who received the healing from Jesus. The normal sequence was reversed since holiness had come in person.
I think that Jesus intended to do this. He might have cured the man from a distance. Rather than that, He traveled the distance which no one else would. Before healing his skin, Jesus gave him what he had lacked for years: touch. He gave him dignity. Jesus then, with His own hand, told him, “You are not too far gone for me. You are not too unclean for me to love.”
That is our Savior.
We May Not Have Leprosy, But We All Have Something
It is very likely that you do not have leprosy; most people reading this have never been sent to live outside the city walls.
But pause for a moment and be honest with yourself: is there something you have that makes you feel unclean? Do you keep it hidden so that nobody gets close enough to see it? Is it something about which you have whispered ‘unclean, unclean’ in your own life for too long?
Perhaps the problem you have is shame, some memory or error that you are certain would ruin everything if it ever became known. Or it could be addiction, something you have concealed for so long that you no longer know how to stop. It might be depression or anxiety, which causes you to feel isolated even when you are among people. It could be a failed marriage, a child who has left home, bankruptcy, a medical diagnosis, or an old injury from someone who had a duty to look after you. Or perhaps you are a woman in a toxic relationship that is gradually destroying your spirit, eroding your self-worth bit by bit, day by day, until you can no longer remember who God created you to be.
It could be the quiet, damaging idea that one is either too much or not enough, and that if people truly knew you, they would move over to the other side of the road.
No matter what your leprosy may be, remember that it will not drive Jesus away but will in fact draw Him nearer.
The very Jesus who reached into the dirt two thousand years ago is still willing now. He is not offended by the thing which you are most afraid to show Him; He knows it already and is still extending His reach. His reply to that trembling man is also His reply to you: “I am willing. Be clean.”
You are under no necessity of first correcting yourself. The man referred to in Luke 5 didn’t. He was completely afflicted with leprosy—’ full of it,’ as Luke puts it—and yet he went anyway. That is exactly what Jesus asks of us: come to Him as you are, and let God’s willing hand carry out what only He is able to do.
Your Worth Was Never Negotiable
I have included this truth in a book because it is important to me, and I would like you to have it.
This book, ‘Your Worth Was Never Negotiable’, is aimed at the woman who has allowed the world, a relationship, or her own sense of shame to lead her to believe she is not worth as much as she really is. It reminds us of what the man in Luke 5 discovered when Jesus touched him: our worth was never open to discussion; it was determined at the cross by God’s voluntary act, well before anyone had ever told us otherwise.
The book is arriving September 15 on Amazon, and you can get on the waitlist right now so you’re first in line the day it releases:
An Invitation to Go Deeper
If you currently have a feeling arising in your heart, don’t let this be the end of the matter. Let it mark the start instead.
This is your invitation if you are a woman reading this and would like to make greater efforts, if you want to move beyond just skimming the surface and instead really get into God’s Word. Bible Chicks is a community of women who study the Bible thoroughly, honestly struggle with it, and allow it to transform them from the inside out. You don’t need a seminary degree; all you need is a willing heart.
The table extends beyond a single town, state, or country. What began as a small number of women has now grown into a family of women across the nation and around the world—sisters from the United States and other places, from various cities, languages, and backgrounds, all of them attracted to the same Savior. We are now international, and there is a place here with your name on it.
No matter where you are or what you are carrying, join us for study. Meet the Jesus who reaches out to touch the very thing you had been told was untouchable.
He agrees; he has always done so.
With love, Nancy Duarte, Life on Earth Ministries • Bible Chicks
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