Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.  Luke 5:13

Every generation has its dread disease. This is the one disease that is feared above all. The diagnosis can mean suffering, poverty, despair, and eventually death.

We think of the major epidemics of history, such as the Bubonic plague, Yellow fever, Measles, Smallpox, and Polio, to name a few. These epidemics were devastating and terrifying at the same time—something to dread.

In the ancient Biblical world, the biggest dread disease was called leprosy. A diagnosis meant the end of life as it had been before. The course of the disease could take years, but it called for a permanent quarantine away from family and community. It was assumed that leprosy was a sort of divine judgment. Sufferers were unclean and not permitted in places of worship.

The teachers of Judaism came to a firm belief that leprosy was something that could only be healed and cleansed by the Messiah of God Himself. This was one of the signs that would verify that Messiah had actually come.

So, Luke purposefully reports the first of several incidents in which Jesus healed and cleansed people of the Dread Disease. But more than just a checkmark on one's Messianic List, this healing revealed that Jesus is Lord over whatever you may dread. Jesus can cleanse the most frightening possibility out of your life.

Join us at Faith Fellowship as we study Luke's Gospel. Certainty in an Uncertain World: A Certain Dread.

Electronic Message Notes