Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the NET, netbible.org, all rights reserved)

Now a leper came to him and fell to his knees, asking for help. “If you are willing, you can make me clean,” he said. Moved with indignation, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” The leprosy left him at once, and he was clean. Immediately Jesus sent the man away with a very strong warning.
Mark 1:40-42 (emphasis added)

Ever disliked something enough that even the smell of it made you want to throw up? Green peppers? Mushrooms? One of my children used to throw up in public bathrooms that had been recently cleaned because he loathed ammonia. What about disliking something enough it disgusted you? People eating with their mouths open? Drunks on the street? Maybe even homosexuality? Maybe you can’t even stand to be around people who are doing a thing or have a lifestyle you find disgusting, inappropriate, or wrong? Well, in Adonai’s eyes ALL sin made Him feel hatred. A real visceral hatred. Adonai is so righteous, He even hates sinners. “Arrogant people cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who behave wickedly” (Psalm 5:5). Adonai doesn’t rate sin. Sin in tiny or sin in huge, they are counted as sinning in ALL. “For the one who obeys the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:10). Yet, Adonai is COMPASSIONATE and MERCIFUL and does not WANT to judge us. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him” (John 3:17). It is COMPASSION and not disgust that is a character trait of Adonai Elohim.

What does this have to do with today’s verse? Well, one of the things Adonai particularly hates is falsehood. Gossip. A wild tongue. Call it what you want, Adonai hates it. “The Lord abhors a person who lies, but those who deal truthfully are his delight” (Proverbs 12:22). “For I am afraid that somehow when I come I will not find you what I wish, and you will find me not what you wish. I am afraid that somehow there may be quarreling, jealousy, intense anger, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder” (2 Corinthians 12:20). In fact, the Old Covenant ‘leprosy’ was a variety of skin diseases SEPARATE from natural diseases. It was a SPIRITUAL condition.

The Hebrew word Tzara’at translated as leprosy (such as in Leviticus 14:1–15:33) is not Hansen’s disease. Tzara’at is a skin disease that can take many different forms, and in particularly bad cases can manifest itself on one’s clothing, belongings, and house, in addition to the skin. One of the reasons a gossiping or negative tongue (or really the person who owns it) that would not stop was banished outside the camp was to isolate that negativity that could spread like cancer and endanger the entire community. Tzara’at was dealt with by priests, and not by doctors. Personally, since Jesus issued a “very strong warning” at the conclusion of the incident, I think that this was a spiritually caused ailment. Maybe Jesus’ warning was sternly asking the man to consider his actions and choose to act differently so that his sins would come back to him in the form of another rash on his skin, or mould growing in his home – a good question for all to consider (would it change what YOU do if that was the result?). We don’t know. However, since Jesus healed ALL, it doesn’t really matter which is the case (natural/physical or spiritual/physical). The important thing is that the leper was a leper, with a physical disease, which made him ceremonially impure and therefore a bit of an outcast.

Purity and impurity were major consideration in the Old Covenant. You got impure by touching impure things and also touching things that had touched impure things (Leviticus 19:22). Minor impurity could be reversed with a ritual bath, a ritual bath followed by waiting for nightfall, bringing a sacrifice to the Temple, or being sprinkled with special water mixed with the ashes of the Red Heifer (Numbers 19). The first two can be dealt with even today. The last two the Jews currently cannot, but in Jesus’ day it was still possible. It was serious. You couldn’t worship without being ritually pure. You couldn’t get your sin covered if you were ritually impure. This was access or denial of access to the entire sacrificial system upon which their standing with Elohim was maintained. This was SERIOUS.

But Jesus touched the leper. Jesus didn’t worry about it. He was not concerned. The Pharisees shunned Jesus for His willingness to deal with lepers at all (leprosy being a symbol of sin) in Matthew 9:10-17; Mark 2:15-22; and Luke 5:29-39. It was a typical move for Jesus who tended to minister to the outcasts since no one else would (Luke 14:12-14). Jesus came for the lost WHOMEVER they were. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”” (Luke 19:10). Which is a good thing for us. Remember that whole thing at the beginning about disgust? We ALL fell short of righteousness simply because of our bloodline (fallen Adam) and we further compounded it through sin – even just one. We’re all the same as each other in the eyes of Adonai. Sin is sin is sin. Jesus came to deal with it. To pay the price for it. To take it on Himself and be the price. Which is one reason that He didn’t fear to touch the leper. He was going to BE the sacrifice for us all. He came to bear our sin in His own body (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24), so He had nothing to fear from physical contact.

In this new ballgame of a NEW Covenant (the promised one of Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:6), GRACE was the watchword not LAW. “For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). Why Grace? Why give it to people (sinners) that did what Adonai HATES? Compassion. The Creator of the universe has a sympathetic consciousness of our distress. He doesn’t empathise with us (although He could – Hebrews 4:15). Empathy refers to an active sharing in the emotional experience of the other person who is suffering. But compassion adds to that emotional experience a desire to alleviate the person’s distress. Adonai NEVER wants to leave us where we are. “The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

It is Jesus’ compassion that again and again has Him healing ALL. It is one of the reasons we can trust the Word is true that He never EVER left ANYONE in ANYTHING but a completely and totally healed state. Jesus was compassionate. The Word is the story of Adonai’s compassion toward humanity. That compassion started when all of creation – including humanity – was an idea in the mind of Elohim (Ephesians 1:4-6; Revelation 13:8).

Compassion is a major attribute of the nature of Adonai. “The Lord is merciful and compassionate; he is patient and demonstrates great loyal love. The Lord is good to all and has compassion on all he has made” (Psalm 145:8-9). “Who is a God like you? Who forgives sin and pardons the rebellion of those who remain among his people? Who does not stay angry forever, but delights in showing loyal love? Who will once again have mercy on us? Who will conquer our evil deeds? Who will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea?” (Micah 7:18-19). “But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved!” (Ephesians 2:4-5).

Jesus is always willing to make us clean. Clean spiritually, clean emotionally, clean mentally, and clean physically (3 John 1:2). He is willing because He is compassionate. He came to save us and wants us to be saved. From sin. From separation from Yahweh. From sickness. From disease. From bondage. From shame. From toil (not work). From infertility (not just of body, but of employment, praise, and relationships). He came so that we could have abundant life in every way that pleases the Father (John 10:10). He came so that WE could be righteous in HIM. And as HE was compassionate on US while we were still sinners and His enemies by nature, temperament, thought, deed, and lifestyle; so too are WE called to be compassionate on others. We do it through Jesus. We remain in Jesus by being obedient, and we can’t do that unless we’re getting the Word in us so that the Ruach HaKodesh can bring alive in our minds the things of Adonai.

“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. And to all these virtues add love, which is the perfect bond. Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body to this peace), and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:12-17). He was willing. He is here with us so that we too can be willing. Be compassionate to EVERYONE. That’s not excusing sin. That’s refusing to excuse sin with patience, kindness, gentleness, and love. We can do it. In Jesus. Let’s be the Light for this world. Embrace the compassion by which YOU were healed of your sin. Don’t keep the BLESSING to yourself. Let’s spread it to everyone in a real and physical way. Just like Jesus did. It’s our calling.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 6:1

“In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.” Isaiah saw the glory of Messiah. He saw Messiah as Lord. As Adonai in His rightful place in heaven. ““He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn to me, and I would heal them.” Isaiah said these things because he saw Christ’s glory and spoke about him” (John 12:40-41). Jesus’ glory was seen by the disciples. In Matt 17:1-9; Mark 9:2-9; and Luke 9:28-36, Jesus was transfigured on the mountain. This was different than with Moses who REFLECTED light (Exodus 34:29-35). This light came from WITHIN Jesus. It was the inherent righteous nature of Adonai revealed within Jesus. The Son of God. The Seed of David. Jesus IS the Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b