Or, Cleansing and Community for an Outcast
Scripture: Luke 5:12-16
Date: August 23, 2026
Speaker: Sean Higgins
To be a leper was to be about the worst thing you could be in Israel. It wasn’t a sin to be a leper, but it was typically assumed that you were a leper because of God’s judgment on your sin. It was enough to make a man unclean, so unwelcome in the community by law, and not permitted to participate in business or worship. A leper wasn’t put to death, he might have wished he was. It was injury and illness and insult all together.
There are entire chapters in the Old Testament with laws for lepers (see in particular Leviticus 13-14). The leper laws might be more extensive than laws for any other type non-atonement liturgy. It was a physical disease with physical consequences, and it carried a religious designation with social consequences. A leper was unwell and unclean. A leper had to get a priest’s approval of cleansing before he could re-enter community life. It was brutal.
Leprosy was also something only God could heal. Once you got it, you likely died with it or from it. While there were a variety of skin issues that could be considered under the broad term leprosy, many of them had no medical fix. If your skin started to look inflamed or infected, you hoped your issue was something else, something that would go away. You’d be quarantined for seven days while you waited. If the priest examined you and it was just a breakout, you were good. But if it had spread, apart from an act of God, it was almost hopeless.
Luke 5:12-16 shows just such an act of God. Jesus does what only God can do.
Jesus knew where the school of fish was which led to Simon Peter’s conviction about his sin (Luke 5:8). The following healing of the paralytic is explicitly a God-only issue of forgiveness (Luke 5:20). The associations of leprosy with sin bring this event into the same thread. Jesus cleanses a leper and restores the outcast to the community.
We’re still traveling with Jesus on His teaching tour, now in an unnamed city. Stories about what His words were doing were spreading, and a man full of leprosy came to Him.
The Greek word lepros seems to have initially referred to what was “scaly” or “rough.” The label of leprosy in the Bible could refer to a number of skin conditions we name more specifically today, including psoriasis, eczema, alopecia, lupus, and even some fungus like ringworm. Our medical term for leprosy proper is Hansen’s Disease, a slow-growing chronic infection when the skin is discolored and flaky. If untreated, permanent nerve damage can lead to a loss of sensation, which can lead to unnoticed injuries and rubbing off fingers and toes. We can’t know exactly what this man had, but he’s got it bad; he’s “covered” (LSB).
Leprosy was often a sign of God’s judgment. Miriam spoke against Moses, and became “leprous, like snow” (Numbers 12:10). The law threatened the disobedient “with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed” (Deuteronomy 28:27). “The LORD touched the king [Azariah], so that he was a leper” because he didn’t remove the high places (2 Kings 15:4-5). King Azariah (also called Uzziah) went into the temple, burned incense, and “leprosy broke out on his forehead…because the LORD had struck him” (2 Chronicles 26:18-20).
When Naaman the Syrian (previously referenced by Jesus in Luke 4:27) traveled to Israel for healing (2 Kings 5), the king of Syria sent a letter on Naaman’s behalf and “when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?’” (2 Kings 5:7).
One commentator said having this disease was “a form of living death” (Frederic Godet). So again, leprosy brought with it the community’s assumption that it was punishment by God for sin, and anticipated healing alone by God.
The leper shouldn’t even be in town. Verse 12 may make it seem like the leper happened to see Jesus, but it’s more that he was looking for Jesus and found Him. When he did, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
The leper makes no demands. He also has no questions about Jesus’ ability. He appeals to Jesus as Lord, and he submits himself to whatever the Lord wills.
He is asking for a miracle. He is not merely asking for clear skin, he’s asking for his life back.
Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” Full of leprosy meant easy to spot from a distance, yet Jesus has zero anxiety about being approached by this outcast. There’s no resistance, no warning to stay away, no taking a step back. Instead, though it was against the tradition of the rabbis, Jesus touched the leper.
And then the Lord declared His desire and declared a cleansing.
Just as with Peter’s mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-39), the leper got instant healing.
Then Jesus charged him to tell no one. Luke keeps the focus on Jesus, but other gospel writers include that the man couldn’t keep his mouth shut; “he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town” (Mark 1:45).
Jesus had been telling the demons not to talk, but why didn’t He want this man giving testimony? Perhaps it was to keep the man focused, to see the priest, to get him fully restored to the community. Go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them. This was proper procedure according to the Mosaic Law. Jesus pronounced the leper clean, he couldn’t get more clean. But this also demonstrated that Jesus knew and upheld the law.
There are two brief pieces of response, in public and private.
Now even more the legend grew. There were more people who wanted healing. But there were also more people who wanted to hear His teaching, hearing and healing.
As Luke tells the healing of the paralytic in the next section, amazement and awe filled the people (5:26).
As for Jesus, he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
The next four episodes in Luke show Jesus not only ministering, but making the religious leaders angry. Prayer in private kept Him in fellowship with the Father.
Luke has the healing of the leper and the healing of the paralytic (Luke 5:17-26) next to each other on purpose. I chose to preach this passage on its own because of the connection between what was visible on the surface and what was assumed under the skin. Jesus knew what was under the surface of the water, where the fish were (Luke 5:4-8). This is part of what freaked Peter out. What else did Jesus know?
Luke doesn’t name this leper’s sin, nor does Jesus explicitly say “Your sins are forgiven.” But there were at least associations. It’s why he asked not just for healing, but for cleansing.
What to look for in an outcast who should not be turned away:
Not entitled, demanding, or doubting.
Those who are in privileged positions can come too, but not with an entitled attitude. For that matter, being an outcast isn’t automatically better if the outcast is bitter. The leper didn’t complain how unfair it was to be outcast.
These days we don’t interact with a lot of lepers, but we are living in days where some externals suggest something wrong more than skin deep. It’s not exactly the same, of course, but there are some modern analogies. Unnatural hair color isn’t a medical condition, but it is obvious, and it is usually a sign that something is wrong.
What is our message? Come to Jesus.
Learn to see the difference between those who are broken, and those who are broken and make it their mission to break others. Many with green/purple/pink hair in the first group need to hear the good news in Jesus Christ, and you know the grace that cleanses down to the roots.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24, 28 ESV)