We're gonna read from Leviticus 14, third book of the Bible. Leviticus chapter 14 for our longer reading, and then we have the sermon text from Luke 5. In Luke 5, we will be introduced to a leper. In Leviticus 14, verses one through 32 goes through the laws for cleansing lepers. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, this shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest and the priest shall go out of the camp and the priest shall look. Then if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person, the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet yarn and hyssop. And the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water. He shall take the live bird with the cedar wood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field. And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water and he shall be clean. And after that he may come into the camp, but live outside his tent seven days. And on the seventh day, he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair, and then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean. And on the eighth day, he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb, a year old, without blemish, and a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah, a fine flour mixed with oil, and one log of oil. And the priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed and these things before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the priest shall take one of the male lambs and offer it for a guilt offering along with the log of oil and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. And he shall kill the lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering in the place of the sanctuary. For the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest. It is most holy. The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. Then the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand, and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and sprinkle some oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. And some of the oil that remains in his hand, the priest shall put on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering. And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. Then the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord. The priest shall offer the sin offering to make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. And afterward he shall kill the burnt offering. And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him and he shall be clean. But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering to be waived, to make atonement for him, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering and a log of oil. Also two turtle doves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. And on the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord. And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the log of oil and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. And he shall kill the lamb of the guilt offering and the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. And the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand and shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the Lord. And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, in the place where the blood of the guilt offering was put. And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed to make atonement for him before the Lord. And he shall offer of the turtle doves or pigeons, whichever he can afford, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, along with a grain offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for him who is being cleansed. This is the law for him in whom is a case of leprous disease who cannot afford the offerings for his cleansing. And this is the word of the Lord. Now let's turn to Luke chapter five. I'll never forget teaching Bible class to an eighth grade group and doing an assignment on Leviticus, because I was tasked with teaching the Pentateuch. And this one boy was going through all these texts in Leviticus, and his eyes kind of lit up. He's like, oh, I get it now. It all points to Jesus. And it was this kind of big moment for me. It's good to think back on that from my teaching days. Thought I'd share that with you. Luke 5, let's read Luke 5, verses 12 through 16. This is our text this morning. While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, I will be clean. And immediately the leprosy left him. And he charged him to tell no one but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded for a proof to them. But now even more, the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. This is the word of the Lord. Boys and girls, have you ever had a wound that is open, or your skin is broken, and everything is raw? Skin's discolored, it doesn't look right. It's all red and the hairs are white perhaps. That's what happens when you have leprosy. Maybe your wound was open or you saw somebody with a wound that was open and oozing with pus. It's gross. I just saw somebody, an adult, go like this. Right? Do we want to get close to that kind of a wound? And the answer's no, perhaps if we're a nurse or a doctor we do, but we tend not to want to get close to that. And so when people have a severe skin disease of some sort, it can be quite a struggle for them socially in that sense, relationally. But in the time of the Bible, There was, in addition to this obvious physical unattractiveness with leprosy, there was the challenge of ritual uncleanness. Ritual uncleanness. And so people who had leprosy were outcasted. And this story we have this morning, this account from the ministry of Jesus here in Luke 5, is the story of an outcast being restored. It's the story of a great reversal of healing and cleansing. The good news for us, the gospel for us this morning is that this is our story as well. We were wounded, and I'm giving the whole sermon up front right now, so listen closely. We were wounded in need of cleansing. We were outcasted because of our condition. And Jesus became the outcast in our place so that we would be brought near to God. This is the good news for us this morning. And so I've titled the message, Who Will Clean Me? And the answer is Jesus will. So we'll look at the need for cleansing and then how Jesus cleans. So verse 12, while Jesus was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. Leprosy, a horrible skin disease. Leviticus 13, right before what we read in Leviticus 14, describes leprosy in more detail. Describes it as lesions and swelling, flaking of the skin, ringworm, boils, ulcers, all of that. Skin that's itchy and raw and burnt. Very painful and very unsightly. This man's covered with leprosy, he's disfigured. And so this man can't be in society as one who is unclean. Think about that, he can't go to the shops, can't go to work, can't go to the synagogue, the community centers, wherever people are he can't be. Leviticus 13 says, verse 45 and 46, anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face, and cry out, unclean, unclean. As long as they have the disease, they remain unclean. They must live alone. They must live outside the camp. I mean, we could try to imagine this in our context. Unable to come here. It's a place of worship. Unable to go to Costco. You know, you see all the people bumping into each other everywhere. You couldn't do that. Couldn't get your groceries. This takes physical distancing to the next level. But not just physical distancing, social distancing if we want to use that term. This man is lonely. This man is filled with shame as well in his loneliness and he's despairing. You know, we were created by God to live in community with other people. It's part of the blessing of coming together on Sunday, but we're created to live with other people. You can't do life on your own. So whether you're introverted, whether you're extroverted, you need people. You can't live well, you can't live fully, completely on your own. And this man is alone. He's an outcast. Again, unable to work, unable to live in society, forced to live outside the city, shunned, excluded, feared. The very sight of him turns people off. It causes their stomachs to be nauseous. If you've ever watched the movie Ben-Hur, it's worth bringing that up here as a wonderful visual example for us of what this would be like. So Judah Ben-Hur, main character in this movie that was made 65 years ago, so I'll give a few spoilers, but you've had some time to watch it. Won many Oscars. This is a good movie. In some ways, who cares about that? But I'm telling you, it's worth watching. Ultimately, a story about Jesus, by the way. But in this movie, this character Judah Ben-Hur is falsely accused of a crime. There's a political motivation to this. And so he's taken to the galleys, and he's enslaved there, and his mother and his sister are thrown into jail. And at a certain point in time, a soldier comes to inquire after the mother and the sister, and opens the door, and the jailer and the soldier discover together that these two women are lepers. And so you see a little bit of that, but you see the horror upon the discovery that this jailer and soldier make. In their eyes, you see it again in their nose, you see it in how they shrink back from these ladies. And so they take them outside the city and they burn the inside of the cell. And you get some glimpses into the life of these ladies and the embarrassment they feel. Also when they do meet up with their son, once again he pursues them. The embarrassment and the utter shame that they feel when he finds out about them. It's a great visual for us that we can actually connect to. This leopard feels great shame. This leopard is experiencing deep need. There's no fooling about his condition. There's no pretending that everything's okay. It's an inescapable reality. And it's a hellish reality. It's like a dead man walking. And so he wants nothing more than to be healed. You can at least begin to appreciate that, can't you, as you put yourself in his shoes as much as possible. The big thing is to be healed. There are some skin diseases that are temporary. Leviticus can speak to that too. There are some that are not, and this man has this chronic, incurable form of leprosy. He's at his wits, and he is desperate. And so Jesus comes into the city, and he begs before him, verse 12. He falls face down on the ground. Is this reverence from him? Is it desperation? Probably it's both. And you may have felt that he is beyond the reach of God's mercy, desperate and ashamed as he is. But he cries out nevertheless. He falls on his face and begs and he cries out, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And we see in that humility, I can't make myself clean. But we also see in that hope, you can. Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Well, Jesus is able. He's God. And somehow the leper, I think, knows this. Right? You can make me clean. He's heard Jesus preach. He's perhaps seen some other miracle. You can make me clean. But what's the question? If you will. Is Jesus willing? Well, Jesus is willing. Mark puts in the story in his account of this at this point. He says, filled with compassion. Jesus turns to him, filled with compassion. And so, beloved, this is to say that we have a compassionate Savior. Let's reflect on that. God is not stingy with his grace. God is not cheap with his gifts. But God desires to bless us. He takes delight in that. And so we can reflect on what this means for us. It's a point of reflection for us from this message. For the leper, it means he's about to be healed. And so we have the miracle. Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. Notice in verse 13. And this shows his compassion again. He could have just spoke. But he reaches out to the man. Remember, this man is isolated. As all get out, this man would have been starved for human touch. Stretches out his hand, touches him. And then he speaks. He speaks just one word. Katharistate in Greek. Be clean. And the leprosy leaves him. What power Jesus has, right? We see the power of Jesus in this. Anybody else who touched this man would have become unclean himself. Numbers 19 verse 22 says, anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening. But Jesus is not made unclean by touching the leopard. No, the leopard is made clean by Jesus' touch. John Calvin comments on this saying, he possesses, Jesus possesses such purity as to repel all filth and defilement. So we see his power, that he is unique, that he is amazing, that he is awesome in what he can do here and what he has done here. And this is good news. Particularly for this man, it is good news. And so the man wants to spread the good news. It's only natural, right? Jesus says no. In fact, we're told that Jesus charges him. Jesus, this is verse 14, to tell no one. It's an order, it's a strong warning to the man. Don't go spread this good news. Why? Well, there's something else he has to do first. Go show yourself to the priest. Go offer the sacrifices as Moses commanded for your cleansing. And so we read about that, didn't we, from Leviticus 14, which describes those regulations in detail, a lot of regulations, very detailed and specific regulations. The end of Leviticus 13, or close to the end, says that it shall be shown to the priest, the disease. It's shown to the priest, and then there's all these things that need to happen. Two birds, one killed with its blood poured out. And you think, in the context of cleansing, it's weird that blood would be poured out. Blood is dirty, blood stains. But then this bird that's killed with its blood poured out, this is done over fresh water, fresh water. Well, it's the water that represents cleansing. The bird is the sacrifice. And so the picture there is that cleansing comes to us through sacrifice with blood. That's the first bird. Then there's the second bird, which is dipped in the blood, and then it's released off into the countryside, into the field. It carries away the uncleanness. And then the priest brings the person before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. and sacrifices pure animals. So again, we have the shedding of blood, the sacrifice. Three animals, a guilt offering, a sin offering, a burnt offering. We read the detail of how the blood was put on the person's right earlobe and right thumb and right big toe that was repeated. It was followed up by anointing them with oil. And so the priest makes atonement for the leper. And these regulations, this ritual, all these details as it comes together, it serves as proof to the people and to the priest that this leper was truly cleansed. Leviticus 14 verse 20 said that. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him and he shall be clean. He shall be clean, that's like an announcement. It's like a public declaration that's made about this now former leper. And so the leper moves from the realm of impurity and is restored into the community of Israel. Restored to be a worshiper. Restored to be in fellowship with others once again. It's a great reversal from being sidelined and isolated and outcasted to participating once again in the life of the community. Fellowship, relationship, no more separation. And so the law gave provision for lepers to return to society and Jesus is saying, follow the law. But what's the greater purpose here? Well, I think we see the answer to that at the end of verse 14. The end of verse 14. Make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded for a proof to them or as a testimony to them. Jesus wants this man to be evidence, proof, a testimony to the priests and the people. Go show yourself, go make an offering as a testimony. A testimony of what? What does Jesus want everybody to know? He wants them to know that he has the authority to cure ritual uncleanness. To announce that this man, this man right here who was a leper, he's clean and that's proof that Jesus can work miracles. And now remember what we've been saying in the last few weeks. The purpose of the miracles is to confirm the message. We also see that in verse 15, that crowds are coming, more are coming, they gather first to hear him, his message, and then to be healed of their infirmities. And so what is the message? What is Jesus communicating? He's saying the kingdom of God has come. It's begun, I'm inaugurating it. And soon the ceremonial law will be obsolete because it will be fulfilled in me. I am the great high priest who is bringing about a greater cleansing, a cleansing not just of lepers, but of all people from all times and places. This is Jesus' message, and this is where you and I come in. We may not have leprosy, but we have a more serious problem, sin. And you know, this leper's uncleanness was not sinful. It was a ritual on cleanness, there's a difference. This law of separation was not judgment for sin, but it served the purpose of maintaining the cleanliness of that which was holy. I'm speaking about the covenant community. because God was with Israel, he was with them in their midst, via the tabernacle and the temple, his presence went with them, and so they are a holy people, and this is about cleanliness and holiness then, and making the awareness of that. And so, intentionally becoming unclean was wrong, that was a defiling of God's presence, but there are some uncleannesses within the life of Israel that were unavoidable. We also have regulations about that and rituals concerning that. One example is menstruation. Half of this church will be able to tell you that is not avoidable. And so the uncleanness there has nothing to do with immorality, nothing to do with being unethical, it's ritual. And so the ritual uncleanness of the Israelites pointed to the deeper problem. The problem of sin, one which we share in due to our fallen human nature. So do you see that? That this is the problem. This isn't just a passage about leprosy. We're not just looking into this for curiosity's sake. This is the problem that's being pointed to. That we are unholy before a holy God. That by nature we are born spiritually leprous. That our righteousness apart from Jesus Christ is as filthy rags. That in our natural state we are dead men and women walking. That's the problem. Have you experienced then the deep need for your forgiveness? Do you have that great desire for his healing? Have you sought the cleansing of Jesus? For know this, he is willing. He's willing. Just as the leper's uncleanness points to the deeper problem of sin, so the animal sacrifices in Leviticus point to a deeper solution. Jesus' sacrifice. Jesus was absolutely pure, beloved, absolutely clean. He had no separation from the Father, living in perfect fellowship with him always. And you know, we even see that in his prayer life. Look at verse 16. Seems like just an addition, right? But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. Jesus communes with his Father. He would often go off alone to pray. There are all these crowds demanding his time, demanding to hear him, demanding to see the miracles. Their needs were real, and it is his mission, and he was truly unique. Some people think they're unique. He actually was. But that didn't stop him from spending extensive time in prayer, communing with his father. We can learn from this. And this is the case at all of his important events, you could say, within his life and ministry. We saw it at his baptism, how he prayed. We're seeing it now, and Herman Bovic notes helpfully that this is immediately prior to his first clash with the Pharisees, and so this is a big moment in that sense. We see it when he chooses the 12 disciples, before the first clear announcement that he is the Christ, the Messiah. We see prayer at his transfiguration. We see him instructing his disciples on how to pray. We see him praying with the feeding of the 5,000 and the raising of Lazarus, not to mention the high priestly prayer in John. And then we see him praying at Gethsemane. And then we see him on the cross even, praying. This shows the humanity of Jesus, this shows his dependence upon the Heavenly Father, but also it shows the perfection of his fellowship with the Father. And so this is Jesus' absolute purity, complete connection, perfect communion with God. And yet Jesus goes outside the city like an outcasted leopard. Hebrews 13 verse 12. Jesus suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. He goes out because of our sin. Suffering, being outcasted, despised and rejected, says Isaiah, right? People turned their face from him. Most of all, his father turned his face away in some sense as wounds marred his son. So he who knew no sin, no impurity, no uncleanness became sin for us. So that in him we might become the righteousness of God. There's that great exchange. Like rubbing alcohol draws out the bacteria from an infection, so Jesus' blood draws out the infection of our sin. Like water washes away dirt from the body, think of the symbolism of baptism, Jesus' blood washes away our sin. He is our sin offering. He carries our sin away. He washes us clean by his blood. He is our great high priest who brings us into the presence of God, overcoming the separation that existed between you and God because of your sin. and he reconciles you and he restores your relationship with God, freeing you from embarrassment and shame and fear. Now that relationship truly was broken. We don't want to overlook that. See, if we do, then we'll treat this all casually. We'll treat him casually. And we'll lose the humility of one who, like this leopard, is in desperate need. But for those who believe, He has made us whole. By His wounds we are healed. And that's true no matter who you are. So perhaps there's a particular sin you're struggling with. If your heart isn't a hardened heart, if you're not hardened to the work of the Spirit, probably you're feeling convicted right now through this worship service, through some of the message to this point. And that's a good thing, if that's the case. But then maybe you're also wondering along with that, well, will Jesus cleanse me? Maybe the person next to me in the pubic, will he cleanse me? Because I'm so dirty. Well then hear what he says. I am willing, be clean. And that is to say, beloved, that nobody is too far from God's grace. That is an encouragement to us of the absolute inclusivity of the gospel. Now, it is an exclusive message, to be sure. There is but one way to God in Christ alone. In that sense, it is so exclusive, one way. but any and all may come. And in this sense, it is also the most inclusive message that we could give that has ever been heard. Has he touched you? Then you're clean. He's cleansed you. He's healed the leprosy of your soul. and you are whiter than snow. Not the flaky whiteness of a skin disease, but the pure whiteness of a blameless and a spotless life. So as we close, if you know your need, you will be humble. Humble as you view yourself, because after all, it's only by the grace of God that I am what I am. And humble as you view other people. because nobody, no matter how ostracized or outcasted, is too far from God's grace. And so those who are outcasted by the rest of society, who don't understand the grace of God, well, those people should have our compassion. Nobody else wants to come near to them. We should be able to draw near. So if you know your need, you'll be humble. If you know your need also, you'll be thankful. Thankful, filled with a joy that's beyond the pleasures of this life. Possessing a contentment that's an unshakable contentment because it's in Jesus. And then having the desire, yes, also to tell others about him. To speak of the good news of healing and wholeness and restoration and inclusion. And to speak to others who, like you, have been healed. your brothers and sisters here in the church, and your brothers and sisters in other faithful churches, to speak to them so that you can together rejoice in God's goodness to you. But then also to speak to those who still remain apart from him, that they too may be brought in. And so Hebrews 13 says, verse 13 through 15, let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. Amen. Our Father in heaven.