11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"
Ceremonially unclean, cut off from worship at the sanctuary and cut off from fellowship with others in the community, lepers were forced to stay at a distance yelling “Unclean! Unclean!” Such was the state of the ten men we read about in our verses for today. Leprosy to the Jews was a disease that, more than others bore a mark of God’s certain displeasure. Lepers were banned outside the city to prevent physical contagion and also to symbolize the person’s separation from the holy camp of Israel where the Lord dwelt among them. We find this in Numbers and also Deuteronomy:
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has an infectious skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body. 3 Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them." Num 5:1-3 (NIV)
14 For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you. Deut 23:14 (NIV)
The symbolism here blazes like a bolt of lightning in a black sky. Before Christ, we would all be outside the camp yelling “Unclean! Unclean! Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" Our bodies eaten up with sin, powerless in and of ourselves to change our conditions, unredeemed, we fall before a holy God condemned to hell. How ignorant we are of the holiness of God. How flippantly we perceive Him. Whenever saints in Scripture had an encounter with the great “I AM” they would be overcome by fear. The contrast of God’s holiness and their unholiness was too much for them to bear in their non-glorified sinful state. Following are a few examples to seal this point. We find in Isaiah:
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke . 5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Isaiah 6:1-5 (NIV)
Ezekiel relates his experience:
25 Then there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. 26 Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking. Ezek 1:25-28 (NIV)
1 He said to me, "Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you." 2 As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. Ezek 2:1-2 (NIV)
Lastly, the writer of Hebrews gives us an account of Moses’ encounter:
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear." Heb 12:18-21 (NIV)
It is by faith in Jesus; we who were once outside the city are now made holy-whole through His mighty work on the cross. Paul states:
12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, Eph 2:12-14 (NIV)
“It is well to be poor, when the knowledge of our poverty serves but to unfold to us the exhaustless riches of divine grace. That grace can never suffer any one to go away empty. It can never tell anyone that he is too poor. It can meet the very deepest human need; and not only so, but it is glorified in meeting it. This holds good in every case. It is true of every individual sinner...Grace is the grand and only resource for us all. It is the basis of our salvation; the basis of a life of practical godliness; and the basis of those imperishable hopes which animate us amid the trials and conflicts of this sin-stricken world. May we cherish a deeper sense of grace, and more ardent desire for glory! C H MacIntosh, 1860, Notes on Leviticus