In Step with Christ (3): Four Comparisons and Four Examples

by Rev. Jeremiah Cheung

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately, the man was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

While reading this, I realized there are four comparisons in these passage and these four comparisons help us see four beautiful examples the Lord Jesus left for us:

I. Mountain Top vs. Mountain Base (Preaching on the Mountain, Application down the Mountain) V.1

Matt 8:1 “… Jesus came down from the mountainside…” Chapters five to seven record Jesus teaching on the mountain, which is the famous Sermon on the Mount. Our Lord preaches remarkably well, chapter 7:28-29 records, “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” Jesus’ preaching amazed people, it was a kind of preaching they had never heard before and it was full of authority.

After preaching, Jesus went down from the mountain, then, touched and healed a man with leprosy. Church, note how Jesus preached on the mountainside and healed a sick man down the mountain. Jesus gave us a wonderful example: he preached the truth and he practiced the truth. May the Lord have mercy on us who preach God’s word, may we not be like the Pharisees, who placed heavy loads upon others while they themselves refused to lift a finger. Likewise, you who listen must live out the truth as well, and not simply listen!

While I was preparing this message, I suddenly remembered a verse in the Bible, Hebrews 13:7 “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” This is a strong reminder for us pastors, people not only listen to our preaching, they are observing the outcome of our lives. It is the same for you, people not only want to hear you share the gospel, they want to see the gospel in your life.

Recently, three servants of the Lord had passed away. First, there is Rev. Johnny Chang, then, Rev. Paul Shen, and Rev. Wesley Shao. All three passed away in their nineties. They had served the Lord for over sixty years. They were gifted preachers, but most precious of all are the wonderful testimonies they had left behind. There is no perfect man in this world, they were not perfect of course, but in the area of finances, in their relationship with the opposite sex and in their service, they had left wonderful examples. They not only preached the truth up on the pulpit, they also practiced what they preached. They not only used their mouth, they used their hands, they had truly followed the example of Jesus – who preached on the mountain and lived out the truth down the mountain.

II. The Crowd vs. One Man (On the Pulpit- Minister to the Crowd; Down the Pulpit -Minister to the Individual) V. 1-2

V.1 ”When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.” V. 2 “A man with leprosy came and knelt before him…” Do you see another comparison – a crowd vs. one man? We do not know how many people were in the crowd, but 5:1 tells us multitudes were following him, so Jesus went up on the mountainside to preach. Obviously, it was a very big crowd.

The leper was pitiful, rejected by men, repulsive to men, because he was leprous. We can just imagine, when the crowd followed Jesus down the mountain, suddenly a man with leprosy arrives, how, do you think, the crowd must have reacted – some may have shunned him and quickly turned away, because leprosy is revolting and ugly. Some may have shooed him away with loud screams. However, Jesus not only did not turn away, he even allowed the man to come before him, kneel down before him. The man did not dare come any nearer because he was unclean. But Jesus touched him with his hand and told him, “I am willing, be clean!”

Jesus’ ministry had two directions: First, he ministered to crowds. Jesus often ministered and preached to crowds of people. Just like the mass evangelistic meetings we know of. We can imagine Jesus speaking to thousands of people, something like the contemporary evangelistic meetings of Billy Graham, Stephen Tong, John Sung. Second, he also ministered to the individual. Jesus never overlooked ministry to the individual. Jesus often ministered to the individual, just like his conversing with Nicodemus about the gospel, sharing the gospel to the Samaritan woman, healing the person who had been sick for 38 years, healing of the man born blind.

The Lord had never rejected any person who came to him for help. Our Lord ministered to thousands and he ministered also to the individual. The Lord left us a wonderful example – he spoke to the crowd on the pulpit, he ministered to the individual off the pulpit. Ministering to the crowd and the individual are both important. These two ministries complement each other. However, ministry to the individual is more effective in helping and encouraging people. Our Lord understood this principle very well, he often ministered to thousands of people, but he specifically chose twelve disciples, and trained them during a three year period and worked with them individually. Among his twelve disciples, the Lord had specially trained three of them, Peter, James and John. Peter later on, became the leader of the church leaders. James became a martyr. John wrote the book of Revelation in the island of Patmos.

I do not know what spiritual gifts the Lord has given you. Some people may preach and teach to hundreds and thousands of people, and the greater the number, the more powerful their ministry is. But some may only be able to minister to two or three, yet the lesser the number, the more powerful their work become. God chose Peter, and God also chose Peter’s brother, Andrew. Peter was most powerful when he spoke to crowds; when he stood up to preach, three thousands, five thousands came to the Lord. Andrew however was more effective in ministering to individuals. He often brought people to the Lord. Do you know that Peter came to know the Lord through Andrew? He was the one who brought Peter to the Lord. You may try and find out who led Billy Graham to the Lord, who led Stephen Tong to the Lord, who led D.L. Moody to the Lord; they were unknown people, yet they had contributed greatly to God’s kingdom. Without their work, how could these great evangelists have come forth? Do not overlook anyone who truly has needs.

III. Actions vs. Words (Act First, Speak Later) v.2-3

When the leper knelt before the Lord and asked, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean”, the Lord reached out his hand and touched him saying, “I am willing, be clean.” The leper said if you are willing, and the Lord replied I am willing. This word “if” tells us he had complete faith in Jesus’ power, but he did not have faith in himself. He was a leper, he was a man people reject, even his family had rejected him. In his heart, he couldn’t be sure that Jesus would be willing to heal him.

In the Bible, leprosy represents sin, because sin is similar to leprosy in four ways: 1. leprosy originates from inside a man. Sin also originates from man’s nature (sinful nature) 2. leprosy isn’t easy to cure, sin is also difficult to get rid of. 3. leprosy is contagious, and sin is also frighteningly contagious. 4. leprosy causes decay and disfigurement, foul-smell and ultimately, death; the one who sins becomes more and more corrupt, more and more frightening, in the end, dead in his sins and trespasses.

The Gospel of Luke says the man was covered with leprosy. If we say leprosy is as sin, then, we can say that the man was totally sinful. He felt that someone like him does not deserve God’s mercy. So, he didn’t ask Jesus if he can, he asked Jesus if he was willing. He didn’t doubt Jesus’ power, but he wasn’t sure of Jesus’ mercy.

But truth is amazing. Theologians call this the paradox of truth – “You are worthy when you feel unworthy, you are unworthy when you feel worthy.” When you tell a man, “You are so humble and he replies, “No, I am not”, you’d feel he is really humble. The more he says no, the more you feel his humility. However, if he replies, “Yes I am”, you will find him arrogant then. That is why you find rich people denying they are rich, while the poor brag that they are rich. The leper told Jesus, “If you are willing you can make me clean.” Jesus touched him saying, “I am willing (in the original text, it was `I am very much willing’). Be clean!”

We must take note of two actions Jesus did: 1. Jesus touched him. 2. Jesus told him, “Be clean!” Jesus showed us a good example: act first, speak later. This is the comparison between doing and speaking.

1. Jesus Touched Him First. Touch is an action, an action of love. This man was covered with leprosy, wherever you touch him, there is leprosy. Without love, one would not be able to reach out and touch him. I remember Dr. Paul Shen’s testimony. He shared that when he was younger, he had once preached at a leprosarium. After he spoke, a leper reached out his hand to shake his. He said the thought occurred to him at that moment that if he didn’t reach out to shake the man’s hand, or showed any bit of reservation, then he is no longer a servant of the Lord. Some churches hold their communion using a big cup, then everyone drinks from it; you will discover that everyone wants to sit in front during communion day, because no one wants to drink from the area where others had sipped from. Without love, you cannot drink from the same cup with others. Jesus touched the leper and with that he not only showed him he can heal him, he demonstrated to the man, “I love you.”

2. Jesus Spoke to Him. The Bible says the leprosy left the man immediately, he became clean. Jesus shows us how we should work: act first, speak later. We often say actions speak louder than words. We must learn to act more and speak less. In the many years of serving in the church, I have discovered that there are three kinds of co-workers in the church: the first type of coworkers only talk but are not willing to work; they want to be boss and simply give instructions. The second type of co-worker talks a lot but with little action; in fact, they speak and criticize a lot. These are not good co-workers. The third type of co-workers talks less but does a lot of work, these are good co-workers. Every church has these three types of co-workers. Which one are you?

IV. Clean vs. Unclean (The Power of Holiness to Influence) v.3-4

Do you still remember what I shared before regarding “The Law of Polluted Water and Wine”? When a spoon of fine wine is dropped into a jar of dirty water, it remains a jar of dirty water. On the contrary, a spoon of dirty water dropped into a jar of good wine turns it into a jar of dirty wine. Obviously, what is unclean always affect what is clean. So it is easy to do what is wrong than to learn what is good.

But Jesus broke this principle. When the man covered with leprosy came before him asking, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out and touched the man, saying, “I am willing, be clean!” The Bible says, the man was immediately cleansed of his leprosy. Mark and Luke say that `immediately the leprosy left him.’ We can see that at that moment, when the unclean meets the clean, according to the standard of this world, the unclean should have won; for the clean cannot overcome the unclean.

In the Old Testament, the unclean is not allowed to go near the clean, because any one who comes into contact with the unclean will become unclean. According to the Law, Jesus should not touch the leper, because this will make him unclean. However, amazingly, when Jesus touched him, not only did Jesus not become unclean, the leper became clean. The leprosy left the man because the power of holiness in Jesus was greater than the leper’s uncleanness. While he was on earth, the Lord Jesus had had a woman with a bleeding issue for 12 years touch him. The result was, not only did Jesus not become unclean, the woman was healed of her bleeding. The synagogue leader, Jairus’ twelve year-old daughter died, Jesus raised her back to life. Jesus was not supposed to touch a dead body for they are unclean, but not only was Jesus unaffected, the little child came back to life.

The Lord Jesus is the Son of God, He is the Holy One, He is totally holy. Nothing can stand before him that is unclean, his holiness is beyond our comprehension. Any filth that comes before him will be made clean, because Jesus possesses the power of holiness. This power overcomes all uncleanness. We are not God, we do not possess this complete power of holiness, but we can increase the power of holiness in our lives and our power to influence the people around us. Jesus called us salt and light.

Where does Jesus’ power of holiness come from? It came from his total obedience to God. The Lord Jesus came to earth to be born as a human and he left us a wonderful example, he was completely obedient to the Father in Heaven. The Bible records that twice a voice from heaven declared: “This my beloved son.” The first time was when Jesus was baptized, there was a voice from heaven which said, “This is my beloved son, of whom I am well-pleased.” The second time, Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved son, listen to him.” The Father in Heaven affirmed Jesus is his beloved son because Jesus submitted to him totally. Hebrews 10:7 ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll — I have come to do your will, my God.’

Sisters, imagine, when your husband comes home and says to you, “I am home, I have come to do your will”, then you reply, “Good, go wash the dishes and do the laundry.” And he says okay. Won’t you just love him? Fathers, imagine your children coming home and saying, “Father, I have come to do your will”, and you tell them not to play on the computer, immediately they went to do homework, won’t you be pleased with them?

Jesus told the Father in Heaven, “I have come to do your will.” The Father says, “You are my beloved son, with you I am well-pleased.” Church! How much we obey God will determine the degree of holiness we experience in our life. When our lives become more holy, we will experience more power to overcome unclean-ness.

Jesus gave us four wonderful examples:
1. He preached the Truth and applied the Truth
2. He ministered to the crowd and He ministered to the individual
3. He acted before he spoke
4. He obeyed completely and He was completely holy