阅读经文 

在耶稣那个时代，大多数人都相信疾病是和犯罪相关的；麻风是一种极可怕的疾病，它通常会带来人际传染和令人残障，人们认为麻风病证明患者犯了弥天大罪。这种病无法治愈，麻风病人则被视为“不洁净，”直至他们侥幸复原，才可以再被算为“洁净”。（参利13:1-8, 45-46）人们惧怕他们传播灵里的污秽和死亡，所以他们通常都会从群体中被驱逐出去。

故事中的麻风病人到耶稣那里求祂洁净时，他不单是寻求身体得医治，这人乃是希望重启他破碎的一生。麻风病人被视为行尸走肉，他所祈求的，就等于在祈求从死里复活呢！

耶稣似乎冒了被玷污的危险，祂做了一件令人难以置信的事，就是伸手摸这人；另一件难以置信的事接着发生了，耶稣不但没有感染到罪和死亡，属天的医治反而临到这人身上！藉着耶稣对病人的触摸和说话，这具“行尸走肉”便起死回生了。我们预料罪和疾病的破坏力会传播，然而耶稣的医治能力却能胜过它。

耶稣带着能力来挪去置我们于死地的事物，祂能够除掉我们无法摆脱的捆绑。在你的生命中，有什么事情是你自己无法洁净的呢？耶稣能够洁净你的啊！

In Jesus’ day most people believed that disease and sin were connected. Leprosy, a horrible disease that was ­often contagious and caused deformity, was thought to be evidence of some horrible sin. There was no cure, and lepers were declared “unclean” unless somehow they recovered and could be called “clean” again (see Leviticus 13:1-8, 45-46). They were generally banished from the community because of concerns about spreading spiritual impurity and death.

When the man with leprosy in this story came to Jesus asking to be made clean, it wasn’t just a request to be cured. The man wanted his life back. Lepers were thought of as the walking dead, and he was asking, in effect, to be raised from death!

Jesus, seeming to risk being defiled, does the unthinkable in reaching out his hand and touching the man. And then the unthinkable happens. The contagion of sin and death does not spread to Jesus; instead, the cleansing of heaven spreads to the man! This “dead man walking” is brought back to life by the touch and word of Jesus. We expect the corrosive effect of sin and disease to spread, but the healing power of Jesus prevails against it.

Jesus came in power to take away what is killing us and what we are helpless to get rid of. What is it in your life that you are unable to cleanse yourself of? Jesus can make you clean!