Let’s read Matthew 8:1-4, “When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.”

Matthew 5:1 tells us, “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him.”  Matthew 5:1 through Matthew 7:29 is what is commonly referred as the Sermon on the Mount, where the Lord taught His disciples while on a mountain.  Matthew 8:1 tells us of events that occurred “when He was come down from the mountain.”  The ‘great multitudes’ were present when the Lord went up on the mountain and were still there when He ascended from the mountain.  As these great crowds of people followed the Lord, a man who was stricken with leprosy approached the Lord with a desire to be healed.  This man displayed an attitude of humility, worship, and faith.  He made no demands upon the Lord, but rather, he submitted himself before the Lord in worship.  His faith was manifested when he told the Lord that he knew that if it was His will that He could heal his leprosy.

Let’s look at leprosy in the Old Testament.  We read in Leviticus 13:42-45, “And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead. Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh; He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head. And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.”  Leprosy was considered incurable and very contagious.  Those who were lepers were ostracized from the people.  There were cases of leprosy being healed by the power of God, Naaman being such an example.  (2 Kings 5:1-15).

So, in Matthew 8, this leprous man believed the Lord could heal him, so he appealed to the Lord in faith.  The Lord’s response to the man was, “I will.”  He spoke with absolute authority over this disease.  The Lord did not promise to try to heal him.  He simply stated that He would heal the man, which shows that the Lord knew that He could heal this man.  To touch a leprous man was strictly forbidden in the Old Testament because it was highly contagious.  However, the Lord Jesus is God and as such could not be affected by touching this man.  Because of its characteristics of being unclean, incurable, and contagious, leprosy is a type of sin.  The only true cure from the cause and consequences of sin, is the Lord Jesus, Himself.  When we have faith in the Lord Jesus, he reaches out to us and heals us from our sins.  The Lord Jesus could not be “tempted with evil” (James 1:13), so He can touch us and heal us.  Have you exercised faith in the Lord Jesus?  Do you believe He can forgive you of your sins?  He can and He will, if you repent of your sins and believe on Him as your savior and Lord. 

There are others who came to the Lord Jesus, asking to be touched by Him.  (Mark 3:10; Mark 8:22; Mark 10:13; Luke 6:19, etc.)  I encourage you to read about these people and realize that they are examples of the Lord healing of the sickness and consequences of sin.  (389.4)