So, yesterday, it was pretty much confirmed that I am an emotional leper. I think to a certain degree, we all are or can be at certain points in our lives. We all have moments where our emotions make us sick and attempt to destroy us, where they spread uncontrollably like a wildfire and threaten the people around us, where they send us away: disconnected, untouchable, and ashamed. But good news for us, and the main focus of today’s blog: The same Jesus who healed the physical lepers of the New Testament is still in the business of healing the emotional lepers of today.
One article I found about leprosy had this title, “Biblical Leprosy: Shedding Light on the Disease That Shuns.” Now, that is a powerful image. How often are we shunned by the emotional conditions of our lives? I know I am. I REFUSE sometimes to be touched by others. I run. I hide my face and heart in shame, embarrassed that insecurity, anxiety, and fear are sometimes written all over my skin, plain as leprous nodules.
But…Jesus always finds me. It never fails. Wherever I want to run to, He’s there before me. When I’m ashamed, He lifts my face. When I feel like my emotional leprosy has been fatal to me and my relationships, He saves and then He restores…just like He did in the New Testament. In Luke 17:11-19 it says:
“Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’ When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Then he said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well’.”
From my limited knowledge, in New Testament times, lepers were the outcasts. Those infected with this disease lived their lives apart from the rest of the population (leper colonies, anyone?) When they had to be around others, they walked with hands over their mouth and the word “Unclean” on their lips, ready to warn any unsuspecting person to stay away.
From this passage of Scripture, we see Jesus healing ten lepers and only one returning to Him to give thanks. I have heard many messages centering around this passage that chose to focus on the lack of thankfulness of the nine who did not return to Jesus. However, when examining this Scripture in the light of emotional leprosy, I thought about something else. What if the nine did not come back because they couldn’t let go of their old way of looking at themselves? What if, in their heart of hearts, they doubted whether or not they had been made whole and set free? What if they believed their disease would come back because it was not a permanent healing?
Jesus had healed them. Fact. Jesus had overcome EVERYTHING. Fact. But, He couldn’t make them believe it. He could not make them live like they were free. The one leper that returned to Jesus could have refused to believe that he was fully, completely, and utterly healed. He could have maintained the mentality he had always used when thinking of himself. He could have remained one of the “Unclean,” one of the “Untouchables.”
We are the same way. Jesus has set me free and healed me from every anxiety, insecurity, and fear. He has broken down every stronghold of addiction, pride, greed, and anger. Every emotionally leprous thing has been OVERCOME. But, it is up to us to live it out. Because, you see, we are either healed or not healed, free or enslaved, victims or overcomers. Our God does nothing half-way. His work is complete. So, we must live based on the truth and our faith NOT on feelings. We must throw ourselves at His feet daily and thank Him for setting us free. I had to do this very thing this morning. Curled up before him like a kitten at the mercy of someone so much stronger and capable than myself and repeating the words to Kari Jobe’s Steady My Heart:
"I will run to You because I know that You are the Lover of My Soul and Healer of My Scars."
If He says we are free, that’s it. End of story. So, we throw ourselves before Him and allow our feelings to catch up with our reality, even when it seems like we struggle with the same emotional issues, even when we don’t feel free. We thank Him for the TRUTH that we ARE.
And, then He lifts our face and tells us once again that our faith has indeed made us well.
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