117_The clean and the unclean

Lev 13:1-3 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a case of leprous disease on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests, 3 and the priest shall examine the diseased area on the skin of his body. And if the hair in the diseased area has turned white and the disease appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a case of leprous disease. When the priest has examined him, he shall pronounce him unclean.

45-48 “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ 46 He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

Lev 14:19-20 The priest shall offer the sin offering, to make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. And afterward he shall kill the burnt offering. 20 And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

More than 2000 years ago, a man walked by himself, on the fringes of the Israelite camp. He was labeled “unclean,” for he had a spreading skin disease that was possibly contagious. Everywhere he went he had to cry out, “Unclean, unclean!” to warn others lest they be contaminated by him. He longed for healing, for then he would be accepted again into his society, his world. One day, he heard about a man named Jesus. He healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, and had healed lepers. Why, then he himself had hope!

Leviticus 13 and 14 lays out the laws by which the clean was distinguished from the unclean. Just before were instructions about sacrificial offerings and the ordination of priests. This emphasizes how important it is to differentiate clean and unclean, holy and common. Such outward distinctions were unimportant in themselves, but they were a way of imprinting the idea of inward defilement and cleansing on the mind of God’s people. In this way God was teaching them about holiness, through babysteps.

These laws specifically address uncleanness of the flesh—whether through skin diseases, bodily discharges, or contact with unclean foods. The consequences of being unclean were severe, as the extreme case of the leper shows. Those afflicted with skin diseases had to wear torn clothes, leave their hair unkempt, live outside the camp, and cry out “unclean, unclean!” wherever they went, until they were healed.

The importance of physical cleanliness among God’s people is described in Deuteronomy 23:14: “Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.” The people were to constantly be reminded of the need to be clean, physically and with regard to their surroundings, because of the presence of the Lord among them. Though unseen, God’s presence was to be a daily reality determining their momentary conduct.

However, unlike moral commandments that limit or command our choices based on the potential harm to others, ceremonial uncleanness was often beyond one’s control. Why should someone suffer when they did not cause their own uncleanness? Why was a sin offering sometimes required to cleanse the unclean though they had done nothing sinful? Could an Israelite woman be blamed for childbirth or her monthly period? These questions were meant to provoke reflection on the implications of living in a fallen world, where suffering and estrangement from Him were the natural consequences of sin. Sometimes these were directly related to sin, more often they were indirect consequences of others’ sins.

Psalm 51 was the outpouring of David’s heart after he was convicted of his sin with Bathsheba. He confessed, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” (Psalm 51:3-4). But he also recognized that his sin ran much deeper than this particular incident of adultery, cover-up and murder. Despite his lifelong piety and devotion to the Lord from his childhood, and his love for the law of God, his heart was broken as he looked back at himself. His sins jumped out at him till he could see nothing else but sinfulness. As he expressed it, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5). We can all identify with this conviction, for our consciences constantly convict us of wrongdoing.

Romans 5:12 adds to our understanding: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” The suffering and death of this world are direct results of Adam’s fall. Creation itself groans under the weight of sin, longing for redemption. The Israelites who brought a sin offering for their uncleanness merely acknowledged this reality. They needed atonement and cleansing from their uncleanness because they were sinners as descendants of Adam.

Most people have missed this truth. When our Lord walked on earth, the scribes and Pharisees were fanatical about external cleanliness. They repeatedly condemned the Lord for his companionship with tax collectors and sinners. They could not understand that the Lord had come to cleanse all of mankind, from the inside out. The time of babysteps was past, the reality was standing in front of them. Ironically, the people shunned by the religious leaders—the lepers, the hemorrhaging woman, the outcasts—were the ones who reached out to Jesus for healing. They understood that he could and would do what the law and its representatives could not.

Titus 3:5-6 reminds us, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” Jesus the Messiah, the second Adam, took on himself the curse of sin, so that he might free us from it. Anyone who follows him is cleansed from their old sins by faith, through their death with him. They are no longer outside the camp but are welcomed into the presence of God. Though we still experience the effects of living in a fallen world, we have the assurance that one day all suffering will cease.

Let us recognize that suffering is part of life in this world. Like the Israelites, we too face trials that seem undeserved. Yet these trials pass through our Father’s hands and are meant for our good. James 1:2-3 tells us to “count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” When we face suffering, let us trust that God is at work, using even our hardships for His glory and our growth.

Second, let us guard our hearts against the easy self-righteousness of the Pharisees. Let us never judge others based on outward appearances, forgetting that we ourselves were once unclean before God. Isaiah 64:6 describes the self-righteous life, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.” If we have been cleansed and forgiven, let us not look down on the struggling but help them see and believe in the grace and love of Christ who can make them clean.

Finally, let us live with hope. Revelation 21:4 gives us a glorious promise: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” No matter what we endure now, one day we will stand before Him, fully restored, in a world free from sin and suffering.

Let these truths be our daily foundation. Let us remember that we have been cleansed by Christ, that our suffering has purpose, and that our hope is secure in Him. Like the healed leper, let us gratefully follow him and glorify him in our lives and our words, as the only One who makes the unclean clean. God bless.