Saint Luke 5:12-16 (9/27-10/10) Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week after Pentecost
God The Approachable: Saint Luke 5:12-16, especially vs. 12, “...behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’” In the actions of the leprous man described in today’s Gospel, we can hear echoes within our hearts of a deep desire to come before God, fall down, and seek the blessing of His cleansing. Notice the three distinct actions in the leper’s approach to the Lord Jesus: first, he caught sight of Christ. Second, he fell down on his face - prostrated himself - before Him. Third, when fully bowed, the leprous man cried out for help, begging for healing.
One must ‘see’ Christ before he can approach Him. Hence, to act like the man with leprosy requires a spiritual sight necessarily greater than physical vision. For long ages, God has revealed that without the Light of Christ, mankind walks in serious moral and spiritual darkness - His judgment having departed from them: “While they waited for light, darkness came upon them; and while they waited for the dawn, they walked in darkness. They groped around for a wall like blind men...They shall fall at midday as though it were midnight...” (Is. 59:9,10).
Spiritual darkness descends when we turn away from Christ Who is the Light of the world, and when, instead, we follow dark, human reasoning and the bidding of our passions (Jn. 8:12; Rom. 1:21). The leper not only fell down before the Lord because of genuine need, but also because of inner illumination. No doubt his insight was stirred because of reports circulating in Galilee concerning the Lord; thus, his inward eye ‘saw’ more than an individual named Jesus.
In the exorcisms before Holy Baptism, the Priest prays for the candidate: “Open the eyes of his understanding, that the light of Thy Gospel may shine brightly in him.” The leper perceived God Incarnate in Jesus, a ‘sight’ that impelled him to beg for healing. “...behold, a man who was full of leprosy ‘saw’ Jesus...” (vs. 12). Saint Luke encourages us to behold the Lord so that we may approach Him. Pray for God’s gift of illumination that you may ‘see’ the Lord, the Good News of your life, and that you may approach Him with your needs.
When the leper saw, he fell on his face. Once we see the Lord, prostration is natural. God designed us to worship Him. Prostration before the Lord our God is right, healthy, and a genuine sign that healing already has begun in the heart. The desire to fall down demonstrates that before the thought to approach God, He notices our disease, sin, sickness - and awakens us.
In the first century, rigorous physical and social barriers were maintained forcefully between ‘normal’ human society and those infected with leprosy (Lv. 13:45,46), yet the compassionate Lord our God “...put out His hand and touched him...” (Lk. 5:13). God ever draws us to Himself, whether our leprosy is physical, social, moral, or spiritual. To catch sight of Christ illumines the rot and uncleanness in ourselves, and we know, at least, that we are essential lepers before our All-Holy Lord. “O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ!”
Watch during the Divine Liturgy and you will see acts of reverence before our Holy God being modeled for us in the gestures of those who serve the Priests in the Altar. In fact, the Altar Servers bow and humble themselves around the Throne and kiss the Priest’s hands exactly because, during the Liturgy, the clergy function as living icons of Christ among us.
Last of all, the man cried out. His plea echoes clearly in the Orthros psalms, urging us to approach our compassionate God, to fall down before Him and cry out from our pain:
I cried unto the Lord with my voice” (Ps. 3:4). “O Lord, before Thee is all my desire, and my groaning is not hid from Thee” (Ps. 37:9). “Quickly hear me, O Lord; my spirit hath fainted away....Cause me to hear Thy mercy in the morning” (Ps. 142:7,9).
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.
