Leviticus 21

“The Lord spoke to Moses: ‘Tell Aaron: None of your descendants throughout your generations who has a physical defect is to come near: no man who is blind, lame, facially disfigured or deformed….” Leviticus 21: 16-18 (HCSB)

Jesus healed. That is a Biblical fact, accepted even by many unbelievers.

Before John the Baptist was beheaded, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the “One” or if they should look for another messiah. Jesus answered that people were healed. That was the evidence He gave of being Messiah: healing.

I never really considered much why Jesus healed people. I figured He had compassion for people, so He made them well. But could there have been other reasons Jesus healed beyond the well-being of the person needing healing?    

I have had terrible eyesight since I was in grade school. Many times, I have prayed that God would heal me. As a young man, I often wondered why Jesus would heal some people and not others. In the end, I leave healing up to His wisdom and surrender my will to His choices for me because He always chooses rightly. After all, He has given me eyeglasses that enable me to see 20/20.    

It is easy to see how healing benefits the recipient, but what does that have to do with Jesus being the Messiah? The Old Testament tells how the Messiah will heal the iniquities of His people, so I understand how Jesus’ healing fulfills prophecy.  

“‘Here is your God; vengeance is coming. God’s retribution is coming; He will save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy, for water will gush in the wilderness and streams in the desert; the parched ground will become a pool of water, and the thirsty land springs of water.” Isaiah 35:4b-7a (HCSB)

Considering today’s passage, for the Jewish people who were declared unworthy to serve, Jesus’ healing also allowed them to enter into corporate worship and minister to others. On the one hand, people might be offended that God would exclude people from serving simply because of physical defects. But they must consider that God can also heal, thus making it possible for anyone to serve if He so chooses.

When Jesus healed, it was as if He said, “You can’t serve because you’re blind? You can’t serve because you’re lame or deformed? Well, I can fix that!”  Our sin has separated us from God. By paying our sin debt, Jesus has made us clean. He atones for our sin as if we have never sinned. He completes what is lacking on every level and restores us to a right relationship with God, regardless of any prior limitation. And He has a plan for you, as His “priest.” (1 Peter 2:9)  He has fulfilled all your requirements and offers forgiveness, free of charge. So, do you WANT to be healed?