Basic Questions

1. Identify as completely as possible the person in need (e.g., age, ethnic origin, religion, gender, social status).
   A man with leprosy. We assume he's Jewish because Jesus sent him to a priest after his healing.

2. What was the immediate, obvious need?
   To heal the leprosy.

3. Who took the initiative in effecting the healing?
   The person in need? Others? Jesus?
   How was it expressed?
   The man said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

4. Describe the actions or process leading to the healing; that is, what was said (e.g., questions, requests, commands) and what was done (e.g., approaching, following, touching, publicly/privately), and by whom? The man knelt before Jesus. The man asked. Jesus reached out his hand & touched the man and said "I am willing. Be clean.", immediately the leprosy left. Luke 5:12-13

5. Did the person in need or someone else verbally express faith? Non-verbally? Describe how and by whom faith was in involved in this healing.
   The man expressed faith - he believed Jesus could heal if He was willing.

6. What were the evidences that the person was healed?
   The leprosy left. The man went to a priest and was declared "clean", he then was accepted again.

7. What were the reactions to the healing?
   News spread fast & even more crowds sought Jesus for healing.

8. What in this narrative led Jesus to minister healing to the person in need?
   The man knelt before Jesus - he humbled himself. The man asked and Jesus had compassion.

Digging Deeper

1. How was leprosy regarded in Bible times?
   Someone with leprosy was looked at as unclean - a social outcast. Sickness was considered a "curse" or caused by sin.

2. Under what circumstances did the man meet Jesus?
   Jesus came down from a mountainside with a large crowd following him.

3. Were the Jewish "laws" violated in this encounter? By whom?
   Jesus touched the leper prior to healing him.

4. What is significant about Jesus touching the man?
   Lev 13
   A person with leprosy was considered "unclean" and not to be touched. Jesus ignores this "law". He came to set us free from the "law".

5. What instructions did Jesus give to the man following the healing? For background on Jesus' instruction, "Go show yourself to the priest ..." see Lev 14:2-32. Why do you think it was important for a person who had been cleansed of an infectious disease like leprosy to go through a public ceremony to certify this cleansing?
   The public ceremony by a priest would mean the leper could rejoin society.

6. Describe the man's attitude in approaching Jesus.
   The man knelt before Jesus and begged for healing.

7. What element of doubt is contained in the man's statement, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."?
   He believed Jesus had the power to heal - he wasn't sure Jesus would heal him - he wasn't sure Jesus would go against the "law".

8. What generalizations can be made about Jesus' willingness to minister healing to the sick and possesed?
   Jesus seems very willing to heal. His love is "unconditional".

9. If Jesus is so willing to heal, why do you think that so many people are not healed?
   This raises more questions. Why isn't Jesus' power to heal more evident today? How do you handle the disappointment or anger that come if you ask for healing and don't appear to get it? Do you think that if you persist in asking for healing that God will not answer or will give you nothing?
   The answer to this question comes down to TRUST. Are we still going to trust God if it appears that He is not answering us the way we expect?

10. How did Jesus express love, counseling or encouragement?
    He said, "I am willing". He instructed the man to see a priest so he could be restored socially - a "complete" healing. The man's "wholeness" was restored.

11. What lesson(s) have you learned about healing from this account?
    Jesus seems "willing" to heal.
    Jesus not only healed the man's leprosy he told him how to be restored socially - a complete healing. Jesus doesn't do "half" the job.
    Jesus has compassion for the sick.
    Jesus holds the promise of healing for all.
    Isaiah 53
    4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
    5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.