The Grip Of Sin

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean! ” Luke 5:13

Touched – Jesus does not tackle sin like we do. He grips it by the throat and casts it aside. He seizes it and deals with it. He exerts pressure on the problem and forces it to conform to His will. We would have known all this if we just understood that the verb here is haptomai, not pselaphao.

Haptomai is the Greek verb for gripping and seizing. It is “touch” in a powerful way; a touch that exerts direct influence over the object. It is not pselaphao, another word for “touch” but with the meaning of touching only the surface. When Jesus deals with this leper, He does something unimaginable. He squeezes him. He embraces him. He grips him. And then He says, “Be clean!”.

There are two shocking events in Jesus’ action. The first is the obvious one. Who could imagine embracing a leper? The contagious decayed skin, the deformed face and hands would make us pull back in fear. But Jesus does not see what we see. He sees a man in need of the touch of God. The second surprise is on the religious side. No Hebrew would ever touch a leper. It was forbidden by law. It was grounds for immediate expulsion from the community of the clean. This very act defiled Jesus.

The real shock of this story is that Jesus takes our defilement on Himself. In the act of saving us, He accepts the consequences of our sin. What we have passes on to Him. It does not simply vanish with some divine eraser. It is transferred to the Son. He becomes a leper so that I can be clean. He grasps my sin and tears it loose from me so that it clings to Him and I am free.

Has Jesus grasped you? Has He gripped your sin and torn it away from your life? Have you let Him embrace your sickness? Have you given your curse into His hands? When Jesus seizes you, your life changes. You are no longer the outcast. The hand of God has rescued you. And you know it!