Mike Breaux - The Healing Touch of Jesus (01/14/2026)
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Summary:
Mike shares the powerful story from Luke 5:12–15 of Jesus healing a man covered in advanced leprosy, emphasizing how Jesus compassionately touched the untouchable leper, declaring «I am willing» and instantly cleansing him. He contrasts the social and spiritual isolation of lepers in Jesus' day with how people today can inwardly treat others as «untouchables,» while highlighting Jesus' approachable nature and His priority to touch before healing. The key takeaway is that Jesus reveals God’s heart as close to the broken, infecting the world with hope and love rather than being contaminated, calling believers to remove barriers and touch others with Christ’s contagious compassion and healing.
Welcome and Opening Illustration
All right, what’s up, everybody? Great to see you guys! Welcome to Linkpoint Church. I want to welcome all of our campuses and those of you who might be joining us online. My name is Mike, and I have the privilege of being on the team around this place. Let me just explain real quick: this place is growing like crazy, and there are all kinds of people coming, and it’s freaking me out a little bit. I don’t know where you people came from, I don’t know what you brought with you, I don’t know what underlying conditions you may have—I don’t know any of that stuff. I’ve just decided that while I’m out in the lobby a lot, shaking hands with people and hugging people, this is going to be it from here on out because I just don’t want to take any risks.
Okay, now this would be ridiculous, right? Right? This would be ridiculous! I am grateful for those of you who may have to wear masks; it’s a little harder to get out of than I thought. Some of you may wear something like this on your job when you’re in the operating room saving lives or maybe you’re a first responder who every now and then has to put on something like this. But for most of us, we really don’t need that stuff. We may not wear it outwardly, but sometimes on the inside we can live with a kind of heart that honestly puts people into the category of «The Untouchables.»
I don’t know. My son Derek is a worship leader and a creative arts guy, and these days he owns his own construction business. He’s an awesome dad, an awesome husband, and a very funny dude—one of my very best friends. Most people see him as a laid-back man of few words, but when he was a little boy, he never shut up. He talked all the time! Anyone else got a kid like that? One that will talk to anybody, anywhere, at any time and say anything? You don’t know what’s going to come out of their mouth, right? I remember a time when he was riding a school bus as a first grader. He came home and told us, «Mom and Dad, there are these kids that sit on the bus next to me, and they smell terrible.» Debbie said, «Now, Derek, you don’t say anything, do you?» He said, «No, Mom. I just sit there and hold my nose.» Oh great, he’s come a long way since then! You know what? I actually have too because both of us have learned how Jesus moved among people. Jesus saw nobody as untouchable.
The Story of the Leper
I want to show you a story today that’s probably in my top ten. Last week, Josh unpacked the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine in John chapter 2—just a great story. If you missed it, check it out online. But this miracle is found in Luke chapter 5; it’s the third book of the New Testament section of the Bible. If you have a Bible, you can turn to that. If you have an app that you use, great! We’re going to put it on the screens as well, so we can all kind of track along together. But let’s jump in. You ready? Here we go! Let’s dive in.
Verse 12: While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. Only in Luke’s account is it detailed like this: covered with leprosy or full of leprosy, because Luke was a doctor, and he uses a medical term for a very advanced case of leprosy. When the man, the leper, saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, «Lord, if you’re willing, you can make me clean.» Now, it’s kind of cool right up front how this guy acknowledges Jesus' authority. He calls him Lord and says, «Lord, I believe that you can do anything. Now, you may not heal me in the exact way I thought you might, and you might not do it right away, but I know you could if you wanted to.»
It reminds me of how the founders of AA wrote about their experience: «We found that God could and would if he were sought.» So many of us in this place have found that to be absolutely true, and if that’s true, to which thousands and millions of addicts can attest, then isn’t it also true that God can’t and won’t if he’s not sought? This guy made the first move. He saw it: «Jesus, I really believe you could; I just didn’t know if you would.»
Verse 13: Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. Now, the word used here for «touched» is the word hapto, which means to fasten onto. So this is not some big, dramatic «smack in the forehead, be healed» kind of thing where people fall backward and the crescendo music starts happening. It’s just a tender embrace. It had been so long since anybody had fastened onto him, and so Jesus embraces him and says, «I’m willing. Be clean.» And immediately the leprosy left him. What? Immediately the leprosy left him! You’ve probably seen those commercials for, I think it’s, Plaque Psoriasis, where you’ve got people in sleeveless blouses and some guy wearing a speedo that shouldn’t be wearing a speedo. Actually, no one should be wearing a speedo! The announcer comes on and says, «Many people taking Otezla have found their skin got noticeably clear within six to ten months.» Let me read this again: «And immediately, immediately the leprosy left him.»
Verse 14: Then Jesus ordered him, «Don’t tell anyone, but go show yourself to the priests and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.» You see, people would be slow to accept this leper back into their society, but if the priest inspected him and accepted the offering, it would validate this man in the eyes of the people. Plus, it also shows that Jesus respected the law. Did you catch how Jesus instructed this guy? «Let’s not tell anybody about this; let’s just keep this between me and you, » right?
Verse 15: Yet the news about Jesus spread all the more. Think this guy might have talked? So that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Understanding Leprosy
Let’s go back and just unpack this a little bit. I want to look at this disease called leprosy because most of us are unfamiliar with it. It’s not like acne or eczema or alopecia, or like poison ivy or even psoriasis. Leprosy, in the first century meant that even today there was lethargy and pain in all your joints. You had discolored patches of skin all over your body, ulcerated sores on your face, and a very intense smell. There was the ulceration of the vocal cords, and there was a loss of sensation in all your extremities. It was a terrible, horrible, contagious skin disease that eventually infected the whole body and your internal organs.
Dr. Paul Brand, who was a leading researcher on leprosy, died about 20 years ago. He was a super compassionate Christian, a brilliant guy who did research on leprosy treatment in underdeveloped parts of the world. He said the greatest damage he witnessed from leprosy came from that loss of sensation. I don’t want to be graphic here, but just so you know what we’re dealing with: as these impoverished, homeless lepers would sleep, rats would come and gnaw off the end of a finger because they could feel no sensation; they just slept right through it. Leprosy was not just considered a physical disease, but it also carried a social stigma. Lepers were not just physically quarantined; they were spiritually quarantined. This disease was seen to be a curse from God, a curse that announced to the rest of the world, «This person is unclean, “ not just on the outside but they’re unclean on the inside.
Not only were they called unclean, but they were to shout those words about themselves whenever they got close to crowds. But they seldom got close to crowds because they were quarantined to colonies of like-inflicted people. When they received the news that leprosy had invaded their body, they were immediately taken out of their homes; they lost their spouse, they lost their kids, they lost their job, they lost their reputation, their position. They began to lose their hands, their face, and eventually their lives. They carried a disease and a stigma that isolated them socially, physically, and spiritually. They were seen—and they saw themselves—as the worthless Untouchables.
Mother Teresa, like Dr. Brand, also worked with leprosy in the streets of Kolkata, India. She once said, „We have drugs for people with diseases like leprosy, but the drugs do not treat the main problem—the disease of being unwanted.“ Being unwanted feels pretty awful, doesn’t it? It feels terrible to feel like you’re untouchable. I mean, that just sucks the hope out of your life, and that’s the way lepers felt in Jesus’ day. They felt absolutely hopeless.
Jesus Touches the Untouchable
Can you imagine what it’s like to be strictly forced to shout unclean about yourself as you walk down the road so that people can avoid you? To walk through life and see your former neighbors working and hear your former buddies laughing it up— even your own children playing—and no longer get to be a part? To be alive but feel so dead? Simon Kid writes, „It’s anguish to come to the place in life where you know all the words but none of the music.“ And that must be the way this guy felt. I mean, you just wonder how long it had been since this man had experienced the touch of another person’s hand on his hand. When was the last time he had been hugged by a child? When was the last time he had been kissed by his wife? When was the last time he felt the embrace of a friend? When was the last time somebody fastened onto him?
The religious leaders, the Pharisees, taught that if you touched an unclean person, then you would become defiled just like them; you would be unclean. So people would avoid all lepers, and all lepers would avoid all people, especially religious rabbis. In fact, a strict rule-enforcing rabbi was the last person most lepers wanted to see. They knew if they even got close to a rabbi, they were going to get busted for breaking the law. So rabbis prided themselves on being so holy, so clean, so close to God that they were unapproachable—not just to lepers, but to any marginalized people of the day.
Here the great irony is that the only rabbi the leper could approach was God himself. Jesus was the most approachable human being who ever walked this planet. That means well-documented prostitutes, tax collectors, little kids, brilliant scholars, lawyers, widows, uneducated fishermen—it didn’t matter. Jesus was amazingly approachable, and that reputation had followed him around. So this leper just takes a risk and approaches Jesus. He knows the law and makes no attempt to touch Jesus, but he has seen or heard something in this rabbi that made him at least comfortable enough to approach him.
Feeling untouchable, unworthy, unclean, he falls on his face in the dirt, and in spite of the law of the Pharisees, in spite of this man’s contagious condition, in spite of the social implications, Mark’s account adds: filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. „I’m willing. Be clean.“ And immediately the leprosy left him. What’s cool to me is that Jesus knew that even before this man needed to be healed, this man needed to be touched. I mean, think about this: Jesus could have done drive-thru healings, right? He could have stayed in one spot and said, „May I take your order? Thank you! Please pull to the next window!“ He could have set up a headquarters and sent out healing vibes over a thousand-mile radius, or he could have had a social media account that says, „Want to be healed? Click here!“ But Jesus knew—he knew the power of a touch.
The Power of Touch
I’ve always loved what Max Lucado writes from the perspective of this leper. He says, „I saw him, and before he spoke, I knew that he cared. Somehow, I knew he hated this disease as much, if not more than I hated it. My rage became trust, and my anger became hope. From behind a rock, I watched him descend the hill. I waited until he was only paces from me, and then I stepped out. ‘Unclean! ’ Someone shouted. And I don’t blame him. I was a huddled mass of death. But I scarcely heard them; I scarcely saw them and their panic. I had seen a thousand times his compassion; however, I had never beheld. Everyone stepped back—except him. He stepped toward me. I said, ‘Lord, you can heal me if you will.’ Had he healed me with a word, I would have been thrilled. Had he cured me with a prayer, I would have rejoiced. But he touched me. He touched me! Imagine that—unworthy of the touch of man, yet worthy of a touch from God.“
Now, you know that God has wired us all up to be touched, right? God has wired every single one of us up to be touched. It’s well-documented now that human beings actually need to be touched on a regular basis, and we all know studies that reveal that people who laugh a lot and are in community live longer. Studies also show that people who experience meaningful touch on a regular basis also have a longer life expectancy. My wife Debbie is a laugher; she laughs and giggles all the time, and she’s also a cuddler. If the health benefits of both are true, she’s going to live to be like 186.
I’m not saying that we all have to be like touchy-feely people, but everyone needs to be regularly touched in some way. You all ever go into those little antique shops? They drive me crazy! You walk in there, and they’ve got little figurines everywhere, little teacups, little figurines, all that kind of stuff. I mean, when I go into those places, Debbie and I went into one not long ago, and something inside me snaps! I’m just being honest; I want to grab a baseball bat and start clearing shelves! That’s what I want to do! 'Cause they’ve got signs everywhere that say, „Don’t touch! Don’t touch! Don’t touch! Don’t touch!“ You break it, you bought it!
Every day you and I brush up against people of incredible worth, people who are already broken, and God has attached a high price tag to everyone that reads, „This person is worth the price of my son.“ And God goes around putting up signs: „Please touch! Please touch! Please touch! Please touch! Please touch!“ I’m telling you, today, there will be someone in your world that’s just waiting for someone to touch them in some small way. Will you just extend a hand, or give a fist bump, or an arm around the shoulder, or a warm embrace? Or just offer to help—acknowledging that they’re even there?
John Ortberg writes, „In a contagious world, we learn to keep our distance. If we get too close to those who are suffering, we might get infected with their pain.“ It may not be convenient or comfortable, but only when you get close enough to catch their hurt will they be close enough to catch your love. Again, I love how this leper approached by faith. He said, „I know you can do this. I know you have the power. I just didn’t know if you were that kind of God.“
And Jesus reached out and touched this guy, not only to heal him but to announce to the whole world, „God is that kind of God. He wants to be close!“ Some of you love this verse from Psalm 34:18. A bunch of us have meant a lot to us: „The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit.“ You know why God is so effective with the brokenhearted and the crushed in spirit? Because he’s close! He is that kind of God.
Jesus' Purpose in Healing
And gang, Jesus did miracles—I mean, lots and lots of miracles. In fact, John says in his Gospel that he didn’t have enough room to write them all down: „The amazing things we saw Jesus do, it would take a library big enough in the whole world to contain all the volumes of what I could write down.“ When Jesus did miracles, it was never to show off. He wasn’t trying to build a big crowd or go viral. Did you catch how he told this guy and other people at times, „Please, let’s just keep this under wraps“? He knew that chaos could occur and all the tension and opposition could mount because the religious leaders were constantly scheming against him. But he healed people. He touched people because he could and he wanted to.
Here’s the whole deal, though: he didn’t choose to heal everyone, and healing their bodies was not the ultimate goal. I mean, if physical healing was the goal, then none of them that he did heal would have ever died! But they all eventually died, even his buddy Lazarus—he died twice! Jesus’ response to suffering people and these untouchables was to provide an up-close and personal glimpse into the heart of God. I like what Philip Yancey writes: „By no means did Jesus eliminate all suffering; he healed only a few in one small patch of the globe. But he did answer the question of whether God cares. Regardless of how the world treats them, the poor and the sick have assurance because of Jesus that God knows no undesirables. There is hope for everyone.“
What a feeling to know that you’re wanted. That you are not untouchable, you are not unwanted, you are not undesirable. And man, when you feel that, it’s hard to keep that quiet! You see, nobody ever—never ever—touched the leper. If you touched one, you got infected. But when Jesus touched the leper, he did not infect Jesus with his disease; Jesus infected him with his life and his hope and his love and his joy, and as a result, this guy was really contagious!
Now, remember how Jesus told us—this just makes me laugh when I read it—he says, „Let’s just keep this under wraps, okay?“ His ministry did not need any more hassle, any more attention, or crowds, but this guy could not keep it quiet. It says in Mark’s account instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly, but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. I mean, come on—can you blame this guy? How do you keep something like that under wraps? How do you keep that I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see? How do you keep that under wraps? You just can’t!
Becoming Contagious with Jesus' Love
Something like that happens to you, you want to explode with gratitude, just like we sang earlier: „I won’t be quiet! How can I keep it inside?“ You know, Lake Point is a growing church, and I think it’s because we can’t keep quiet about the love of God that’s changed us. So we want our friends, we want our family, we want our neighbors, our co-workers, our teammates, our classmates to experience that too. In fact, you may be sitting right now on a row close to a family that just a few years ago was absolutely falling apart, but they humbled themselves and allowed God to get close, and he touched them in profound ways. You may be sitting really close to someone who was adrift in a deep, deep sea of depression and grief, but God began to pull them out, and they got some help.
You may just be a seat away from someone who wrestled big time with alcoholism, drug addiction, or an eating disorder. But like the leper, they said, „Lord, I’m willing. You willing?“ And they found that God could and would if he were sought. They started seeking his help; they got into a recovery program, and he began transforming their lives. You are in the same room right now with people who had a horrible reputation, a wild sexual past, those who did prison time, and those who thought forgiveness was not something for someone like them. But they found out they were dead wrong about the kind of God he is, and they felt the life-giving touch of Jesus Christ.
You are in the same room right now with people who are terminally ill. By the way, all of us are terminal; you know that? The stats on death are pretty impressive: one out of one people die! But there are people right now who are experiencing going through chemo and different things like that because of the disease that’s invaded their bodies. But I have so many friends who are experiencing another kind of healing—this unexplainable peace and confidence, this joy, this strength to move through every day because there’s a God who draws close, and he has given them an eternal hope that will not disappoint. And that is the greater miracle! I’m telling you, it’s hard to keep something like that quiet because once you get infected by Jesus’ healing touch, you start to move through your school, your workplace, your neighborhood, your own home with this contagious joy that flows from a deep gratitude.
I’m not talking about becoming some obnoxious religious person; I’m not even talking necessarily about being a highly verbal person. But rather moving through your world with kindness and integrity and this attractive peace, a healthy confidence, and a humble heart that’s full of compassion that just serves the people around you. I mean, when God has changed your life, when Jesus has infected you, it’s hard to keep that quiet. It’s hard not to want to touch the world the way you have been touched.
Story of Eddie
I met Eddie after church one weekend. He came with his brother asking for prayer; it was his only third time in a church in his life, and he wasn’t sure he believed any of it. His brother and sister-in-law had been inviting him for years, and he always stiff-armed every invitation. He was a pretty self-centered guy, chasing a lot of stuff, and by the world standard, he was very successful. But something had changed in his life; he’d been diagnosed with cancer and was told there wasn’t much hope for him. So he finally came with him, and God started softening his heart. Reluctantly, after the service, he came to ask for prayer, and we talked for a while. We hit it off immediately, like we were immediate old friends; it was pretty cool. I was able to tell him that Jesus was a healer, and even though he doesn’t choose to always heal people physically, there’s a deeper healing that only he can bring.
I told him that in my life, Jesus had healed me from my addiction to self and approval—and how he had touched me and replaced my greed with generosity and gratitude, my envy with contentment, and my anxiety with peace. So we stood there and talked for a while, then we all huddled up—his brother, he, and I—and we prayed. We stayed in contact. A few weeks later, his brother texted me and asked if the three of us could meet for lunch. I said sure, man. I’d love to meet you guys.
I can still remember sitting at that round table in that restaurant right across from Eddie. Eddie got really choked up and wanted to give me an update on his cancer. He says, „I don’t even know how to say this—I went last week, and the doctor said he’d never seen it; my cancer is completely gone.“ And I can still remember looking across the table and just saying the first thing that came out of my mouth, which is usually dangerous for me to do, and I don’t know where this came from other than the Holy Spirit made me say it. I looked at Eddie and said, „Man, what are you going to do with a gift like that?“ He looked back at me like, „I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about that.“
Well, he eventually took those words to heart and gave his life to Christ, and I got to baptize him. He was already a likable guy—a really extroverted, likable dude—but he turned into a love machine. He began to walk with humility and started asking forgiveness for all kinds of people he’d hurt through the years: friends, family. He became good friends with his ex-wife and her new husband. He started being the kind of dad his girls had always needed him to be.
It was like that old Tim McGraw song, „Live Like You Were Dying, ” except he wasn’t like skydiving, and rocky mountain climbing, and riding a bull named Fumanu. He started serving; he started giving himself away. He got infected by the touch of Jesus. He became this super generous guy who helped so many people. He was always bringing co-workers, clients, and his girls to church with him every week. I mean, this dude was a light!
Just short of a year later, the cancer came back with a vengeance, and he lasted only a month or so. I can remember being at his bedside while he was out, and I was just guessing he could hear me and understand me, so I told him how honored I was to be his friend and I was so proud of him. He was the first dude I ever kissed on the forehead, and I told him I would see him soon. Just a few days later, I got to do his funeral—or rather, the celebration of life service.
It was incredible how many people showed up at this thing. The chapel we were meeting in held about 1,500 people, and it was full, with people lined along the sides all the way across the back. So many stories there about the way he had touched their lives, and we cried, and we laughed, and we worshiped. It was so moving! He had had his brother ahead of time make some DVDs of a message that I preached one time that meant a lot to him, and everybody got one of those on their way out.
Eddie took that gift of healing for a few days, a few months, and he let Jesus heal him in ways that really mattered, and began to touch people with the love of Jesus. Today, if you need prayer for healing of any kind, if you have anything going on in your life, we’re going to have some people down front at every single campus just to meet you and pray with you. Don’t leave until you do that! And if you would rather text „pray“ to 20411, then you can do that, and someone will get right back with you and pray with you. Jesus is a healer, and he may not heal the way we want him to, but he heals in places that are just unbelievably more important—they’re eternal.
Closing Encouragement and Prayer
I’ve had this quote from Ian Watson hanging over my desk in the office for many years now. He says, „We live on a contaminated planet. It’s contaminated on every level; it should have been quarantined from heaven. No reasonable God would go near it with a ten — foot pole. But Jesus is no reasonable God. He became a human being and took on your uncleanness and mine. But instead of the world infecting him, he infected the world. And with his immaculate infection, it’s still spreading.“
I just want to encourage all of us today, as we leave this place or maybe even while we’re still here, look around with new eyes. Look at people the way Jesus did, and be sensitive to the people that God puts in your path this week. Let’s continue to take off the safety glasses and throw away the gloves, and let’s just touch this world with the healing love of Jesus.
Father, we just want to express to you how grateful we are that Jesus touched us. Thank you for the deeper healing that he has done in our lives. God, every single one of us here-we never had to shout unclean, but we were deep in our souls, and you came in and made us clean. You took all that stuff out of us and you made us right in God’s sight. You took imperfect people and made them perfect in your sight. You took people full of blame and regret and you made us blameless! You gave us eternal life, so when we do die, we’ll never have to fear that. We just know we’re going to live forever! So, Jesus, thank you for all of that. Thank you for being willing to touch untouchable people like us. I pray we do the same this week-that we would never see someone as untouchable. I pray it all in your name. Amen.