SOME SONGS BY
CERTAIN VICTORY:

"If Leprosy Consumes Me"

by Paul Lytle

Then the priest shall look, and behold, if the leprosy has covered all his body, he shall pronounce clean him who has the infection; it has all turned white and he is clean.

Leviticus 13:13

And a leper came to Him, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." And moved with compassion, He stretched out His hand, and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed.”

Mark 1:40-41

Throw me down and raise those stones
I've been in this dirt before yeah
You say I stand alone
And I'm not one society can ignore

Adulterer, Blasphemer, Murderer
So much weight that I can't stand yeah
There's truth in all you heard
But you are looking at a clean man

Oh, if leprosy consumes me
Still I'm clean
If my actions seem to doom me, baby
Still I'm clean
Label me with letters of scarlet
Still I'm clean
Then stone me for a harlot, baby
Still I'm clean

I confess all these crimes and more
You have found the guilty party yeah
I was lost to my very core
But cleaning me out was just the start; He —

Opened, came in, shifted 'bout
Strengthens me every time I bow yeah
You call my past self out
But that man doesn't live here now

Oh, if leprosy consumes me
Still I'm clean
If my actions seem to doom me, baby
Still I'm clean
Label me with letters of scarlet
Still I'm clean
Then stone me for a harlot, baby
Still I'm clean

Oh, if leprosy destroys me
Still I'm clean
No, this ain't some coy plea, baby
Still I'm clean
Place me upon the stand
Still I'm clean
Make all your futile demands, baby
Still I'm clean

*          *          *

Heaven Father, great is Your mercy and grace to cleanse such a sinner as I. I deserve not your sacrifice, and yet You have given it freely. Cleanse me therefore, O Father, so that I may be made ready to stand in Your holy presence. Amen.

Leviticus 13:13 sounded very strange to me when I first read it, and I know that it confuses a great many people. If leprosy had only covered part of the body, the priest was to declare the person unclean. But, as verse thirteen tells us, if leprosy had completely taken over the body, the person could be declared clean.

What kind of weird rule is that? Actually, a little research made the answer very clear. If the leprosy was still spreading over the body (that is, only part of the body had been covered), then the disease is contagious. But once it covers the body and dries out, it has basically run its course and is no longer contagious.

Avoiding, for a moment, the practical side of this verse, I am reminded very acutely of the Christian conversion. I was covered in disease and dirt. If anger is equivalent to murder (Matthew 5:22), if lust makes me guilty of adultery (Matthew 5:28), if taking the Lord's name in vain makes me guilty of blasphemy, then I am guilty of some truly terrible crimes against God. And yet, covered as I am, Christ has declared me clean, washed me off, and presented me before the Father as a pure being.

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

-Paul

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