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“The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.” Leviticus 14:14

In our most honest moments I think most of us would desire one thing; to know we are completely free from all the contaminations of living an imperfect life in an imperfect world. We would love to take back the cross words, the flirtatious looks at another man’s wife, the small lie to enhance a business deal. We would wipe out the black marks on our children because we stayed too long at work and left birthday parties too early. We would erase the tears on our wife’s cheek brought on by a sharp-tongued reply. In short, we would love to be able to begin again.

The person being “cleansed” in this passage is someone who once had leprosy and now is has no sysmptoms of the wasting disease. The person brings a guilt offering and the priest applies the blood on the lobe of the right year, the thumb of the right hand and the big toe of his right foot.

The same ritual is carried out with the anointing oil (see verse 17). The priest holds the oil in his left hand and, dipping his right finger in the oil, he sprinkles it seven times over the former leper. He then applies the remaining oil on his ear, thumb and big toe.

I don’t think any former leper would soon forget this ritual. It doesn’t take much insight to realize the ear, thumb and big toe are representative of the entire person. The blood of the sacrifice, still warm in the priest’s hand, signified to the recipient that he was entirely clean. And, leprosy being a picture of sin, shows us that God desires complete cleansing through the blood of the ultimate Guilt Offering; Jesus Christ.

Deep in his memory, the brain storing the complete experience, this former leper could recall the very moment when he was declared “Clean!” His entire life he had to stay a great distance from others, shouting out “unclean” so no one would inadvertandly come too close and be contaminated. Many wore bells around their necks for the same reason. Ostracized and prohibited from entering the temple, his new freedom would feel like an entirely new world!

If the blood signifies forgiveness and cleansing, the oil represents acceptance and the presence of God’s Holy Spirit. This is the same oil used to anoint the priest upon their initiation to temple ministry. Once a pariah, this healed leper feels the warm oil of God’s acceptance running from his ear onto his shoulder, from his thumb dripping down the arm of his upraised hands. On his feet, the oil spoke to him that his steps were no longer hindered. Each step he took was a new step of completely freedom.

I hope the allegory needs little interpretation. Our sin left us as lepers before God. As hard as we might try, we make little progress in ridding ourselves of the dreadful disease on our own. And so the memories pile up, a memory stack that cannot be deleted. But, God is the one who holds the delete button.

Forgiveness is complete because Jesus’ crucifixion took every sin of the entire world and offered it as the one final Guilt Offering. The entire human population of sin-lepers is forgiven; “It is accomplished”, as Jesus uttered from the cross.

The question remains whether we will allow the blood of Jesus, in figurative terms, to touch our ears; freeing us to hear the love of God in every whisper of wind. Will we let His blood, applied to our thumbs, bring forgiveness for every misguided act of sin? Upon our big toes, will we receive His complete forgiveness for every place our sinful desires took us? Will we see ourselves as completely forgiven and clean?

Remember, though, the leper also was anointed with oil. We are not merely to be empty hard drives with only the old information wiped clean. He sends us, unhindered by the unpleasant memories of our selfish ways. We are not sent with that have heard Him say, “As the Father sent me, so I am sending You.” Our hands are now His hands, the oil still fresh as we reach out to the unloved just as Christ did to us. And, our feet, may they let Father God guide them to share with the next waiting leper how they, too, can be free.