Four incidents, the most extreme of their class, serve to illustrate how Christ’s nature was impervious to sin.
Physical Defilement (Lk. 5:12-13): The “man full of leprosy,” who sought healing from the Lord, represents the worst form of that most loathsome of all physical diseases, yet the Lord Jesus did not hesitate to “put forth His hand and touch him,” unafraid of any contamination passing to Himself from the contact. From the presence of such ineffable purity, physical disease must flee away.
Spiritual Defilement (Mk. 5:1-20):The case of the demoniac of Gadara illustrates the worst form of demon possession encountered by the Lord. From Mary Magdalene seven demons were cast out (Mk. 16:9), but this poor unfortunate was possessed by a legion (Mk. 5:9). Yet, as ever, demons were exorcised by the word of Christ; contact was made with spiritual evil without impairment to His own holy spirit.
Moral Defilement (Lk. 7:36-39): The surprise of Simon the Pharisee at the Lord receiving the ministrations of such a notoriously unchaste woman is hardly to be wondered at, from a natural point of view. That One reputedly so holy should have allowed such contact was, to him, incredible. Yet the miracle is that in submitting to the attentions of such a social pariah the character of the Lord is actually adorned by the fact that His essential holiness suffered no hurt in the process.
Ceremonial Defilement (Mk. 5:26-43): Contact with a woman with a blood hemorrhage would ordinarily result in the ceremonial defilement of the person concerned (Lev. 15:19-31). Ceremonial cleansing was essential; one not submitting to cleansing would be judged guilty of defiling God’s sanctuary.
Although “born under the law” (Gal. 4:4, rv) and careful, as a true Jew, to fulfill its obligations (Mt. 5:17), the Lord Jesus, unlike all others, was only voluntarily subject to it, inasmuch as “the law was not made for the righteous man, but for the lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and for sinners…” (1 Tim. 1:9-10).
Therefore by reason of His impeccable and impeccant nature, He was actually beyond the reach of the prohibitions and judgments of the law. So, whereas the secret touch of the unclean woman would, to all but Him, have brought defilement and the need of cleansing, there could be no imputation of ceremonial defilement to Him, of whose nature the law was but a reflection. And not only was impurity in any of its forms incommunicable to His perfect nature, but power to heal went forth to the impure (Mk. 5:30). It was true Light that dispelled the darkness; darkness, no matter how dark, could never extinguish the Light.