A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
This leper came from a life of isolation, shame, and sickness, to Jesus, as his only hope. The law could only isolate this man and separate him to prevent the spread of his illness. He came with faith in the power of Jesus, power that was sufficient to do what the law could not. But he was not sure this was what Jesus wished. To some extent this was a pious way to avoid presumption. But some of his motivation probably also stemmed from a negative self perception and a real lack of self worth on the part of the leper. It would be hard to avoid internalizing such a self perception when the law required him to "cry out, 'Unclean, unclean!'" when there was anyone in proximity. He knew Jesus could do what he asked. But he may well have doubted that he was worth it. And it was to this deep loneliness, and not merely to a physical malady, that Jesus responded when he was "[m]oved with pity".
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched him, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
Before he said the words of healing, he reached out toward the leper, and did what must have been shocking to leper and to all those who witnessed it. He "touched him", thus already beginning the deep healing from isolation and shame that had accompanied the man throughout his history with the disease. In any normal case this would have caused the man who touched the leper to become unclean. But Jesus was anything but a normal case. With him it worked precisely in reverse, such that the leper became clean by the power of his touch and the power of his word. This word was like the word that created the universe in that way it said it also accomplished. "God said, "Let there be light," and there was light" (see Genesis 1:3). Jesus said, "Be made clean", and he was made clean.
He said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
Jesus was not yet ready to have his identity widely known. He didn't want to be misunderstood as merely a healer, an exorcist, a prophet, or a teacher. He wanted these aspects of his identity to be understood under the wider context of his Messianic plan, which was not first to conquer, but to suffer. People were all too eager for the healer, but not so ready to accept him as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. They loved him when he provided them with bread. But they were tempted to despise him when he insisted that there were things more important than food and clothing. They were hoping for a Messiah whose kingdom was of this world. But the Kingdom of Jesus was of this world.
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
The burden that had previously belonged to the leper, being unable to openly enter any town, had now fallen upon Jesus himself. Already we see him fulfilling the words of Isaiah that, "[s]urely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows" (see Isaiah 53:4). The man, by contrast, was to show himself to the priests and offer what Moses prescribed, allowing him to reenter common life and be reintegrated into common worship.
Jesus did will to heal this man, not only of his unclean status, but of the deep psychological wound that that status had caused in him. In some ways all of us are like this leper, wounded and isolated, not by leprosy, but by sin. Many of us doubt that our condition merits the attention of Jesus. We have been calling ourselves unclean for so long that we may begin to lose hope that any change is possible. But Jesus himself desires to recreate us with his word and his touch just as he did this leper. He wants to heal not only bodies but especially hearts and souls. Let us go to him, particularly in the sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion, for he does will it.
In response to the healing power of Jesus in our lives there is no need to keep silent as there was for the leper. We are encouraged to proclaim the good news, and to live our very lives as thanksgiving, just as Paul described.
Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do everything for the glory of God.
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