While Jesus was in one of the cities one day, a man with leprosy came to see
Jesus, and kneeling down, he feel on his face, worshipped and begged Jesus,
saying, “Sovereign, if you are willing to do so, you can make me clean.” Filled
with compassion, Jesus reached out His Hand and touched him, saying to him, “I
am willing; be cleansed.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was healed.
Then Jesus sent him away, saying, “See that you tell no one; but go and show
yourself to the priest, and because you were healed make the offering that Moses
commanded, as testimony to them.”
But when the man left he told everyone he met and announce the news far and
wide. So Jesus’ fame spread out even more so that He could no longer go openly
into a town, but had to stay in desolate areas. Large crowds came from every
corner of the land to listen and to be healed of their illnesses, but Jesus kept
withdrawing into the wilderness to pray.
(Mt. 8:2-4, Mk. 1:40-45, Lk. 5:12-16)
The story of the man with leprosy is a very important story, especially for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered folk–surely for all of society’s outcasts–as it shows us how Jesus regarded all societal untouchables.
First, we need to examine this disease the Bible gives more prominence to than any other. According to The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: “In the strictest sense there are no such entities as ‘diseases;’ a disease is actually a collection of symptoms that are given a designation for convenience.” It goes on to point out that, a person need not have all the symptoms attributable to that disease to have it, and characteristics of diseases have changed over the centuries. Further, though the Bible uses the word leprosy, the Greek word was used for several skin diseases–not just what we today know as Hansen’s Disease (leprosy).
The thirteenth chapter of Leviticus denotes the regulations and instructions on how a person with any form of skin eruption was to be handled. The person was to be taken to one of the priests for examination to determine if the eruption might become an infectious skin disease. The person first would be determined to be ceremonially unclean, and after examination, the person would be placed in isolation for seven days, then returned to the priest for another examination and perhaps further isolation, depending on the condition of the eruption. If the problem cleared up the priest, after examination would perform ritual cleansing lasting another seven days as described in Leviticus 14, followed by animal sacrifice and the pronouncement that the formerly infected person was now clean.
Note that there was no form of treatment of any kind–only examination. If the problem didn’t clear up after the isolations, the disease was determined to be infectious. The person with the infectious disease was required to wear torn clothes, his or her hair must remain unkempt, the lower part of his or her face must be covered, and the person was required to cry out “Unclean! Unclean!” whenever other people were in the vicinity. The individual was forced to live alone outside of the community.
They were barred from even entering a town that was walled. A person could come no closer to a leper than six feet, and if a person was downwind of a leper, the leper could come no closer than 150 feet. It was illegal to greet a leper, even away from town out in the open. A leper’s defilement was considered second only to that of a dead person, and it was not uncommon for people to throw stones at lepers to keep them away. He or she was banished from society for as long as he or she had the disease. Healings were considered to occur through divine intervention, and when a person was healed, he or she was to report to the priest for examination and ritual cleansings.
In spite of the intense physical suffering caused by the disease, the psychological damage from the isolation and rejection of society was even worse. Lepers were considered to have been cursed by God. In an article about lepers a Dr. A.B. MacDonald wrote, “The leper is sick in mind as well as body. For some reason there is an attitude to leprosy different from the attitude to any other disfiguring disease. It is associated with shame and horror, and carries, in some mysterious way, a sense of guilt, although innocently acquired like most contagious troubles. Shunned and despised, frequently do lepers consider taking their own lives, and some do.” In his Daily Study Bible series, William Barclay wrote, “The leper was hated by others until he came to hate himself.”
We can now examine this particular incident in the light of this background. The first thing we notice is that we are told that the man fell to his knees, worshipped Jesus, and asked to be made clean. As previously noted, in the Jewish culture and religion, only God could cleanse one of leprosy. Yet, this person, no doubt having heard of Jesus’ reputation for miraculous healings, understood and had faith that Jesus could make it happen. The leper did not doubt Jesus’ abilities, but only wondered about His willingness, just as so many of us do today. We don’t doubt God’s power, only God’s mercy, and our worthiness to receive it.
The leper hadn’t dared come close to Jesus, but Jesus had no qualms. Jesus reached out His hand and touched him, and immediately he was cleansed. Jesus knew that the man was starved for human touch. And Jesus touched him. Notice that Jesus broke the Law when he touched the leper, and because He touched him Jesus became ritually defiled. Jesus didn’t need to break the Law to heal him. Jesus didn’t need to touch him to heal the leper–Jesus could just as easily have spoken the word and he would have been healed. And the Law would not have been broken.
But Jesus chose to break that Law. Jesus chose justice over the Law. Jesus chose to make a point that justice, compassion and mercy always take precedence over the letter of the law. Laws are tools of humankind–humankind is not a tool of the law. Yet again, even as Jesus broke the Law, Jesus also upheld it. Where the Law was unjust, Jesus broke it. But then again, having brought the man back to health, in keeping with Jewish Law and tradition, Jesus instructed the man to show himself to the priest and follow the Law’s requirements as regards making the offering.
The lesson Jesus gives us here is a lesson on the necessity of discernment when it comes to scriptural law. As recorded in both Mark and Matthew, when asked what the greatest commandments were Jesus spoke only of love–love for God, love for neighbor, love for self. Then Jesus added, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”. (Mt. 22:40) In other words, Jesus was saying that if we live our lives in accordance with the principles of love, if we regard God with love, if we regard ourselves with love, and if we regard others with love, then we’ll never do anything contrary to what God wants from us. The law of Love is our guide, not the letter of the scriptural Law. As the prophet, Micah put it: “And what does God require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8b)
All of God’s children need to be touched–need human companionship. All the way back in the book of Genesis it tells us that the reason God created Eve was because “It is not good for the human to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (Gen 2:18). God did not create us to live solitary lives. God does not want us to reject each other, or isolate each other, or deny each other the companionship we need to live a life of love. And when the Law demands exclusion, then the Law needs to be broken. As Jesus broke it.
As Jesus so often did, Jesus told the man to be silent about the cause of his healing, though in accordance with human nature, that request was not honored. The leper’s words would only incite the crowds all the more to seek Jesus out for healings and blessings, as indeed they did. In an ironic way, though Jesus, in healing the leper, brought the leper back into the community, because the leper spread the word of his healing far and wide, this drove Jesus to isolate Himself in the lonely places–perhaps in the same places the leper had been forced to seek refuge.
Points to Ponder