Introduction:
Leprosy. This was one of the worst, and perhaps the most dreaded diseases of all time. If anyone ever came down with this disease, that person just about faced a death sentence. Everyone, who had this disease, faced expulsion from society, including home, family, friends, and anything else the leper had to leave behind. The leper had to wear special clothing, had to live outside the camp, and had to say (shout?) “Unclean! Unclean!” Perhaps this was to alert others, apparently, not to get too close lest they come down with leprosy as well.
The Old Testament lists several people who contracted leprosy. Some were Miriam, Moses’ sister (see Numbers 12:10); Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the prophet (see 2 Kings 5); and Naaman, a mighty man of valor (2 Kings 5:1)—even though he was from Syria. There were also the four lepers who found the camp of the Syrians deserted after the nation of Israel had suffered both siege and famine (see 2 Kings 7). Besides these were others, no doubt, both recorded and not recorded in Scripture. zleprosy could even affect clothing and houses (Leviticus 13 and 14). Leviticus 14 also states that there were provisions for the ex-leper (for lack of a better term) to be restored once he or she was pronounced “clean”.
Leprosy didn’t seem to go away, even after all the years between the days of the kingdom and the days when Jesus walked the earth. There were several occasions when Jesus healed lepers. This is the first recorded instance of such a healing.
The text is from Matthew, chapter 8, verses 1-4, with a parallel passage in Mark 1:40-45. Luke also records this incident, making it one of the few events recorded by three of the four Gospels:
[Mat 8:1-4 KJV] 1 When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. 2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 3 And Jesus put forth [his] hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
[Mar 1:40-45 KJV] 40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth [his] hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. 42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. 43 And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away; 44 And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. 45 But he went out, and began to publish [it] much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.
I The request: what did the leper ask from Jesus?
Several of us, including myself, may have missed something when we read Matthew chapter 8. The leper himself was near the very place where Jesus had just finished preaching the Sermon on the Mount! Did the leper go close enough to hear Jesus preach?
Other questions come to mind. What was the leper’s name? What about his family? What city had he previously lived in? Where was he living now? When and how did he come down with the disease of leprosy?
We’re not given the answers to any of these questions. We do know that this person had the disease of leprosy and that there was little hope of the disease going away. We’re not even told how he came to know about Jesus and His power to heal, but find out he did, and he wanted to be healed!
So he asked Jesus—actually, we could say he made an appeal—“if You are willing, You can make me clean”. Notice the helplessness of the leper, in that he couldn’t heal himself, and I doubt any physician of that time would even look at him for fear of also becoming a leper; and the plea for help from Jesus. Remember, the crowds were coming down the mountain with Jesus after He had preached the “Sermon on the Mount”.
What was Jesus going to do?
II The response: what did Jesus do for the leper?
Matthew tells us that Jesus reached out and touched the leper, saying “I will” or “I am willing”, and “be clean”. It was as simple as that. The leper knew he had no hope of ever being healed or becoming “clean” unless Jesus was willing to do this. Now, he was healed! Matthew adds, (see verse 3), “ . . . immediately, his leprosy was healed.”
We can compare this with two other examples of people who became leprous, but were healed. Both of these examples happened in the Old Testament, but it would be hard to find two more different people. Miriam was the sister of Moses, and she generally followed his leadership, respecting the authority God had given her “little brother”. But there was one time where she went too far in her criticism (about Moses’ wife, of all things!) and God struck Miriam with leprosy. According to Numbers 12:10, Miriam became as white as snow with her leprosy. God meant business when He knew the motive behind the criticism, and apparently Miriam, along with Aaron, needed a lesson.
Thankfully, Moses and Aaron both prayed to the Lord, asking for Miriam to be healed. God answered that prayer. Ironically, these are the last words recorded in Scripture that Miriam ever spoke. I’m sure she would tell us to not have our last words be known as words of reproach!
The other example, one mentioned earlier, was Naaman, a high-ranking officer in the Syrian (Aramean) army. The books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles give details of several wars between Israel and Syria, even though David had conquered a great deal of territory. We read in 2 Samuel 8:6 that David had even put garrisons in Damascus!
All of that was gone by Naaman’s time, though, and a Hebrew girl was captured, becoming the slave of Naaman and his wife. We’re not told her age, her name, or even which tribe she belonged to, or even if she had been a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We do know that she had knowledge of Elisha and God’s power and relayed that to her mistress.
Eventually, Naaman received word on how to be healed, but not how he thought it would happen. Read the narrative in 2 Kings 5 to get Naaman’s overall opinion on what he must have thought was either a waste of time or a wild goose chase—Elisha didn’t even come to Naaman personally! He sent a messenger to tell Naaman, “wash in the Jordan river seven times” and he would be healed.
Naaman swallowed his pride, and took seven dips in the Jordan, and would you believe it, he was healed. This was a true miracle, and literally made a believer out of Naaman!
So, the people of Jesus’ day were at least somewhat familiar with these healings but others were apparently few and far between. This was one of the first miracles Jesus performed, and it was something nobody, I think, expected to happen. In Miriam’s case, God struck her with leprosy, and then healed her. Immediately. No medicines, no touching, nothing at all—God did it all. In Naaman’s case, God used the faith of a pagan responding to the word of a prophet to bring healing. Here, in this case, God in flesh, Jesus Christ, reached out and touched the leper—and healed him!
III. The requirements: what did Jesus tell the leper to do?
It’s interesting that Jesus didn’t send the ex-leper back to his home, or anywhere else, but directed him to the requirements of the Law. Remember that Jesus lived under the Dispensation of Law, and came here to fulfil the Law of Moses—Jesus even said this during the Sermon on the Mount, perhaps just minutes before this healing! The Law was still in effect during this time, and the leper was required to make a visible presentation to the priest in order to be declared “clean”. The leper was required, further, to bring a few things as an offering (see Leviticus 14 for the specifics). This is what Jesus told the now-cleansed leper to do— please remember, the Law was still binding on the Hebrew people at that time.
There is an irony here, too, in that the ex-leper promptly broke the very commandment Jesus gave him! Matthew’s account doesn’t mention it, but Mark records that the man “began to publish it much (Mark 1:45). The testimony he gave promptly caused Jesus to have to leave where He was, because so many people were coming to Him!
Finally, there is one other bit of sadness—nowhere do we read that this man ever came back to give Jesus thanks. We don’t know why this didn’t happen, and there is no need to speculate. Like him, however, we can always rejoice whenever we’re healed, or when someone we know receives God’s healing.
Conclusion
This is perhaps the second time when Jesus told someone, “go thy way”. Here, it was the result of a man who had an incurable disease, condemned to live a living death, due to leprosy. The leper asked Jesus, in faith, to be healed—and Jesus healed the man, immediately. Jesus warned him to not spread the word, but to present himself to the priest and give proof that he had been healed—all according to the Law of Moses. The man seemed not to be able to keep the good news to himself, and promptly gave witness to what Jesus did.
When we receive healing, may we, too, be willing to “go our way”, and give glory to the Lord for all He has done for us!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible
