Mark 1.40-45,
Matthew 8.1-4,
Luke 5.12-16.
There’s are two words in the bible usually translated “leprosy.” They’re the Hebrew word
Leviticus 13.1-3 NASB - 1 The L
ORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, - 2 “When someone has on the skin of his body a swelling, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes an infection of leprosy on the skin of his body, athen he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. 3 The priest shall look at the infected area on the skin of the body, and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the infection appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is an infection of leprosy; when the priest has looked at him, he shall pronounce him unclean.”
The chapter goes into further detail about whether it’s a temporary or chronic case of “leprosy,” and whether “lepers” need to be temporarily isolated, or permanently—which includes walking around in torn clothing and shouting, “Unclean!” to anyone who approaches. Also whether clothes have “leprosy,” and what should be done with them; and chapter 14 tells of buildings which have “leprosy,” and whether they should be washed or torn down.
Now yeah, since we’re talking about something clothing and buildings can get, we’re not talking about a particular disease. More like a condition. Anything which makes your skin white and scaly, or red and raw; anything which turns your clothing or walls red or green. In the case of clothing and walls, it sounds like mold; in the case of skin ailments, it could be an infection, or even skin cancer.
Nowadays when we say “leprosy” we mean Hansen’s disease, a bacteriological infection which damages nerves and extremities. And it’s curable! Early treatment can prevent any permanent injury, but after six to 12 months of meds and therapy, you’re fine. Don’t need to wear torn clothing; don’t need to shout “Unclean!” For that matter, we’re not entirely sure Hansen’s disease is even what the L
Regardless of what the bible means by chara’át or leprós, that was the disease to avoid—and the disease ancient Israelis most feared. It made you
People still develop this attitude about chronically unwell people. If you’re regularly suffering from maladies; if you’re deaf, blind, can’t walk, or are mentally ill, Christians regularly develop the attitude of “That’s your fault. ’Cause if you only trusted God enough, he’d cure you.” Which is pure
Anywho, here’s the part of the gospels where someone with “leprosy” first approaches Jesus. Dude
This one “leper” decided to give it a shot.
The text.
Contrary to those folks with a warped view of
Mark 1.40-45 KWL - 40 A “leper” comes, asking Jesus for help,
- and kneeling and telling him this:
- “If you want, you can make me clean.”
- 41 Moved with compassion, Jesus extends his hand,
- holds the “leper,” and tells him,
- “I want to. Be cleansed!”
- 42 Next, the “leprosy” leaves him, and he’s cleansed.
- 43 But Jesus grows irritated with him,
- and next throws the “leper” out,
- 44 and Jesus tells the “leper,” “Look, say nothing to no one.
- Instead go; show yourself to the priest.
- Bring an offering for your cleansing, like Moses commands,
- as your witness to them.”
- 45 The “leper” goes out—and begins to preach. A lot.
- Spreading the word so much,
- Jesus can no longer openly enter a city.
- Instead he’s staying out in undeveloped places,
- and people are coming to him from every direction.
Matthew 8.1-4 KWL - 1 Coming down from the mountain,
- many people are following Jesus.
- 2 Look, an approaching “leper” kneels before Jesus
- and says, “Master, if you want, you can make me clean.”
- 3 Extending his hand, Jesus holds the “leper”,
- saying, “I want to. Be cleansed!”
- Next, the “leprosy” is cleansed from him.
- 4 Jesus tells the “leper,” “Look out, lest you tell anyone.
- Instead go; show yourself to the priest.
- Bring the offering gift which Moses commands,
- as your witness to them.”
Luke 5.12-16 KWL - 12 While Jesus is coming to stay in one of the cities,
- look, a man full of “leprosy” is there,
- and seeing Jesus, falling on his face, he begs,
- saying, “Master, if you want, you can make me clean.”
- 13 Extending his hand, Jesus holds the “leper,”
- saying, “I want to. Be cleansed!”
- Next, the “leprosy” leaves him.
- 14 Jesus instructs the “leper” to tell no one.
- “Instead go show yourself to the priest.
- Bring an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commands,
- as your witness to them.”
- 15 Word about Jesus is spreading all the more,
- and many people are gathering to hear,
- and be cured [by Jesus] of their ailments.
- 16 Jesus is withdrawing to undeveloped places
- and praying.
Jesus, who absolutely knows the Father’s will,
Then, since they’re both good
That’s not what happened, of course; the guy was a bit of a blabbermouth. I’ll say more about that in a moment.
The belief Jesus is super-clean.
A lot of folks make a really big deal about Jesus making physical contact with this “leper.” Typically they note two things. Both are wrong. First one I’m gonna tackle is this really popular, baseless idea that Jesus was never, ever ritually unclean.
Yeah, I know; even though touching bodily fluids other than saliva—including your own!—renders you ritually unclean. Even though stepping in poo, or touching a dead person or dead animal, including bugs, renders you ritually unclean. Accidentally inhale a gnat: You’re ritually unclean. It happens! And Jesus traveled a lot, radically increasing the chances he’d become ritually unclean just going through life. Touch any unclean person, unclean for whatever reason whatsoever, and now you’re unclean.
People claim this ’cause they don’t understand ritual uncleanliness isn’t sin. It only means you gotta clean up before you go to temple or synagogue. You don’t just spend 12 hours in the sheep pen, then dust yourself off and go into a crowded synagogue reeking of body odor and sheep feces. You bathe. You put on clean clothes. You wait till sundown. You might pray; it’s always a good idea. Then you go worship.
Jesus had to do this too! When he entered a town, then went to synagogue, the text doesn’t explicitly say this, but anybody familiar with first-century Israel would know this: He went somewhere to wash up, put on clean clothes, wait till sundown, then go teach in synagogue. He didn’t just step into the building with the dust of the roads still on his feet—and claim prerogative to do so because he’s Jesus, and he has superpowers.
People don’t understand ritual cleanliness, which is why they mix it up with sin. Then point out since Jesus is sinless,
As if the Law doesn’t apply to Jesus, ’cause he’s Jesus.
This isn’t a biblical idea. It’s actually the idea might makes right: The rules don’t apply to the Almighty. Because
The reason Christians adopt this ungodly idea? ’Cause we wanna practice moral relativism. Hey, if Jesus can do it, why can’t we? If he gets to break the Law, why can’t we? Why can’t we break every biblical commandment if we so choose?—we’re not even under the Law, are we?
But Jesus is under the Law. He deliberately put himself under it.
Yes, Jesus sets the standard for what’s good and evil, ’cause the Law was his idea: Jesus is the L
Part of the Law is the whole deal with ritual cleanliness. Jesus found himself obligated to deal with that too. Human life has unclean things in it. We get dirty. We touch dirty people. We touch dead animals, or bleed, or have bodily discharges. So we gotta wash. These things, plus others, the Law declared ritually unclean, because being physically clean represents how we should be spiritually clean in God’s presence.
So Jesus followed the cleanliness rules as God intended. Just not as Pharisees intended, which is why they and Jesus debated the subject from time to time. Jesus followed the letter and spirit of the Law about ritual cleanliness; Pharisees either overdid it, or
In touching the “leper,” Jesus rendered himself unclean. All this means is he had to bathe himself, and couldn’t go to synagogue till the next day. Big deal. Small price to pay to cure someone.
The profundity of human contact.
Second is the fact “lepers” were forbidden contact with anyone.
And in each, Jesus extends his hand—bridging that gap between he and the man, between the Father’s love and our unworthiness—and touches him. Really, holds him; the word
Thus, preachers claim, this poor man had likely been deprived of human contact for years. Years. So when Jesus touched him, it was especially meaningful.
Now yes, if you were a “leper” as the scriptures defined “leprosy,” you weren’t allowed to touch clean people, lest you make ’em unclean or infect them. And technically you weren’t meant to touch other “lepers.” Remember, Leviticus describes a bunch of different skin problems which fall under the category of “leprosy.” One “leper” might have a bacterial infection; another “leper” might have a different bacterial infection; you don’t wanna cross-contaminate one another and both catch two kinds of “leprosy.”
But that’s not how people behave. And it’s not what we see in the bible: “Lepers” were regularly seen in the company of other “lepers.”
Further, “years”? We’ve no idea how long this “leper” had been suffering. Could be years, sure. Likewise he could’ve caught it a month ago, and the reason he was so eager to see Jesus was because he was in despair over “leprosy” ruining his life. Or it could be rapidly spreading; it could be a condition which was killing him, and he didn’t have years. Either way, we don’t know, and shouldn’t presume.
So no, we can’t say Jesus’s touch is the first human contact this man experienced in years. It’s dramatic, but unprovable. Kinda improbable.
Then Jesus gets strict with him.
Here’s the part which strikes me, and a whole lot of other folks, as odd. So odd, Matthew and Luke didn’t include it in their gospels. It’s how Jesus suddenly got
Something the guy did pissed Jesus off. No, I don’t know what it was. Neither do you.
But since we’re gonna speculate, I’d say a reasonable assumption is it’s related to Jesus’s instructions to him as he left. As Mark puts it:
Mark 1.44 KWL - …and Jesus tells the “leper,” “Look, say nothing to no one.
- Instead go; show yourself to the priest.
- Bring an offering for your cleansing, like Moses commands,
- as your witness to them.”
SAY NOTHING TO NO ONE. After Jesus cured the guy, no doubt the man wanted to loudly tell everyone! He wanted to share Jesus! Isn’t that great?
Well… it depends on what he intended to share.
Betcha it wasn’t “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,”
Jn 3.16 as we tend to proclaim. Nor the good news Jesus preached—thatGod’s kingdom has come near.Mk 1.15 More like, “Hey, come check me out! I used to have ‘leprosy,’ and now I don’t! Jesus the Nazarene cured me! Follow him; he’s the Messiah! He’s gonna throw out the Romans!” Nothing about God’s kingdom in there. It’s not the gospel.“Prosperity gospel” maybe, but not what Jesus teaches.And since Jesus had to order him to go visit the priest, it seems this guy either wasn’t the most Law-observant, or didn’t really care about following the Law now that he was cured. You know how some Christians are totally devout when they’re poor or needy, but as soon as their fortunes change, their Christianity falls by the wayside? That.
Yeah, Jesus can work with such people (and has, and does), but he’d rather not use lawless people to spread the gospel. So Jesus told him to first be lawful: Go do what Moses taught Israel to do. Maybe then he could come back and proclaim Jesus… but from the looks of it, he did his own thing. And he’s not the first self-described “Christ-follower” to do his own thing, regardless of anything our Lord has to say about it.
INSTEAD GO. Which is a separate command in Mark and Matthew; in Luke it’s a participle, and part of the command “show yourself.”
The “leper” wanted to stick around and promote whatever he thought Jesus was about. We don’t know how long he stuck around—a few hours, a day, a week—but it was enough for Jesus to grow frustrated with him. Not enough to give him his leprosy back; Jesus isn’t a dick. But enough to tell him it was time for him to leave. He wasn’t helping.
SHOW YOURSELF TO THE PRIEST. In Leviticus, the L
ORD assigned his priests the duty of identifying people and things as ritually clean or not. Technically this “leper” wasn’t clean till the priest declared it—if he set foot in temple or synagogue without first being declared clean, and someone recognized him, it’d shut the service down. If in temple, the Romans would pour into the temple grounds, arrest him for disturbing the peace, and maybe even crucify him for fun.No, the “leper” didn’t have to go all the way to Jerusalem to find a priest. Any
Levite was a priest, and Levites lived all over Israel—particularly in cities, since the LORD hadn’t granted the Levites any tribal lands. There was likely a Levite in the nearest town. He’d do.Problem was, this “leper” doesn’t seem to have had any intention of visiting the priest. Though he used the words “make me clean” to get Jesus’s sympathy, to his mind clean only meant cured of his disease. Didn’t matter whether a priest declared him ritually clean or not. He decided whether he was clean or not.
Yeah, we’re not really talking about a devout Israeli. This “leper” was likely an irreligious Jew, who followed God as he pleased, when he pleased, regardless of anything Pharisees, Sadducees, Qumranis, and especially Samaritans taught. Basically he’d be what we Christians call
a pagan —though he imagined himself a Jew, same assome pagans will fancy themselves to be Christian. Why would such a person turn to Jesus? Pure pragmatism. He wanted to get cured, and Jesus might be able to do that. Now, as for actually obeying Jesus and the Father… meh. He only wanted to get cured.
Yeah, a lot of us would-be Christians are jerks like this. We want Jesus to free us of all our problems. But following him afterward?—nah. We want salvation, but phooey on the kingdom.
We’re ingrates. BRING AN OFFERING. Once cured, God instructed the following ritual in the Law. It’s a little weird to those of us who don’t do ritual sacrifices, but it’s deliberately symbolic.
- Have the priest take you outside and double-check that you’re clean.
Lv 14.2-3 - Kill a bird; empty its blood into a clay jar full of water.
Lv 14.5 - Dip a live bird (and some other items) in the bloody water; turn the bird loose in a field.
Lv 14.6-7 - Get sprinkled by the priest seven times with the bloody water, after which he’ll declare you clean.
Lv 14.7 - Wash your clothes and shave off all your hair. (All of it. Eyebrows too.) Bathe. Then live outside your tent or house for a week.
Lv 14.8 - End of the week: Shave your head again. Bathe.
Lv 14.9 - Next day: Sacrifice two male lambs, one female lamb, a grain offering, and an oil offering.
Lv 14.10-13 The priest will dip and sprinkle some of the blood and oil on you.Lv 14.14-18 Now you’re officially clean. Eat the lambs in celebration.- Can’t afford lambs? Substitute pigeons.
Lv 14.30 (Pigeons are free—but you gotta catch ’em.)Aren’t you glad
Jesus’s atonement supersedes ritual offerings, andthe Holy Spirit’s indwelling supersedes ritual cleanliness? But even though we don’t need to do these things anymore, they’re the proper procedure for those who live under the Law.Problem was, the “leper” didn’t care about the Law. Don’t know why; maybe he was bitter at God about the “leprosy.” Maybe bitter at the priests for declaring him unclean. Maybe he never did follow the Law, and the only reason he was identifiable as an unclean, infected person was because he only stuck to customs,
like your typical Christianist. Either way, he wasn’t doing this.This, Jesus explained,
is his testimony. But the man didn’t want his actions to be his testimony. Just his words.
Like I said, certain translations downplay things and make it sound like Jesus did nothing more than strictly warn the man to be quiet. Because God forbid word got out Jesus could cure the sick!
Which is a stupid interpretation. What was Jesus doing all over the Galilee? Preaching the gospel, curing anything people brought him,
I’ve also heard people claim Jesus was practicing a bit of reverse psychology: He told the man, “Shut up and say nothing,” knowing it’d provoke the man to blab everywhere, and raise Jesus’s profile. Since this interpretation turns Jesus
I know; it’s also stupid. But people have no problem embracing stupid interpretations when they justify their prejudices.
The reality is, when Jesus told people to be quiet about miracles, it’s because he didn’t want these people proclaiming him. They’re bad witnesses! We’re talking
See, in the hands of such evangelists, the teachings of Jesus get ignored, twisted, or not taught at all. They don’t preach the kingdom; they preach wellness. They don’t talk about following Jesus; they talk about Jesus making us healthy and wealthy and comfortable. We got a lot of these self-centered evangelists running amok, and it’s why we’ve also got a lot of self-described Christians who won’t obey, change, or follow. Jesus doesn’t want such “followers,” nor such “evangelists.” Arguably they’re not even Christian: They still
