I am willing; be cleansed

 

 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.  And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

 

- Matthew 7:28-8:4 

 

In yesterday's reading, we read Jesus' final word in the Sermon on the Mount.  He taught, "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'  Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell.  And great was its fall."   

 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  The scribes would teach by citing the sayings of a famous rabbi or other teacher.  But Christ teaches with authority in Himself, as Son.  These sayings refer to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).  

 

 When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.  And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."  The biblical law regarding leprosy is found in Leviticus 13 and 14.  Deuteronomy 24:8 describes the purification of lepers and of leprous houses, a duty which was entrusted to the priests.  My study Bible comments that leprosy was considered to be direct punishment for sins.  As lepers were considered unclean, they were not permitted to live in the community or to worship in synagogues or the temple.  To touch the unclean was forbidden (Leviticus 7:21).  But Jesus touched the leper, showing at once His compassion, and also that He is not subject to the Law but over it. My study Bible remarks that to the clean, nothing is unclean (Romans 14:14).   

Jesus tell the healed leper:  "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."  We have just read that the people were astonished at Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, because He taught not as the scribes did, but with authority, as if He had authority, when He bears no "earthly" authority in terms of the religious establishment.  In the healing of the leper, there is a subtlety to this command.  He commands the leper not to speak to others about what He has done, that Christ has healed him; and yet, in going to the priest and offering the gift Moses commanded by following the Law, this will be a testimony to the priest (and to the religious authorities) regarding Jesus and Jesus' divine authority, made manifest in this healing.  Christ follows the way of all righteousness (Matthew 3:15) in His ministry, thus fulfilling both the Law and the Prophesy regarding Himself.  In this prophetic sense, also, is the testimony made to the priests regarding this miraculous healing.  My study Bible cites the commentary on a similar incident in Luke by St. Cyril of Alexandria (Luke 5:14), that the priests hold Moses to be greater than Christ (the Messiah), but Christ heals a leper immediately and with His own divine authority.  When Miriam, the sister of Moses, was struck with leprosy, Moses had to seek mercy from above, and Miriam was only healed after seven days (Numbers 12:10-15).  Jesus actively engages in His ministry, and yet for these extraordinary miracles He does not seek publicity.  Rather, what He asks of people who've been healed is righteousness.  In this case, that means following the obligations of the Mosaic Law.  But in so doing, the healed will also offer testimony to the religious establishment regarding Jesus.  It is a "fitting and right" way in which Jesus expresses His divine authority in the world, and He teaches us to also do what is "fitting and right."  We don't need to go around making extraordinary claims about ourselves when we do something good, but we do need to put God first and follow the righteous way of life that God would teach us to do.  This involves humility, which we can observe in Jesus as a kind of strength under control.  He does something so magnificent as to be extraordinary, unheard of, and heals a leper.  But it's not just His extraordinary healing power on display; it is also the compassion that goes with it.  It is Christ's willingness to open up barriers in order to express that compassion that is also on display here.  He does not touch the leper simply to break a taboo regarding what is considered unclean, but in order to heal, and we understand Jesus to be expressing His compassion by doing so.  So, we can understand that righteousness must include compassion as one of its components, as a way to live that imitates God and shows our own capacity for "God-likeness" (Genesis 1:26).  We can look around ourselves and see a great tendency (always with us) for good deeds to be trumpeted right and left -- for virtuous actions to be heralded by individuals who often seek to shame others in so promoting their own appearance of righteousness.  Be that as it may, when we look to Christ we see these two components that accompany His divine authority and power:  He is both humble and compassionate, and these are two components of His righteousness.  How often can we observe that a publicly proclaimed righteousness is accompanied by both humility and compassion?  Nonetheless, this is the righteousness that Christ teaches to us, and this is the righteousness that He asks us to imitate.  These are the good elements that grace brings to our world; when we lose them, we lose the gifts of Christ.  Let us, also, make our own testimony to the good gifts of Christ by the living the righteousness of humility and compassion He shows us.