Friday in the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time, June 30, 2023

Matthew 8, 1-4

When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I will do it. Be made clean.” His leprosy was cleansed immediately. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”

“When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.”  This occurs immediately following his account of the Sermon on the Mount and so it acts as a sign of divine approbation for it.  The first verse seems to confirm the idea that Jesus had preached only to his disciples — whether Matthew meant by this his Apostles or the larger group of disciples — and not to the crowds.  If this were true, than the crowds waited for him to descend to them, and they followed him once he did.

“And then a leper approached, did him homage.”  Because large crowds were following Jesus, the leper must have approached him coming from in front.  Matthew says he “approached” Jesus, meaning that he came as near as he dared, considering his ailment rendered him unclean.  But Jesus must have walked right up to him because Matthew also tells us that he “stretched out” his hand to him.  The crowd behind may not have seen this but the Apostles around him would have shuddered in horror at the sight of their Lord drawing near to the repulsive sight of the leper.  The stench would also have nearly overpowered anyone in the proximity of the man.  But more than that, they would have felt anxiety that Jesus was putting himself in the position of becoming unclean himself.  

“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”  This can also be translated, “Lord, if it is your will, you are powerful to make me clean.”  The leper has heard of the Lord’s ability to heal.  He knows that it is merely a matter of whether it is the Lord’s will to make him clean.  We can understand this as the leper speaking for all of us, confessing his power and acknowledging his will.  The leper does not directly ask to be healed, but puts forward this statement which makes his healing (or not) a personal matter between the Lord and him.  It is as if he were asking, Do you want to heal me?  We ought to pray this way when we ask him to forgive our sins, for in praying “Lord, you have the power to forgive me” we explicitly state our belief in his power, whereas, “Please forgive me” only implicitly achieves this.

“He stretched out his hand, touched him.”  All who witnessed this touching would have gasped out loud at this.  Even the leper might have instinctively drawn back.  The Lord touched him without any warning, any hesitation.  Probably he touched his hand, but he might have touched his face.  We can try to imagine the leper’s feelings.  He had probably not felt a human touch in many years.  The Lord looked directly into his eyes, through his eyes, and into his soul.  The leper would have felt the Lord’s heart touching his as he looked at him.  The compassion in the Lord’s eyes alone would have melted away the putrefied sores.  In the precise instant the Lord touched him, he was healed: “His leprosy was cleansed immediately.”  St. Mark tells us that when the woman with the hemorrhages touched the Lord, “she felt in her body that she was healed of the evil” (Mark 5, 29).  Who can doubt that the leper felt the Lord’s power surging through him as well? 

“I will do it. Be made clean.”  This is better translated, “I will it.  Be cleansed.”  Jesus is saying that he it is his will for the leper to be cleansed.  It is not simply an agreement to do something.  It is the will of God that he be free from his leprosy.  It is the will of God that we be freed from our sins.  All we need do is to come before him with contrition and to confess that he has the power to do this.

“See that you tell no one.”  The Lord often told those whom he cured to tell no one of how it was done.  Here, he may have done so as a test of the man’s obedience towards the one who healed him, or it may have been in order to prevent him being overwhelmed by people seeking cures so that he had no time to preach. Sadly, in his report of the cure, St. Mark tells us, “He being gone out, began to publish and to blaze abroad the word: so that he could not openly go into the city. but was without in desert places. And they flocked to him from all sides” (Mark 1, 45).  

“But go show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”  It is unclear from Mark’s telling of the aftermath of the fire whether the former leper followed through with this or not.  According to the detailed instructions in the Book of Leviticus, only the Temple priests could declare a man cleansed of leprosy and grant that he return to his family.  This might have taken the form of a signed written notice.  The cleansed man was instructed to give as a gift “two living sparrows, which it is lawful to eat, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop” (Leviticus 14, 4).  The priest would examine the man for the tiniest sign of the disease.  Having presented the offering and survived the examination, the man would wash his clothes, shave all his hair, and wash himself.  He would return to his town, but could not enter his house for seven more days.  For us, when we ask for the forgiveness of our sins, this amounts to the performing of a penance.

The Lord looked into the man’s eyes and touched him with his hand.  May he one day look into our eyes and take us by the hand and lead us into heaven.