In the first three stories in Matthew 8, Jesus heals three people of the fringes of Jewish society, demonstrating his authority of physical illness and fulfilling Isaiah 53:4. In Matthew 8:1-4 Jesus heals a man with leprosy by touching him.
Jesus healing the leprous man is an example of the triple tradition (Matt 8:1-4//Mark 1:40-45//Luke 5:12-16). Matthew omits Jesus’s response in Mark 1:41. There Jesus either has compassion on the man (the majority of manuscripts) or he is indignant (D and some old Italian versions). Matthew also drops out the man’s disobedience to the command to stay silent (Mark 1:45, “instead he went out and began to talk freely). Matthew tells the story as simply as possible in order to emphasize Jesus’s authority over illness.
A person with rotting skin like leprosy was considered as good as dead. Their disease was often associated with God’s judgment (cf. 2 Chr 26:20). As ceremonially unclean and as contagious persons, they were required to keep themselves separate from society and to announce their approach with the words “Unclean, unclean!” (Lev 14:45–46; cf. Luke 17:12). In Numbers 5:2 the leprous are to be “put out of the camp.” When Miriam is punished with leprosy Moses pleads with God to heal her saying “Let her not be as one dead.” Leviticus 13-14 has a wide range of rules for people with skin conditions and in Deuteronomy 24:8-9 Israel is to be very careful with lepers, “remember Miriam!” There are several stories which describe leprosy as a punishment from God (2 Kings 5:7; 7:3-10; 15:5; 2 Chron 26:16–21).
Leprosy is a concern in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the Temple Scroll, lepers and menstruating women should have a place to live outside a city to live so they do not defile people in the city. The section just prior to this quote instructs the readers to “not be like the Gentiles” who bury their dead everywhere, but rather build cemeteries outside the city to avoid corpse uncleanliness. No one with leprosy or a skin disease was allowed to enter the Temple (11Q20 Col. xii:3).
11Q19 Col. xlviii:14 And in every city you shall make places for those contaminated 15 with leprosy, and with sores and with scabies so that they do not enter your cities and defile them; and also for those who have a flux 16 and for women when they are in their menstrual impurity and after giving birth, so that they do not defile in their midst 17 with their menstrual impurity. And the leper who has chronic leprosy or scabies and the priest has declared him unclean. (trans. Garcı́a Martı́nez and Tigchelaar)
This is similar to the Mishnah which lists lepers along with several other “fathers of uncleanliness.” These things render a person unclean by contact. If a leper touched a plate or a bowl, then that vessel was unclean and any food eaten from that vessel would be rendered unclean.
m. Kelim 1:1 The Fathers of Uncleannesses [are] (1) the creeping thing, and (2) semen [of an adult Israelite], and (3) one who has contracted corpse uncleanness, and (4) the leper in the days of his counting, and (5) sin offering water of insufficient quantity to be sprinkled. Lo, these render man and vessels unclean by contact, and earthenware vessels by [presence within the vessels’ contained] airspace (trans. Neusner).
In addition to this, the tractate m. Nega’im concerns various skin diseases and how they affect the cleanliness of clothing, homes, etc. as well as methods for purifying a leper.
m. Nega’im 13:11 A leper who entered the house—all the utensils which are there are unclean—even up to the beams.
m. Nega’im 14:1 A How do they purify the leper? (B 1) He would bring a new flask of clay, and (2) put in it a quarter-log of living water, and (3) bring two undomesticated birds. C He slaughtered one of them over the clay utensil and over the living water. D He dug [a hole] and buried it before him [the leper]. E He took cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet wool and bound them together with the ends of the strip [of wool] and brought near to them the tips of the wings and the tip of the tail of the second [bird]. F He dipped [them in the blood of the slaughtered bird] and sprinkled [the blood] seven times on the back of the hand of the leper. G There are some who say, “On his forehead.” H And thus did he sprinkle on the lintel of the house on the outside.
The man kneels before Jesus, a sign of respect, probably not worship. When the leper asks to be made clean, he is asking Jesus not just to remove his painful disease, but to be allowed back into Jewish life, including living again with his family and worship at the Temple.
Jesus responds by touching the man and he is immediately made clean. No one touches a leper since touching make the person unclean and they may contract the disease themselves. Touching the untouchable violates the law (cf. Lev 5:3).
Jesus then tells the man to say nothing but rather go to a priest to offer a gift. Why does Jesus command silence? Although it is more clear in Mark, there is a “messianic secret” theme in Matthew’s gospel. In Matthew 16:20 he tells his disciples to tell no one that he is the Messiah, and in 17:9 he tells the three witnesses of the transfiguration to tell no one about their experience until after the resurrection. The usual explanation is that healing a leper would have confirmed Jesus is the messiah and drawn even larger crowds, crowds of people who would misunderstand the nature of Jesus’s messianic activity.
m. Nega’im 14:7 A On the eighth day [Lev. 14:10] one brings three beasts: a sin offering, and a guilt offering, and a whole offering. B The poor person would bring sin offering of fowl and a whole offering of fowl [Lev. 14:21]. 14:8 A He came to the guilt offering and put his two hands on it and slaughtered it. B And two priests received its blood, one in a utensil and one by hand. C This one who received [the blood] in the utensil came and sprinkled it on the wall of the altar. D And this one who received it by hand came to the leper. E And the leper immersed in the court of the lepers. F He came and stood in the gate of Nicanor. G R. Judah says, “He did not require immersion [on the eighth day, having done so on the seventh].”
Why would Jesus require a proof of healing? A gift after a skin disease is cleared was Moses commanded so that he can once again be part of Jewish society. “Jesus is thus shown to be faithful to the stipulations of the Torah in spite of an infraction of the command not to touch” (Hagner, Matthew 1-13, 199). People with skin conditions were considered unclean for a period of seven days, after which time they had to submit to a priest for inspection and make a series of washings and offerings to be restored to a state of ritual cleanliness.
When Jesus touches the leper he crosses a boundary most of his contemporaries would not even approach. He showed compassion for the leper even though there was fear and loathing for the leprous man. How does Jesus’s action of touching the leper provide a model for contemporary ministry?
When Jesus touches the leper he crosses a boundary most of his contemporaries would not even approach. He showed compassion for the leper even though there was fear and loathing for the leprous man. How does Jesus’s action of touching the leper provide a model for contemporary ministry?
it provides a model for contemporary ministry by showing to accept outsiders or people who you yourself would classify as being better than rather admitted out loud or kept inside. it shows how Jesus didnt have that feeling or thought cross his mind. he healed a man that was bottom of the social class.
“The man kneels before Jesus, a sign of respect, probably not worship. When the leper asks to be made clean, he is asking Jesus not just to remove his painful disease, but to be allowed back into Jewish life, including living again with his family and worship at the Temple.”
this shows Jesus accepted him into the kingdom and not only did he heal his illness which he has power over, he healed this man heart.
Jesus goes to the extreme when He heals a man with leprosy. People with skin diseases back in Jesus’ day were forced to live outside the city because of their “unclean” nature. They were forced to warn people of their presence by shouting “Unclean, unclean!” (Lev 14:35-46; cf. Luke 17:12) and often buried in a separate place. If someone with leprosy touched you; you were as good as dead.
But when asked by a man with leprosy for healing, Jesus does not run the other way like everyone else. Instead, Jesus touches the man, healing him and allowing the man to return to “normal life.” Touching the untouchable violates the law (cf. Lev 5:3). But Jesus the Messiah is here to change the law.
But knowing that this would bring much uprise and attention to Him, “Jesus then tells the man to say nothing but rather go to a priest to offer a gift” (Long, 2019). If people knew what Jesus did, healing this “dead man”, it would have confirmed that Jesus was the true Messiah and that people misunderstand the nature of why Jesus came to Earth in the form of man. They would be at His door, climbing on His floor, day and night, begging to be healed. Yes, Jesus came to save the lost, but not to be this popstar that everyone follows around.
It provides a model for contemporary ministry by showing to accept outsiders, not ignore them. No one is above their neighbor. Each created in His image and make to serve a Perfect God.
The story of Jesus healing the leper shows Jesus’s willingness to help all people even in a society Jesus physically touched a man that was essentially condemned to exile and death in order to heal him. He did this in a selfish fashion, unworried about the social implications of him being near and touching a leper, someone considered to be unclean, living outside of polite society. Jesus helps this man despite breaking the law as well, not only did he face social ramifications for this selfless act, but he could face punishment in tradition with the law as a result of his actions.
This is an example that we can look at in our lives, and within modern ministry of Jesus “doing the dirty work”, putting others before himself, and literally getting his hands dirty to help someone in need. This is something that we struggle with today. Many people are not willing to roll up their sleeves in the mission field and put the needs and wellbeing of others above worldly fixations. In this instance Jesus does something that next to no one else would do, when he makes contact with this man, and succeeds in curing the man’s leprosy through the use of working a miracle on the man.
This is another one of my favorite stories, this represents Jesus’ compassion for others, and it shows a model for contemporary ministry by showing to accept others, and to not ignore them. Ultimately that no one is above their neighbor or people amongst their society. Each one of us are and was created in the image of God and to serve God. One could show this by opening their church to anyone from any walk of life, helping someone when it does not benefit you or doing it for no benefit or financial gain, and there are many more ways to express or show what Jesus did but through our own natural gifts we were given and have.
This is another one of my favorite stories, this represents Jesus’ compassion for others, and it shows a model for contemporary ministry by showing to accept others, and to not ignore them. Ultimately that no one is above their neighbor or people amongst their society. Each one of us are and was created in the image of God and to serve God. One could show this by opening their church to anyone from any walk of life, helping someone when it does not benefit you or doing it for no benefit or financial gain, and there are many more ways to express or show what Jesus did but through our own natural gifts we were give and have.
Jesus is a healing man. He is a selfless man who is willing to continue to put his life on the line for mine. Jesus went out and healed three people in the first three stories in Matthew 8. Jesus heals this man by touch. Long talks about how this healing is a part of the triple tradition in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The man with Leprosy was unclean. He was dirty. Long mentions that Leprosy is just as close to dead. When someone developed this they were supposed to be removed/kicked out of the camp. This was contagious and they were supposed to isolate themselves from others. If they were to come around they had to make their presence known by shouting the words “Unclean. ”Why did Jesus touch and heal an unclean man? Jesus heals the man with Leprosy because “he either had compassion for the man or he is indignant” (Long). Relating this to today would you touch someone who is unclean? This is something that we lack as Christians today. We are scared to risk ourselves. We are selfish and sometimes we need to think like Jesus and be selfless. Jesus went on a healing spree. Matthew 8:14, Jesus went into the home of Peter and touched her hands and the fever left her body.
The story of Jesus healing the leper is a very interesting story, as even today it seems leprosy, while curable, has a stigma to it. While I knew that leprosy was very bad, and basically a death sentence, It didn’t ever occur that it took them completely out of there typical Jewish life, and how it was often looked at as a punishment from God. I also never thought about how Jesus didn’t just heal the man, but allowed him to go back to his life, a typical Jewish life. There are a lot of different aspects of the story that never occurred to me before