Matthew 8:1-4: The Healing of the Leper
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Matthew 8:1-4
I think the nature of the word "willing" is important in this narrative. In Jesus response, we see the same word used by the leper but in the lexical form (1st person, present, active, indicative). This same form of the word is used in Matthew 9:13 (which reads "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" and is a quote from Hosea 6:6) where it is translated as "I desire." So, although the leper is on his knees, Jesus response does not read as irritated, or weary, acquiescence. It should really be read more as, "I do will it," or, "It is my will," or possibly even, "It is my desire!"
It's also notable that we are presented with someone who apparently believes God can heal him but is not sure if he will, but that, despite his doubts, God does heal him. That's hard to align with any strain of teaching that says you have to get rid of all your doubts in order to be healed. I could be misreading the narrative, but that's the way it looks to me.
Touch seems to be a common practice in healing ministries, and that is clearly modeled here. However, there is also a theological significance to Jesus touching the leper that should not be overlooked. One thing that was foundational in the Jewish worldview was that if the clean and the unclean touched, "unclean" spread and the clean became unclean. Jesus turned that basic principle of nature upside down. When he touched the unclean, it was cleanness that spread, not the uncleanness. The unclean became clean. This makes a powerful statement about Jesus’ power to make a person clean, and a simplistic approach that says "you should always lay on hands when engaging in healing" might not consider this.
Moving on to another thought, I think one of the things I have heard said about this event is that Jesus told the healed man to tell no one what had happened because Jesus didn't want to be overwhelmed by crowds and consequently unable to move around freely. But that makes no sense in the context of this part of Matthew's Gospel. Jesus is already being followed by large crowds, something that began before the Sermon on the Mount because of the reports of his teaching and healing multitudes (Matthew 4:23-25). Besides which, Matthew 8:1-2 reads as though the healing of the leper happens right in the middle of the crowd, so instructing the leper to tell no one to prevent people flocking to him seems both too late and rather pointless (everyone present in the crowd already knows about the event). So, why give the instruction to tell no one? Honestly, I have no answer for that question, but it does speak to another common idea: that healing is done only for God's glory. For example, under the section of the Christian Missionary Alliance's website titled "Beliefs" is a page about healing1 that finishes with a paragraph that reads, "Healing is all about glorifying Jesus. It’s not about us. It’s all about Him!" (Emphasis mine). It doesn't seem to me that Jesus saw it that way.
This instruction makes much more sense if it is considered along with the instruction to go to the priests. Leviticus 14:2-32 outlines the sacrifices to be made, but Jesus is less interested in the sacrifices, I think, than he is in man getting the priests' to declare him clean. After all, if a local boy who had leprosy suddenly shows up in the neighborhood, people are likely to freak out. In their minds, he's a leper, and they might turn on his family because they're putting everyone at risk. He needs the priests' official acknowledgment to be able to return to normal life.
FOOTNOTES
1. https://www.cmalliance.org/about/beliefs/healer
Matthew 8:1-4
I think the nature of the word "willing" is important in this narrative. In Jesus response, we see the same word used by the leper but in the lexical form (1st person, present, active, indicative). This same form of the word is used in Matthew 9:13 (which reads "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" and is a quote from Hosea 6:6) where it is translated as "I desire." So, although the leper is on his knees, Jesus response does not read as irritated, or weary, acquiescence. It should really be read more as, "I do will it," or, "It is my will," or possibly even, "It is my desire!"
It's also notable that we are presented with someone who apparently believes God can heal him but is not sure if he will, but that, despite his doubts, God does heal him. That's hard to align with any strain of teaching that says you have to get rid of all your doubts in order to be healed. I could be misreading the narrative, but that's the way it looks to me.
Touch seems to be a common practice in healing ministries, and that is clearly modeled here. However, there is also a theological significance to Jesus touching the leper that should not be overlooked. One thing that was foundational in the Jewish worldview was that if the clean and the unclean touched, "unclean" spread and the clean became unclean. Jesus turned that basic principle of nature upside down. When he touched the unclean, it was cleanness that spread, not the uncleanness. The unclean became clean. This makes a powerful statement about Jesus’ power to make a person clean, and a simplistic approach that says "you should always lay on hands when engaging in healing" might not consider this.
Moving on to another thought, I think one of the things I have heard said about this event is that Jesus told the healed man to tell no one what had happened because Jesus didn't want to be overwhelmed by crowds and consequently unable to move around freely. But that makes no sense in the context of this part of Matthew's Gospel. Jesus is already being followed by large crowds, something that began before the Sermon on the Mount because of the reports of his teaching and healing multitudes (Matthew 4:23-25). Besides which, Matthew 8:1-2 reads as though the healing of the leper happens right in the middle of the crowd, so instructing the leper to tell no one to prevent people flocking to him seems both too late and rather pointless (everyone present in the crowd already knows about the event). So, why give the instruction to tell no one? Honestly, I have no answer for that question, but it does speak to another common idea: that healing is done only for God's glory. For example, under the section of the Christian Missionary Alliance's website titled "Beliefs" is a page about healing1 that finishes with a paragraph that reads, "Healing is all about glorifying Jesus. It’s not about us. It’s all about Him!" (Emphasis mine). It doesn't seem to me that Jesus saw it that way.
This instruction makes much more sense if it is considered along with the instruction to go to the priests. Leviticus 14:2-32 outlines the sacrifices to be made, but Jesus is less interested in the sacrifices, I think, than he is in man getting the priests' to declare him clean. After all, if a local boy who had leprosy suddenly shows up in the neighborhood, people are likely to freak out. In their minds, he's a leper, and they might turn on his family because they're putting everyone at risk. He needs the priests' official acknowledgment to be able to return to normal life.
FOOTNOTES
1. https://www.cmalliance.org/about/beliefs/healer
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