And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. (1:40-42)
I came to deliver, to release humans for the slavery of sin. This slavery has many facets: it touches body, soul, spirit, and human relationships. Through the first healings I delivered from the physical impact of sin, and began to heal people. By casting out demons I could reach both the soul and spirit parts of the slavery of sin. In this case, I could help restore communion with others, the impact of sin on human relationships.
Leprosy, in these days, was not only a disease. It had a major impact on all the social life. A leper could not come close to ‘healthy’ persons, could not eat with them, or worship with them. They were outcasts. It was forbidden to touch a leper, and if you did you were considered impure. Impurity would spread through touch. I came to reverse the curse of impurity, and to bring the blessed healing of the Father’s love. Before I came, it was impurity that was spreading. By allowing the Holy Spirit to dwell in me, I could no more become impure, and I was able to reverse the flow and spread purity and healing through touch. After touching a leper, I should have been considered impure. Instead, this leper became clean, cured from his leprosy. He came to me with faith, confident that since I could heal others, I could also heal him. He was right, and his faith was very important for him to receive this healing touch from me.
And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” (1:43-44)
I wanted to help him reintegrate his community. In order to do so, he needed to go to the priest and have the priest officially proclaim that he was pure. It was the process of reintegration in his community, and I wished that he could do that. Yet, I also could see how he thought that he did not need anything, he was clean, he was pure. He was so much rejoicing that I tried to calm him down and sternly told him to go the the priest.
But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people are coming to him from every quarter. (1:45)
This healed leper did not obey my word, and directly began to share with all the persons he met what had just happened. It is true, people could witness that he was healed, even if they were not priests. Sadly, for me this was the start of the tension with the Jewish authorities. They did not see this man respect the official ‘procedure.’ I knew that a confrontation would come, but I was not eager to provoke it. This man had good intentions, but he did not follow my directions. For him, it was a joy and a way to have people see for themselves that he was indeed healed and clean. For me, it was not so good. This leper could now come in towns and be welcomed peacefully. On my side, the curiosity became so great that I had to remain in desolate places, away from towns. Here was one of the features of my ministry. I came to receive the consequences of sin, so that I could release other humans from this slavery. I would show that perfectly through the cross, but you can already see the seed of the cross in this event. I helped this man to be reunited with his Jewish community, and took the weight of having to stay away from communities. I became like an object, although an object of power, and people came mostly to take things from me (healings, release of problems) - not to learn from me or with me. This was the beginning of the path of the cross, becoming an object, a sacrifice, for the sake of all humans. It was a very important, yet painful path.
People came to me from every quarter, and were attracted by the power of God at work through me. From then on, I knew that the fight with human authorities would just emerge and would bring a rapid end to my ministry. I needed to be very intentional, so that when I had the time, I could impart to my twelve disciples and others the Father’s teachings: the foundations of the life of the kingdom, of the loving and joyful communion with the Father.
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