Mark 1:40-45, Matthew 8:2-4, Luke 5:12-16
40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” 41Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” 42And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, 44and 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.” 45But 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 were coming to him from every quarter.
Mark 1 40:-45
2And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”
Matthew 8:2-4
12While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 15But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
Luke 5:12-16
There are several things we could consider within these passages. However, the one point I want to focus your attention toward, that on the surface might seen odd to modern readers, is the manner in which Jesus instructs the ill man to explain his cleansing to the Priests. Jesus tells him to go to the priest and when asked “offer the gift that Moses commanded” as proof for the legitimacy of his cleansing.
What exactly does this mean and why does Jesus instruct the man to respond to the priest in this way?
There is a process outlined in Leviticus 14 that involved cleaning dead birds and sprinkling the dead birds blood 7 times on a leaper. I will spare you these details however I want us to see something. Jesus’ request of this man references back to the process outlined in Leviticus 14 and these priest would have known this. Jesus is using this situation as a direct means for testimony. Although Jesus devastated the hypocritical, superficial, and unbiblical standards and practices of the scribes and Pharisees He is working to to complete fully requirements of the law.
Though the cleansing of the leaper Jesus is revealing Himself to be a true and lasting provision for the wrong and unclean.
If you are so inclined I would encourage you to read Leviticus 14. It is odd and I am glad that Jesus came to fulfill God’s requirement for sin. I am not a leaper in the physical sense but I am unclean before God because of my sin. In the same way Jesus cleansed the leaper He offers you and I the same cleansing. Good news!
